Boise Meeting Concludes Salmon Work Group's 2019 Schedule

Boise Meeting Concludes Salmon Work Group's 2019 Schedule

The Governor’s Salmon Work Group returned to Boise November 19th for their latest meeting. A condensed one day format began with discussions on the essential need for public comment opportunity at future meetings, something curiously not afforded to the public this time.

Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) then presented on their financial health and economic plan for the future. The presentation focused on BPA’s shift away from surplus power sales. Surplus power, such as that generated by the Lower Snake River dams, traditionally was a boon for BPA, netting them large profits through sale on the open market. That profit margin has disappeared however, with the Northwest’s hydropower prices no longer competing with those of cheap natural gas and California renewables.

Another focus of the presentation was the cutting of funding to the Fish and Wildlife Program, a significant portion of BPA’s overall budget, in order to stabilize the company and reduce debt. The program has been the target of the over $16 billion spent by the agency in the past 40 years on salmon and steelhead recovery, with no populations close to being recovered off of the Endangered Species list. Yet, this program is essential and federally required to mitigate for the impacts the dams, whose power BPA markets, have on salmon and steelhead.

Presentations on salmon predation in the lower Columbia River by birds and sea lions followed, a significant issue in the altered river environment. Dams and river islands created by dredged-up sediment have created havens for terns, cormorants, and sea lions, giving them easy access to ocean-bound salmon smolts. Lethal control and removal efforts by the Army Corps of Engineers and the US Fish and Wildlife Service have lowered predation rates, but with the promise of a convenient food source birds and sea lions will naturally continue to be drawn to the Columbia River.

Work Group members saw the potential for a first set of group recommendations and touted increased predation control as a near term solution to stabilize salmon and steelhead populations.

Near term solutions that deal with a fraction of salmon mortality have been implemented for the past 20 years and our fish are still endangered and in a steep decline. If the Work Group truly wants meaningful salmon recovery in Idaho, a process that will take decades as populations rebuild, they must take on large-scale recovery options that will effectively reverse population trends and place salmon and steelhead on a path towards recovery.

The Work Group ended the meeting with a conversation on its progress, and it was clear that much needs to be done in the next year. Plenty of information was presented on a wide variety of topics during the initial five meetings, but now the Work Group must switch from observer to creator.

Members should discuss what different solutions would mean for each of them and those they represent. The usefulness of the Work Group lies in its ability to discuss the “what ifs?” surrounding spill increases and dam breaching, meaningful solutions that are the best available for salmon recovery.

A window of opportunity has presented itself for the Northwest to retool its energy future and return to an equitable system that provides for all river users. As a prominent Idaho voice, the Work Group must discuss dam breaching as a means of recovering Idaho’s salmon economy while maintaining strong power, agriculture, and transportation economies. Just like clean air and water, abundant wild salmon and steelhead are a public right that must be restored.

The Boise meeting marks the end of the 2019 calendar for the Work Group, with a January meeting in mind before a busy State legislative session pulls members away. The end of 2020 is to be the deadline for the group’s recommendations, coinciding with the final draft release of the federal salmon plan, formally known as the Columbia River System Operations EIS.  

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