[ODFW-News] ODFW and PacifiCorp sign settlement agreement to mitigate for fish loss due to power failure

[ODFW News]

For Immediate Release	Thursday, Oct. 28, 2004
ODFW and PacifiCorp sign settlement agreement to mitigate for fish loss
due to power failure

ROSEBURG - Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Lindsay Ball
last week signed an agreement with PacifiCorp that mitigates for fish
killed during an unexpected drop in North Umpqua River flows last
summer. 

PacifiCorp's Soda Springs powerhouse shut down unexpectedly July 11
due to a computer malfunction. The Soda Springs generator tripped
off-line and a new emergency water bypass valve failed to operate
correctly. Installation of the new emergency bypass valve is required
under the terms of a 2001 relicensing settlement agreement. 

About one hour passed before the problem was noted and corrected.
During that time North Umpqua River flows dropped from 904 cubic feet
per second to 338 cfs.

The drop in flow adversely impacted the late-returning 2004 winter
steelhead brood in the North Umpqua watershed, according to Dave Harris,
ODFW's Southwest Region hydropower coordinator. After conducting
surveys, ODFW biologists determined that thousands of winter steelhead
alevins and trout fry were killed. Alevins are fish at the
"eyed-egg" life stage that still reside in the gravel and are
easily stranded when flows drop.

ODFW negotiated directly with PacifiCorp and coordinated with other
state and federal agencies to develop a settlement agreement that was
signed and implemented in just three months. 

"We looked at the number of fish killed and estimated their resource
value as a guide to determine appropriate compensation," said Harris.
"PacifiCorp agreed to release more than the current 95 cfs of water in
the half-mile Soda Springs bypass reach. Water releases started Oct. 15
and will continue through next August."

Flows will range from 150 cfs to 225 cfs until Sept. 1, 2005, when
flows will increase to 275 cfs per the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission's new operating license issued to PacifiCorp in late 2003.

The new flows will improve spawning habitat and provide more rearing
habitat for all anadromous fish species in the North Umpqua River,
including winter steelhead and spring chinook salmon. ODFW and
PacifiCorp biologists recently documented spring chinook spawning in the
bypass reach, taking advantage of the higher flows.

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Information and Education Division
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
(503) 947-6002