The Portland Tribune report that Gunderson, a maker of rail cars and marine barges, filed a notice with Oregon’s Land Use Board of Appeals. The company tells the Trib the plan isn’t balanced enough toward business interests.

See Portland Tribune: River Plan challenged

The Agriculture Department has designated Klamath County as a “primary natural disaster area” because of drought conditions.

The offices of Senators Wyden and Merkley made the announcement this morning.

It means that farmers and ranchers in the area will be eligible for low interest emergency loans. It also extends disaster assistance to farmers and ranchers in Deschutes, Douglas, Jackson, Lake, and Lane counties in Oregon as well as Modoc and Siskiyou counties in California.

Because of the drought, the feds say irrigators can only expect about 30% – 40% of the amount of water they normally receive from Klamath basin reservoirs this year. Local water authorities will be able to pump extra water from underground sources, but that still only brings the supply to about 50% of normal. Farmers will also be paid for idling land.

The Copco 1 Dam on the Klamath River. Photo courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife.

When government and tribal leaders gathered in Salem earlier this year to sign the Klamath basin agreements, the talk was all about dam removal. ”Hasta la vista to the dams,” said California’s Governor Schwarzenegger.

But what Schwarzenegger, Governor Kulongoski and the others glossed over is that there is no agreement to remove dams on the Klamath River. There’s only an agreement to study the issue. A decision is a couple of years away.

And now we’re seeing what could be the first attempt to take advantage of that loophole.

According to the Siskiyou Daily, the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors in California are now interested in seeing if fish passages could be built around the dams – instead of removing them. The paper says the Shasta Nation has been studying using existing creeks as part of a system to help fish migrate past the dams.

See Siskiyou Daily: Fish bypass alternative analysis underway

By the way, Siskiyou County is one of the governmental groups that signed the Klamath Hydroelectric Agreement.

It’s way too early to know how far this will go. But you can’t blame environmental critics for saying, “We told you so.” Sean Stevens of Oregon Wild said back in February that this is only one of the loopholes that could wreck the agreement. Here’s a clip from our interview with him.

Video: Oregon Wild’s Sean Stevens On Dam Removal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8MoyBAaNI0

Related Stories:

Klamath Hangover – Why Oregon Enviros Oppose The Deals
VIDEO: Highlights From Klamath Basin Signing Ceremony
“Hasta La Vista” Dams: Deals Signed To End Klamath Basin Water Wars

NOTE: Thanks to the Pacific Fishery Management Council for tweeting the original story.

In 2002, tens of thousands of salmon died in the Klamath River after the Bush Administration decided to give farmers priority over fish and wildlife. Photo from Water Watch.

A rather disturbing story from the Times-Standard newspaper in Northern California.

Reporter John Driscoll interviewed scientists, including some from OSU, who say there’s so little water in the Klamath River we may see a repeat of 2002 when as many as 60,000 salmon died.

The problem is a tiny parasitic worm that lives in river silt. Driscoll reports that silty river bottoms are spreading across the Klamath River and scientists are finding higher concentrations of worms in those areas. Releasing more water from dams could flush away the silt and help the fish. But with the area facing a historic drought, will there be a enough water in the system to do that?

For the entire story see: Klamath River fish diseases spreading

Tip from the Pacific Fishery Management Council

Sunrise at Fern Ridge Reservoir, one of three expected to fill up this spring. Photo by Bob Heims, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

With Willamette Valley snow pack way below average, and no extra rain in the forecast, the Army Corps of Engineers says most of the reservoirs it operates in the valley won’t fill up this spring.

We’re not anywhere near drought conditions. But the dry forecast means the Corps will have a tougher job managing how much water it releases and when. Releasing too much water now means there won’t be enough for salmon and other fish in the fall.

And boaters are sure to notice a difference.

Here’s where things stand, according to the Corps.

Willamette Valley snow pack is 40% of normal for this time of year. But snow pack is not a big factor, it only accounts for about 10% of the water in the reservoirs.

The main concern is over how much rain we’ll get this spring. Rain during April, May and early June is the primary source of water that fills these reservoirs. The information that the Corps is getting says spring and summer rainfall will be only 75% of normal.

That’s not so bad that it’s setting off alarms. But it does mean the Corps has started reducing water flows from reservoirs in the North and South Santiam basins. It may also have to reduce flows in other parts of the Willamette Valley. Corps spokesperson Amy Echols says these reduced flows are “less than ideal” for fish and water quality. But the Corps wants to make sure it has enough water stored to maintain good flows in the summer and fall.

Of the 13 Willamette Valley reservoirs operated by the Corps, only three of them are expected to fill up. They are Fern Ridge near Eugene, and the Cottage Grove and Dorena reservoirs near Cottage Grove.

“If you’re a boat owner or marina owner, you won’t like this year,” says Echols. She says levels in some reservoirs may be so low that some boat ramps won’t reach the water. Marinas may have to compensate by installing longer ramps. Anglers and other river users may notice lower water levels, too.

Still, Echols says, we’ve seen much drier years in recent history. 2001 and 2005 come to mind.

All of this could turn quickly with some good spring rains.  The Corps plans to update this information in early May.

Condit Dam on the White Salmon River in Washington State.

In 1999, Pacific Power, environmental groups and the Yakama Nation reached a landmark agreement to remove the Condit Dam on the White Salmon River.

More than a decade later, the dam is still there.

The delays are frustrating the Gifford Pinchot Task Force, which recently warned members that time is running out if the dam is going to be removed this year.

And here’s what it says you can do to help.

The group wants people to contact the Washington Department of Ecology and ask the agency to immediately issue a Clean Water (401) permit for dam removal. The Task Force says this is the the last big obstacle to removing the Condit Dam.

If Ecology doesn’t issue the permit this month – as in March – then dam removal will be put off for another year. Pacific Power wants to remove it in October, when low water levels make it easier to do the work. But it also needs about six months worth of prep time.

The math is pretty simple. October minus six months is April. If the Condit Dam is going to be removed in 2010, then all the obstacles have to be removed by April.

The Gifford Pinchot Task Force says the person to contact at the Department of Ecology is Loree (sounds like laur-A) Randall. Her phone number is 360-407-6068 and her email is lora461@ecy.wa.gov.

Please remember that you’re dealing with a real, live human being – not a faceless bureaucrat – so keep your comments polite and civil.

The Condit Dam was built in 1913 and is about three miles upstream from where the White Salmon pours into the Columbia River. It has no passage for fish. When it came time to re-license the dam, Pacific Power realized it would be cheaper to tear it out compared to what it would cost to add fish ladders.

The utility was ready to remove the Condit Dam back in 2006. But the Task Force says the environmental review process is the main reason we’re still waiting.

Then sometime in the 1990s, things started to go very badly for the Pacific Smelt.

On Tuesday, NOAA Fisheries announced it will list the fish as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The Pacific Smelt, or eulachon, spends most of its life in the ocean. But they return to freshwater rivers in the winter and early spring to spawn. The annual migration was once quite a spectacle. Streams and rivers could be so thick with smelt you could just dip a net in the water and pull them out.

They also played an important role in the culture of Northwest tribes. Their high fat content made them an important food source during the lean winter months. In fact, it was the Cowlitz Tribe that petitioned NOAA to put the fish on the Endangered Species List.

The fish covered by the announcement range from Northern California to the Canadian border. The biggest threat to the smelt’s long term survival is climate change, which has reduced the availability of the fish’s prey and caused changes in the timing and volume of Northwest river flows in the spring.

Other threats include shrimp harvesting. The two species share some common areas in the Pacific Ocean and smelt can get caught up in shrimp nets. During migration, predation by sea lions, birds and other fish have become a serious problem.

One of the best known fishing spots for smelt is along the Cowlitz River in Washington. The state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife says it supports NOAA’s decision and will work with the agency and tribes to help the fish recover.

According to a February 12th story in the Longview Daily News, commercial smelt fishermen netted about 3,000 pounds of fish this year. But few of the fish have been seen since late January.

Along the Willamette River Water Trail. Photo from Oregon Parks and Recreation.

If we’re ever going to restore the Willamette River basin, it’s going to cost a huge chunk of money.

Anywhere from about $593 million to $1.2 billion, according to Oregon DEQ.

In a new report, DEQ says decades of farming, logging and urban development have degraded the basins streams and rivers.

DEQ put together this report for the EPA, which collects information on how much it would cost to meet the nation’s water quality goals.

Here’s what DEQ found:

• About 96,000 acres may need restoring. Most of them, about 70%, are agricultural lands. But it also includes land inside urban growth boundaries.
• The money would need to be spent on removing land from agriculture and restoring it as habitat along streams and rivers. It also includes protecting waterways with fencing and improving in-stream habitat. A good portion of the money, maybe as high as 30%, would be used to pay rent to landowners so that state officials could have access to do the restoration work.
• The biggest problems include water temperatures that are too warm and too much sediment in the rivers and streams. Restoring the basin could eventually lower heat pollution by about 12.9 billion kilocalories daily. (A kilocalorie is the amount of energy it takes to heat one gram of water by one degree Celsius.) Planting shade trees along streams and rivers are an important part of cooling the water.

For more information:

Cost Estimate to Restore Riparian Forest Buffers and Improve Stream Habitat in the Willamette Basin, Oregon

At a cost of about $40 million a year, the bill creates a team at the EPA office in Portland that will work with states, tribes, local governments and other federal agencies across the Columbia River Basin.

It gets a hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Wednesday morning – about 6:30am our time. Merkley is a member of the committee.

In the past year, I’ve written a number of stories about the growing awareness of pollution in the basin and its possible impacts on wildlife and human health. About a year ago, the Environmental Protection Agency released a report saying the levels of four major pollutants in the Columbia River Basin are so high, they remain a threat to the health of the people, fish and wildlife. On that list you’ll find Mercury, DDT, PCBs and PBDE flame retardants.

Some of these pollutants, such as DDT, were banned years ago. In the case of PBDE flame retardants, Oregon and Washington approved new bans that kicked in on the first of the year. All of these chemicals take years to break down in the environment and can remain a threat for decades.

In April, NOAA issued a similar report on pesticides containing carbaryl, carbofuran, and methomyl. They’re on a wide variety of crops such as fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains. NOAA says exposure to these chemicals can kill salmon, or damage their central nervous systems.

The Merkley/Blumenauer press release takes things a step further.

“The Columbia River is contaminated with dangerous pollutants, such as PCBs and other chemicals, that are detrimental to fish and wildlife, including thirteen species of salmon and steelhead listed under the Endangered Species Act. Other pesticides and pollutants, such as pharmaceutical and personal care products, have been found in the river.  According to EPA and tribal surveys, contaminated fish are consumed in large quantities, threatening the people who depend on them.”

One goal of the legislation is to build upon the work that’s been done by the Lower Columbia River Partnership. This group has restored 2,600 acres of habitat along the Columbia River and opened up an additional 42 miles of habitat along streams.

But Merkley and Blumenauer say what’s needed now a bigger and more comprehensive approach with a lot more money behind it. The EPA’s role will be to coordinate regional efforts to reduce pollution in the Columbia and fund a variety of projects.

Groups such as Oregon Wild and Water Watch, say they were kicked out of the talks that produced the two historic deals on Klamath Basin water sharing and dam removal. National groups such as American Rivers and Trout Unlimited did sign on.

Earlier this week, we talked with Sean Stevens of Oregon Wild about his group’s objections. He calls this a billion dollar boondoggle that doesn’t do enough to protect Klamath Basin salmon.

Video: Water Sharing

The Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, or KBRA, governs how water in the region will be shared by farmers, tribes, and salmon. Stevens says the KRBA guarantees water to farmers first. There may not be enough leftover for salmon during droughts and dry years when water supplies are low.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8LZjnUFDhg

Video: Farming On The Wildlife Refuges

The two deals allow for another 50-years of farming on the Tule Lake and Lower Klamath Wildlife Refuges. Stevens calls this a bad idea. It limits how much land is available for wetlands – important habitat for salmon and other wildlife. It also means farmers get a greater share of the water in the basin. Finally, he says pesticide runoff from agriculture only hurts water quality in the refuges.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj97LrHNaOI

Video: Dam Removal

The Klamath Basin Hydroelectric Agreement lays out a plan for removing four hydropower dams from the Klamath River. This will open up more than 300 miles of river to salmon. Oregon Wild is a big supporter of removing the dams.

But Stevens says it was a mistake to link the two agreements together. He says this has created a billion dollar boondoggle for irrigators. Much of the estimated billion dollar cost in the KRBA, says Stevens, is for irrigation subsidies, and there’s not enough in there for doing actual restoration work in the basin.

Besides, the dam removal agreement doesn’t guarantee the dams will come out. It says the Interior Secretary first has to decide if removing dams is a good idea. That process could last a couple of years. While it appears that dam removal is likely, Stevens says there are other ways this deal could fall apart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8MoyBAaNI0