Corps’ Salmon Plan Postponed Final Draft Anticipated No Sooner Than 2000

The government will not meet a 1999 deadline for writing a Snake River salmon recovery plan.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced Thursday that it will miss its April goal for the first draft of its $20 million study that could recommend mothballing four Washington dams.

“We now expect to release the final report no sooner than early 2000,” instead of late this year, project manager Greg Graham said in a written statement.

It’s that final draft that will include the corps’ recommendations for restoring salmon runs. The study is limited to three options:

Removing earthen portions of Lower Granite, Little Goose, Lower Monumental and Ice Harbor dams to let the river run free.

Making major dam improvements to improve salmon survival.

Making no changes at all.

The recommendation will go to Congress, which will decide which course to follow.

Sam Mace of the Washington and Idaho Wildlife Federation said the group is disappointed at the corps delay.

“They’ve gone without a recovery plan for seven years,” since Snake River sockeye salmon were listed as endangered, Mace said. Since then, the river’s chinook salmon and steelhead have been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The National Marine Fisheries Service had set a deadline of 1999 for writing the plan.

Graham said the study was delayed because its chief biological report was not completed on time.

Scientists who released the computer-generated biological report in December concluded that threatened runs of salmon and steelhead have a much better chance of recovery if the Snake River dams are breached - 2-1 better, in fact - than if any other course of action is followed.

Dan Hansen can be reached at (509) 459-3938 or by e-mail at danh@spokesman.com.