WRIA 62 WMP 032305 - Washington State Department of Ecology

March, 2005 -46- 023-1289-003.3040
Federal District Courts ruling. The current provisions of the 2000 National Marine Fisheries Service
Biological Opinion will remain in place until a new Biological Opinion is finalized. Based on review
of the strategies and actions listed in the 2000 Biological Opinions, the Action Agencies (i.e., the
Army Corps of Engineers, US Bureau of Reclamation and Bonneville Power Administration) have
developed the following priorit ies (in order) for flow management and reservoir operation:
1. Operate storage reservoirs (Hungry Horse and Libby) to meet minimum flow and ramp rate
criteria for resident fish;
2. Refill the storage projects by June 30 to provide summer flow augmentation. A la te
snowmelt runoff may delay refill in order to avoid excessive spill;
3. Operate storage projects to be at their April 10 flood control elevations to increase available
flows for spring flow management; and,
4. Provide fall and winter flows for chum salmon spawning and incubation.
The Biological Opinions also acknowledge the concept of adaptive management so that the operation
of the system should be adjusted based on acquired knowledge about current conditions and effects of
management actions (as opposed to following a rigid set of rules).
4.1.4.1.1.1 Hungry Horse Dam
Hungry Horse Dam and reservoir was built in 1952 with the purpose of hydroelectric power
generation. It is managed by the US Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) as a part of the “main control
plan” system of reservoirs in the Federal Columbia River Power System. The reservoir itself has a
sizable storage capacity, and currently operates with more interest in water storage and flood control
than for power generation. More than five times the power that can be produced at Hungry Horse can
be produced by downstream dams, so release levels try to be consistent with downstream needs.
A 2000 Biological Opinion by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the US Fish and Wildlife
Service determined that conditions downstream of the dams in the Columbia River Power System
needed to be improved for endangered fish species. In response to this biological opinion, in 2002,
Hungry Horse dam began to operate under a new interim flow plan, called VARQ (for variable
discharge). This flow plan will not become permanent until the completion of an EIS (scheduled for
2005). Currently, Libby and Grand Coulee Dams are also operating under a VARQ interim flow
plan.
In 2000, a lawsuit between the National Wildlife Federation and National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS) forced the 2000 Biological Opinion to resolve some cited deficiencies. A new Biological
Opinion addressing these concerns was released September 9, 2004 and was available for public
comment until October 8, 2004. Operations at Hungry Horse continue working under the 2000
Biological Opinion until its deficiencies are resolved through the completion of the 2004 Biological
Opinion.
Currently, the US Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) and the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) are
conducting an EIS on VARQ for Hungry Horse, Libby, and Grand Coulee. Through the EIS process,
the BOR and ACOE have initiated or completed a variety of studies evaluating the potential impacts
of various flood control and fish operations at Libby and Hungry Horse. One of these studies
compares the VARQ and standard flood control procedures for Hungry Horse Reservoir and
describes the associated hydrologic effects downstream (USBOR, 2004). This study concludes that:
WRIA 62 WMP 032305