Washington Hunter
Well-known member
Tacoma, WA - Thursday, June 16, 2005
Drought puts state’s hatchery, river fish at risk
JEFFERY P. MAYOR; THE NEWS TRIBUNE
Last updated: June 16th, 2005 02:40 AM (PDT)
In 2001, with the state experiencing its worst drought in nearly 25 years, Steve Keller headed the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s drought coordination team.
On the heels of a dry winter, Keller has been called out of retirement to again head the department’s effort to protect the state’s fish and wildlife populations.
I talked to Keller earlier this week to hear what he will say when he speaks before the Fish and Wildlife Commission on Friday in Yakima. I asked him on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the worst, to grade this year’s drought.
“Based on my own angst, it’s probably in the seven range. That’s just my own feeling,” Keller said from his Olympia office. “We just don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s kind of like wildfire; you don’t know where it’s going to strike and how bad it’s going to be.”
Topping the list of Keller’s concerns are the state’s fish hatcheries. Using about $200,000 in drought response funds from the Department of Ecology, work already is being done to protect the salmon and trout raised in the hatcheries.
“In 2001, we identified a number of facilities, surprisingly mostly on the west side, that were at risk. We installed aerators and in some cases added pure oxygen to the water,” Keller said.
Already this year, some hatcheries have been converted to using wells as their water source. Hatchery operators also are prepared to release fish early or move them to another hatchery, as they had to do in 2001.
As for the state’s rivers, Keller said three top the list for concern: the Yakima, Walla Walla and Dungeness.
“These are streams that are heavily appropriated, diverted for agriculture and other uses,” Keller said.
Protecting Yakima fish stocks involves addressing private, state, federal and tribal concerns, he said.
“The lower end of the Yakima, once everyone has had their sip, there’s not a lot of water left in the last couple of miles,” Keller said.
One contingency plan developed was to truck fish that were stuck in the Yakima the final few miles to the Columbia River. So far that hasn’t been necessary.
“What we’ve been able to do there is adjust flows so they’re more amenable to fish and adjust fish ladders so they’re easier for fish to move through them,” Keller said.
Cooperating agencies also have raised the river’s level, sending pulses of water downstream, to trigger the out-migration of chinook and steelhead smolt.
“If there’s good news in the drought, it looks like we’re tending to get snow melt when the smolt are moving out. But the problem is when it melts, it’s gone, so the adults have a harder time to move upstream,” Keller said.
“We’re getting out migration flows that are pretty satisfactory, but it’s coming at a cost. That cost is reduced flows in the summer and fall months.”
Keller said he and his team will rely on the lessons they learned four years ago.
He cited Kachess Lake as an example. Box Canyon Creek is an important spawning stream. But in 2001, the lake was drawn down so much that it was nearly one-half mile from the water to the mouth of the creek.
To get salmon into the creek, drought team members built a plastic channel for about 900 feet.
“Water depth, velocity, jump height and water temperature, if you have those in the right ranges, fish will migrate through just about anything,” Keller said. “We built a channel that had those attributes, and up the channel they went.”
Even with the experience of 2001 to draw upon, Keller realizes Mother Nature still holds the key.
“Our concern is stream flows in August, September and October. That’s the same as last time, but we lucked out in 2001 that we had a wet August,” he said.
“The thing that concerns me is that even though it’s actually been a wet spring, those who do the predictions are still calling for low flows in the late summer. We’re in fair shape right now, but we haven’t gotten to the worst of it yet,” Keller added.
WHAT: State Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting
WHEN: Friday, beginning at 9 a.m., and Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m. The drought discussion is scheduled to take place after Friday’s lunch break.
WHERE: Clarion Hotel and Conference Center, 1507 N. First St., Yakima.
INFORMATION: For details of the agenda, visit wdfw.wa.gov/com/ meetings.htm.
Jeffrey P. Mayor: 253-597-8640
[email protected]
Originally published: June 16th, 2005 12:01 AM (PDT)
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1950 South State Street, Tacoma, Washington 98405 253-597-8742
© Copyright 2005 Tacoma News, Inc. A subsidiary of The McClatchy Company
Drought puts state’s hatchery, river fish at risk
JEFFERY P. MAYOR; THE NEWS TRIBUNE
Last updated: June 16th, 2005 02:40 AM (PDT)
In 2001, with the state experiencing its worst drought in nearly 25 years, Steve Keller headed the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s drought coordination team.
On the heels of a dry winter, Keller has been called out of retirement to again head the department’s effort to protect the state’s fish and wildlife populations.
I talked to Keller earlier this week to hear what he will say when he speaks before the Fish and Wildlife Commission on Friday in Yakima. I asked him on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the worst, to grade this year’s drought.
“Based on my own angst, it’s probably in the seven range. That’s just my own feeling,” Keller said from his Olympia office. “We just don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s kind of like wildfire; you don’t know where it’s going to strike and how bad it’s going to be.”
Topping the list of Keller’s concerns are the state’s fish hatcheries. Using about $200,000 in drought response funds from the Department of Ecology, work already is being done to protect the salmon and trout raised in the hatcheries.
“In 2001, we identified a number of facilities, surprisingly mostly on the west side, that were at risk. We installed aerators and in some cases added pure oxygen to the water,” Keller said.
Already this year, some hatcheries have been converted to using wells as their water source. Hatchery operators also are prepared to release fish early or move them to another hatchery, as they had to do in 2001.
As for the state’s rivers, Keller said three top the list for concern: the Yakima, Walla Walla and Dungeness.
“These are streams that are heavily appropriated, diverted for agriculture and other uses,” Keller said.
Protecting Yakima fish stocks involves addressing private, state, federal and tribal concerns, he said.
“The lower end of the Yakima, once everyone has had their sip, there’s not a lot of water left in the last couple of miles,” Keller said.
One contingency plan developed was to truck fish that were stuck in the Yakima the final few miles to the Columbia River. So far that hasn’t been necessary.
“What we’ve been able to do there is adjust flows so they’re more amenable to fish and adjust fish ladders so they’re easier for fish to move through them,” Keller said.
Cooperating agencies also have raised the river’s level, sending pulses of water downstream, to trigger the out-migration of chinook and steelhead smolt.
“If there’s good news in the drought, it looks like we’re tending to get snow melt when the smolt are moving out. But the problem is when it melts, it’s gone, so the adults have a harder time to move upstream,” Keller said.
“We’re getting out migration flows that are pretty satisfactory, but it’s coming at a cost. That cost is reduced flows in the summer and fall months.”
Keller said he and his team will rely on the lessons they learned four years ago.
He cited Kachess Lake as an example. Box Canyon Creek is an important spawning stream. But in 2001, the lake was drawn down so much that it was nearly one-half mile from the water to the mouth of the creek.
To get salmon into the creek, drought team members built a plastic channel for about 900 feet.
“Water depth, velocity, jump height and water temperature, if you have those in the right ranges, fish will migrate through just about anything,” Keller said. “We built a channel that had those attributes, and up the channel they went.”
Even with the experience of 2001 to draw upon, Keller realizes Mother Nature still holds the key.
“Our concern is stream flows in August, September and October. That’s the same as last time, but we lucked out in 2001 that we had a wet August,” he said.
“The thing that concerns me is that even though it’s actually been a wet spring, those who do the predictions are still calling for low flows in the late summer. We’re in fair shape right now, but we haven’t gotten to the worst of it yet,” Keller added.
WHAT: State Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting
WHEN: Friday, beginning at 9 a.m., and Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m. The drought discussion is scheduled to take place after Friday’s lunch break.
WHERE: Clarion Hotel and Conference Center, 1507 N. First St., Yakima.
INFORMATION: For details of the agenda, visit wdfw.wa.gov/com/ meetings.htm.
Jeffrey P. Mayor: 253-597-8640
[email protected]
Originally published: June 16th, 2005 12:01 AM (PDT)
Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Contact Us | About Us | Site Map | Jobs@The TNT | RSS
1950 South State Street, Tacoma, Washington 98405 253-597-8742
© Copyright 2005 Tacoma News, Inc. A subsidiary of The McClatchy Company
