City's Fish Passage Waiver Application
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
OREGON DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE Fish Passage WAIVER Application • Use this form if providing fish passage at the artificial obstruction for which a Waiver is being requested would benefit native migratory fish. • Use the "Fish Passage EXEMPTION Application" if a waiver has already been granted for the artificial obstruction, fish passage mitigation has already been provided for the artificial obstruction , or if there would be no appreciable benefit for native migratory fish if passage were provided at the artificial obstruction. • If you unlock and re-lock this Form, information already entered may be lost in certain versions of MS Word. APPLICANT INFORMATION The Applicant must be the owner or operator of the artificial obstruction for which a Waiver is sought. ORGANIZATION/APPLICANT: Portland Water Bureau CONTACT: Steve Kucas TITLE: Senior Environmental Program Manager ADDRESS: 1120 SW 5th Ave., Room 600 CITY: Portland STATE: OR ZIP: 97204 PHONE: 503-823-6976 FAX: 503-823-4500 E-MAIL ADDRESS: [email protected] SIGNATURE: DATE: OWNER (if different than Applicant): CONTACT: TITLE: ADDRESS: CITY: STATE: ZIP: PHONE: FAX: E-MAIL ADDRESS: SIGNATURE: DATE: Signature indicates that you understand and do not dispute this request. APPLICATION COMPLETED BY (if different than Applicant): TITLE: ORGANIZATION: ADDRESS: CITY: STATE: ZIP: PHONE: FAX: E-MAIL ADDRESS: SIGNATURE: DATE: To Be Completed by ODFW Fish Passage Coordinator APPLICATION #: W-03-0001 DATE RECEIVED: 11-02-2009 FILE NAME: City of Portland’s Bull Run Watershed Fish Passage Waiver Application 1 APPROVED SIGNATURE: DATE: DENIED TITLE: 1. Type of Artificial Obstruction: Dam New Culvert/Bridge Existing Tidegate Other (describe): 2. Please Provide a Background and Description of the Proposed Action Triggering the Need to Address Fish Passage: The City of Portland (the City) has developed a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) (Portland Water Bureau 2008), in consultation with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), and in collaboration with the Oregon Dept. Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and a number of other partners, in order to address its obligations under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for the impacts of its municipal water supply operations on ESA-listed species. The HCP mitigation package outlines 49 measures designed to improve habitat for anadromous and resident fish in the Bull Run subbasin and the larger Sandy River basin. The term of the HCP is 50 years. The HCP was approved by NMFS in April 2009. The adoption of the HCP constitutes a fundamental change in permit status for the City's Bull Run operations, triggering the need for a review of the blockage of fish passage by three Bull Run River dams and a rock weir. The proposed aquatic measures in the HCP support a fish passage waiver application for three Bull Run dams and rock weir. The City is applying for a passage waiver for Bull Run Dam 1, Bull Run Dam 2, the Headworks diversion dam, and a rock weir. Bull Run Dam 1 (at river mile (RM) 11.1) is a concrete gravity- arch dam, impounding a reservoir 4 miles long and up to 190 feet deep. Bull Run Dam Number 2 (RM 6.5) is an earthfill dam, creating a reservoir 4.5 miles long and as much as 130 feet deep. It was completed in 1964. Both Dam 2 and Dam 1 have hydroelectric power generation facilities as a secondary product of water storage and transmission. The Headworks diversion dam (RM 6), built in 1921, is 37 feet high and diverts water from the diversion pool into the City’s water conduits. The diversion pool behind the Headworks diversion dam is approximately 620 feet in length. A 15-foot-high concrete/boulder rock weir (RM 5.8) is the hydraulic control for Reservoir 2 spillway plunge pool. The rock weir has been the downstream barrier to anadromous fish runs since its construction in 1962. The weir was washed away during the 1964 flood and rebuilt. The City is considering modifying the rock weir to allow rapid flow movement past the site, which is needed to meet the HCP water temperature commitments, and would also allow for the passage of native migratory fish. The City will complete its designs for the rock weir in the next few months. Part or all of the weir may be removed. None of the dams or obstructions has ever provided passage for native migratory fish. The City has a license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) (license #2821) to operate hydroelectric facilities on its Bull Run dams. The license was approved in 1979 and expires in 2029. ODFW was an intervenor in the FERC licensing process. In 1984, the City and 2 ODFW signed a comprehensive mitigation agreement to address the impacts of the construction and operation of the City’s hydroelectric project and to resolve all fish mitigation disputes concerning the project. The agreement was approved by FERC in satisfaction of the City’s fish and wildlife obligations under its license. The City maintains that ODFW/City agreement precludes the need for a fish passage waiver. Although the City does not intend to waive its rights under the 1984 agreement, it is filing this fish passage waiver application as long as filing this application and issuance of a waiver do not prejudice the City’s rights under the FERC agreement. 3. Passage will Not be Provided for the Following Reason(s): The City is not providing fish passage at its dams in the Bull Run watershed because the HCP mitigation package, as a whole, provides a net benefit to fish that is greater than the benefit that would be derived from provision of any reasonable fish passage alternatives at the structures. The Benefits and Costs of Providing Fish Passage: Benefits The alternative for providing fish access to the upper Bull Run watershed is described in detail in the Final Environmental Impact Statement, Bull Run Water Supply Habitat Conservation Plan (CH2M Hill 2008, Appendix B). The City used the Ecosystem Diagnosis and Treatment (EDT) model to estimate the number of adult anadromous fish that would return from the ocean to the Sandy River basin if passage was constructed around the Bull Run dams and rock weir. There would be an additional 173 fall-run adult Chinook, 358 spring-run adult Chinook, 36 adult coho, and 647 adult winter-run steelhead to the respective Sandy River Basin populations (CH2M Hill 2008). However, these estimates are very liberal (high) since the model assumption was that fish passage would be 100% effective (both upstream and downstream migrations) around the current dams. Providing fish passage around the Bull Run dams could also benefit other native migratory fish, including rainbow trout, cutthroat trout, sucker species, mountain whitefish, western brook lamprey, Pacific lamprey, and possibly river lamprey. Self-sustaining populations of all but Pacific lamprey and river lamprey, however, are believed to already inhabit the portions of the upper Bull Run River basin where they might naturally occur if fish could pass around the dams. The only benefit that these populations might derive from providing fish passage would be enhanced genetic diversity. Pacific lamprey would accrue both numeric and genetic benefits from access to up to 25 additional miles of stream habitat. Nothing is known about the historical presence of river lamprey in the Bull Run River, but this species might benefit from up to 25 additional miles of stream habitat, similar to Pacific lamprey. Costs The cost of the fish passage measures alone would be approximately $64 million and the total cost of the fish passage alternative is approximately $139 million (see CH2M Hill 2008). For this cost, the City estimates that an additional 12.1 miles, 1.3 miles, 25 miles, and 12.1 miles of stream habitat would become available for spring Chinook, fall Chinook, winter steelhead, and coho, respectively. The Benefits and Costs of the City's Proposed HCP Mitigation Measures 3 The alternative is the City’s HCP mitigation package which provides habitat benefits in all of the subbasins in the Sandy River basin (see City of Portland 2008). Benefits For all fall and spring Chinook, coho salmon, and steelhead added together, the City’s HCP would produce more adult fish than from providing complete fish passage in the Bull Run watershed (2,383 versus 1,214). The City estimates that an additional 645 adult fall-run Chinook, 793 adult spring-run Chinook, 575 adult coho, and 370 adult winter-run steelhead would be added to the respective greater Sandy River Basin populations from the City’s HCP mitigation package (CH2M Hill 2008). A portion of this increase is attributable to the HCP package providing 18 more stream miles of habitat for coho, steelhead, and lamprey in Alder and Cedar creeks. The HCP actions would also improve habitat throughout the Sandy River basin for all other native migratory fish that reside or historically occurred in the Bull Run River basin, including rainbow trout, cutthroat trout, sucker species, mountain whitefish, western brook lamprey, Pacific lamprey, and river lamprey. Although specific modeling results do not exist for these species, they are all expected to benefit both numerically and genetically from the City’s HCP Mitigation Measures. Costs The City's HCP, approved in April 2009, has a projected cost of $93 million over 50 years. The City estimates that, for this cost, it can boost habitat capacity and population productivity in the Bull Run basin and the Sandy River basin for salmon, steelhead, and other native fish. The HCP mitigation package will result in higher abundances and other parameters that affect population viability than can be accomplished by providing fish passage past all artificial obstructions on the Bull Run River 4.