Bull Trout Proposed Critical Habitat Justification: Rationale for Why Habitat Is Essential, and Documentation of Occupancy
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Some Dam – Hydro News
SSoommee DDaamm –– HHyyddrroo NNeewwss and Other Stuff i 5/01/2009 Quote of Note: Thoughts on the economy: “If you’re in a traffic jam quit whining, it means you have a job” - - Paula Smith “If you have a job it’s a recession, if you’re laid off it’s a depression” - - Common “No nation was ever drunk when wine was cheap.” - - Thomas Jefferson Ron’s wine pick of the week: Maipe Bonarda Mendoza, Argentina 2008 OOtthheerr SSttuuffffff::: (Oops, a funny thing happened on the way to the office, they forgot about or don’t know about pumped storage hydro, the ideal backup solution. They got it right on the other points though.) Getting real on wind and solar By James Schlesinger and Robert L. Hirsch, Washington Post, 04/24/2009 Why are we ignoring things we know? We know that the sun doesn't always shine and that the wind doesn't always blow. That means that solar cells and wind energy systems don't always provide electric power. Nevertheless, solar and wind energy seem to have captured the public's support as potentially being the primary or total answer to our electric power needs. Solar cells and wind turbines are appealing because they are "renewables" with promising implications and because they emit no carbon dioxide during operation, which is certainly a plus. But because both are intermittent electric power generators, they cannot produce electricity "on demand," something that the public requires. We expect the lights to go on when we flip a switch, and we do not expect our computers to shut down as nature dictates. -
Salmon and Steelhead in the White Salmon River After the Removal of Condit Dam—Planning Efforts and Recolonization Results
FEATURE Salmon and Steelhead in the White Salmon River after the Removal of Condit Dam—Planning Efforts and Recolonization Results 190 Fisheries | Vol. 41 • No. 4 • April 2016 M. Brady Allen U.S. Geological Survey, Western Fisheries Research Center–Columbia River Research Laboratory Rod O. Engle U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Columbia River Fisheries Program Office, Vancouver, WA Joseph S. Zendt Yakama Nation Fisheries, Klickitat, WA Frank C. Shrier PacifiCorp, Portland, OR Jeremy T. Wilson Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Vancouver, WA Patrick J. Connolly U.S. Geological Survey, Western Fisheries Research Center–Columbia River Research Laboratory, Cook, WA Current address for M. Brady Allen: Bonneville Power Administration, P.O. Box 3621, Portland, OR 97208-3621. E-mail: [email protected] Current address for Rod O. Engle: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Lower Snake River Compensation Plan Office, 1387 South Vinnell Way, Suite 343, Boise, ID 83709. Fisheries | www.fisheries.org 191 Condit Dam, at river kilometer 5.3 on the White Salmon River, Washington, was breached in 2011 and completely removed in 2012. This action opened habitat to migratory fish for the first time in 100 years. The White Salmon Working Group was formed to create plans for fish salvage in preparation for fish recolonization and to prescribe the actions necessary to restore anadromous salmonid populations in the White Salmon River after Condit Dam removal. Studies conducted by work group members and others served to inform management decisions. Management options for individual species were considered, including natural recolonization, introduction of a neighboring stock, hatchery supplementation, and monitoring natural recolonization for some time period to assess the need for hatchery supplementation. -
Lake Chelan Basin Overview View ‘Up-Lake’ of 90 Km (50 Mile) Long, 453 M (1486 Ft.) Deep Lake Chelan
J. Riedel Contributions to the 2018 Pacific Northwest Friends of the Pleistocene Field Conference Stop 1.2: Lake Chelan Basin Overview View ‘up-lake’ of 90 km (50 mile) long, 453 m (1486 ft.) deep Lake Chelan. There are three basins comprising Lake Chelan separated by bedrock sills: Stehekin, Lucerne, and Wapato (Figure 2). The Lucerne Basin is the deepest and longest, with relief of > 3200 m (10,660 000 ft.) from the bedrock floor of the valley to the summit of Bonanza Peak (2900 m) on its west valley wall (Figure 2). The shallower Wapato Basin is in part dammed by glacial drift south of Chelan (Stop 1.4; Runner 1921). Figure 1. Location of Lake Chelan in north-central Washington. Blue arrows at top indicate Fisher and Rainy passes, where Cordilleran Ice Sheet entered Chelan watershed. Waitt (2017) noted the ice sheet was 760 m thick over Rainy Pass. Figure 2. Longitudinal profile of the bottom of Lake Chelan (top) and seismic profiling of sub-bottom (UW and NPS unpublished). The Lucerne and Stehekin basins are superimposed on resistant Skagit Gneiss and Tertiary igneous bedrock. The upper part of the valley is cut into resistant gneiss, which allows the canyon walls to stand near vertically along the upper lake. The deepest part of Lake Chelan occurs in the Lucerne Basin in The Straits near Falls Creek, where the bedrock changes from gneiss to erodible volcanic rocks and schist. The lower two basins are separated at the Narrows, an accumulation of landslide debris from Slide Ridge on the south shore, and bedrock on the north shore (Whetten, 1967). -
Relicensing Update in This Issue: Settlement Discussions for Rocky Reach Relicensing
August 2005 Chelan County PUD RELICENSING UPDATE IN THIS ISSUE: Settlement discussions for Rocky Reach relicensing ..........1 Lake Chelan Dam still awaits biological opinion..............4 Lake Chelan Rocky Reach Hydroelectric Project Hydroelectric Project Settlement discussions for Rocky Reach relicensing flow into summer The Federal Energy project operations or make Regulatory Commission recommendations about (FERC) is currently preparing how Chelan County PUD a draft environmental should protect, mitigate or assessment of the license enhance resources affected application Chelan County by the project. Tribal PUD submitted in June, representatives, local agencies, 2004. In the meantime, the the City of Entiat and local utility continues to meet interested parties are also with a “Settlement Group” active Settlement Group of stakeholders who hope members. to propose a comprehensive The purpose of the settlement agreement to settlement process is to FERC before the end of this more effectively address year. issues which otherwise may During relicensing, a project result in legal challenge. Chelan PUD biologists Jeff Osborn (left) and Steve Hays is evaluated by FERC on the Resolving issues directly with (right) discuss the Bull Trout Management Plan with U.S. basis of how power and non- stakeholders allows local Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Steve Lewis (center). power uses of the affected solutions to prevail, rather water resource (i.e. the Rocky than awaiting decisions PMEs will be used by (for details on water quality Reach Reservoir) will be from Washington, D.C. FERC to develop license issues, see the March, 2005 managed for the next 30-50 Ultimately, a comprehensive articles, which will become Relicensing Update on years. -
Lake Chelan Recertification Review Report 2018
REVIEW OF APPLICATION FOR RE-CERTIFICATION BY THE LOW IMPACT HYDROPOWER INSTITUTE OF THE LAKE CHELAN HYDROELECTRIC FACILITY Prepared by Patricia McIlvaine December 26, 2018; links added January 21, 2019 I. INTRODUCTION This report summarizes the review of the application submitted by the Public Utility District No. 1 of Chelan County (Chelan PUD or Applicant) to the Low Impact Hydropower Institute (LIHI) for re-certification of the Lake Chelan Hydroelectric Project FERC P-637 (Lake Chelan or Project). The Project was initially certified by LIHI as Low Impact in 2008 and re-certified in December 2012 as LIHI Certificate No. 30. The expiration date of the Certificate has been extended to allow for this review. This current re-certification review was conducted in compliance with LIHI’s Handbook, 2nd Edition, dated March 7, 2016. The December 2012 Recertification Report can be accessed via the link below. https://lowimpacthydro.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Recommendation-Memo-Lake-Chelan- 2012.pdf The Project’s December 2012 re-certification had no conditions. II. RECERTIFICATION PROCESS AND INITIAL ASSESSMENT Under the 2016 LIHI Handbook, reviews are a two-phase process starting with a limited review of a completed LIHI application, focused on three questions: (1) Is there any missing information from the application? (2) Has there been a material change in the operation of the certified facility since the previous certificate term? (3) Has there been a change in LIHI criteria since the Certificate was issued? In accordance with the Recertification Standards, if the only issue is that there is some missing information, the applicant will have the opportunity to provide the missing information, and this may or may not trigger a Stage II review. -
The Wild Cascades
THE WILD CASCADES Fall, 1984 2 The Wild Cascades PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE ONCE THE LINES ARE DRAWN, THE BATTLE IS NOT OVER The North Cascades Conservation Council has developed a reputation for consistent, hard-hitting, responsible action to protect wildland resources in the Washington Cascades. It is perhaps best known for leading the fight to preserve and protect the North Cascades in the North Cascades National Park, the Pasayten and Glacier Peak Wilderness Areas, and the Ross Lake and Lake Chelan National Recreation Areas. Despite the recent passage of the Washington Wilderness Act, many areas which deserve and require wilderness designation remain unprotected. One of the goals of the N3C must be to assure protection for these areas. In this issue of the Wild Cascades we have analyzed the Washington Wilderness Act to see what we won and what still hangs in the balance (page ). The N3C will continue to fight to establish new wilderness areas, but there is also a new challenge. Our expertise is increasingly being sought by government agencies to assist in developing appropriate management plans and to support them against attempts to undermine such plans. The invitation to participate more fully in management activities will require considerable effort, but it represents a challenge and an opportunity that cannot be ignored. If we are to meet this challenge we will need members who are either knowledgable or willing to learn about an issue and to guide the Board in its actions. The Spring issue of the Wild Cascades carried a center section with two requests: 1) volunteers to assist and guide the organization on various issues; and 2) payment of dues. -
GEOLOGIC MAP of the MOUNT ADAMS VOLCANIC FIELD, CASCADE RANGE of SOUTHERN WASHINGTON by Wes Hildreth and Judy Fierstein
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR TO ACCOMPANY MAP 1-2460 U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE MOUNT ADAMS VOLCANIC FIELD, CASCADE RANGE OF SOUTHERN WASHINGTON By Wes Hildreth and Judy Fierstein When I climbed Mount Adams {17-18 August 1945] about 1950 m (6400') most of the landscape is mantled I think I found the answer to the question of why men by dense forests and huckleberry thickets. Ten radial stake everything to reach these peaks, yet obtain no glaciers and the summit icecap today cover only about visible reward for their exhaustion... Man's greatest 2.5 percent (16 km2) of the cone, but in latest Pleis experience-the one that brings supreme exultation tocene time (25-11 ka) as much as 80 percent of Mount is spiritual, not physical. It is the catching of some Adams was under ice. The volcano is drained radially vision of the universe and translating it into a poem by numerous tributaries of the Klickitat, White Salmon, or work of art ... Lewis, and Cis pus Rivers (figs. 1, 2), all of which ulti William 0. Douglas mately flow into the Columbia. Most of Mount Adams and a vast area west of it are Of Men and Mountains administered by the U.S. Forest Service, which has long had the dual charge of protecting the Wilderness Area and of providing a network of logging roads almost INTRODUCTION everywhere else. The northeast quadrant of the moun One of the dominating peaks of the Pacific North tain, however, lies within a part of the Yakima Indian west, Mount Adams, stands astride the Cascade crest, Reservation that is open solely to enrolled members of towering 3 km above the surrounding valleys. -
RELICENSING UPDATE in This Issue: Lake Chelan Project Study Updates
July 2000 Chelan County PUD RELICENSING UPDATE In this issue: Lake Chelan project Study updates ........................................................ Page 1 Rocky Reach project Study updates ........................................................ Page 2 Kayak photos A look at the gorge ................................................... Page 3 Get to know the PUD relicensing team Lake Chelan Rocky Reach Steve Hays, natural sciences consultant ....................... Page 4 Hydroelectric Project Hydroelectric Project License expires 2004 License expires 2006 LAKE CHELAN HYDRO PROJECT Kayakers make it through Chelan Gorge at three flows The flow of water in the gorge was controlled by opening Tracy Clapp of Sultan, Wash., a single gate at the Lake Chelan Dam upstream. Flows were finds his kayak 273 cubic feet per second the first day, 391 cfs the second pointing skyward day and 475 cfs the third day. Flows during spring runoff as he fights his way are more typically in the 1,000 to 2,000 cfs range, but they through whitewater can get above 12,000 cfs. in the gorge. Kayakers said they thought the middle flow was closest to what most visiting kayakers would like to see. But they also said the higher flow offered some extra challenges that visiting boaters would find enjoyable. More kayak The PUD must now wait for the final report from the photos, Page 3 kayaking study team evaluating the test. Then it will discuss the issue with other parties in the relicensing process to Six highly experienced kayakers made three successful determine whether kayaking will become part of the terms trips through the Chelan River Gorge July 8-10, demon- and conditions for a new license. -
Low Impact Hydropower Institute Re-Certification Application Lake
Low Impact Hydropower Institute Re-certification Application Lake Chelan Hydroelectric Project (FERC No. 637) Public Utility District No. 1 of Chelan County August 30, 2018 1 Contents Part 1. Facility Description ............................................................................................................. 3 The Lake Chelan Hydroelectric Project, FERC Project No. 637. .................................................. 3 Part 2. Standards Matrices ............................................................................................................ 15 2.1 Zone of Effect 1 – Lake Chelan .......................................................................................... 15 Table 1 – Zone of Effect 1 ..................................................................................................... 15 2.2 Zone of Effect 2 – Reaches 1, 2, and 3 of the Chelan River ............................................... 28 Table 2 – Zone of Effect 2 ..................................................................................................... 28 2.3 Zone of Effect 3 – Reach 4 of the Chelan River ................................................................. 39 Table 3 – Zone of Effect 3 ..................................................................................................... 39 2.4 Zone of Effect 4 – Lake Chelan Project Tailrace ................................................................ 51 Table 4 – Zone of Effect 4 .................................................................................................... -
Salmon Habitat Assessment for Conservation Planning on the Lower White Salmon River, Washington
Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group Salmon habitat assessment for conservation planning on the Lower White Salmon River, Washington By Jill M. Hardiman and M. Brady Allen Report Series XXXX–XXXX U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Department of the Interior KEN SALAZAR, Secretary U.S. Geological Survey Marcia K. McNutt, Director U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 201x Revised and reprinted: 201x For more information on the USGS—the Federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment—visit http://www.usgs.gov or call 1–888–ASK–USGS For an overview of USGS information products, including maps, imagery, and publications, visit http://www.usgs.gov/pubprod To order this and other USGS information products, visit http://store.usgs.gov Suggested citation: Author1, F.N., Author2, Firstname, 2001, Title of the publication: Place of publication (unless it is a corporate entity), Publisher, number or volume, page numbers; information on how to obtain if it’s not from the group above. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Although this report is in the public domain, permission must be secured from the individual copyright owners to reproduce any copyrighted material contained within this report. ii ContentsAbstract .......................................................................................................................................................... -
Public Law 109–44 109Th Congress an Act to Designate a Portion of the White Salmon River As a Component of the National Aug
PUBLIC LAW 109–44—AUG. 2, 2005 119 STAT. 443 Public Law 109–44 109th Congress An Act To designate a portion of the White Salmon River as a component of the National Aug. 2, 2005 Wild and Scenic Rivers System. [H.R. 38] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, Upper White Salmon Wild and SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. Scenic Rivers Act. This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Upper White Salmon Wild and 16 USC 1271 Scenic Rivers Act’’. note. SEC. 2. UPPER WHITE SALMON WILD AND SCENIC RIVER. Section 3(a) of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 1274(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘( ) WHITE SALMON RIVER, WASHINGTON.—The 20 miles of river segments of the main stem of the White Salmon River and Cascade Creek, Washington, to be administered by the Secretary of Agriculture in the following classifications: ‘‘(A) The approximately 1.6-mile segment of the main stem of the White Salmon River from the headwaters on Mount Adams in section 17, township 8 north, range 10 east, down- stream to the Mount Adams Wilderness boundary as a wild river. ‘‘(B) The approximately 5.1-mile segment of Cascade Creek from its headwaters on Mount Adams in section 10, township 8 north, range 10 east, downstream to the Mount Adams Wilderness boundary as a wild river. ‘‘(C) The approximately 1.5-mile segment of Cascade Creek from the Mount Adams Wilderness boundary downstream to its confluence with the White Salmon River as a scenic river. -
Condit Hydroelectric Project Decommissioning FERC Project No. 2342 Final Decommissioning Report
Condit Hydroelectric Project Decommissioning FERC Project No. 2342 Final Decommissioning Report Condit – May 2014 Prepared by: May 10, 2019 Final Condit Hydroelectric Project Decommissioning Report This Final Condit Hydroelectric Project Decommissioning Report has been prepared per article (J) Final Report of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Order Accepting Surrender of License, Authorizing Removal of Project Facilities, and Dismissing Application for New License (“Surrender Order”) for the Condit Hydroelectric Project (Project Nos. 2342-005 and 2342-011) as issued on December 16, 2010. This report is organized to present the individual requirements of the Surrender Order of December 16, 2010 along with modifications prescribed by the Order on Rehearing, Denying Stay, and Dismissing Extension of Time Request (“Order on Rehearing”) issued by the FERC on April 21, 2011. For each requirement of these orders, actions taken by PacifiCorp and the results are described to provide a comprehensive review of the completion of all required actions, many of which have been documented in individual reports filed with the FERC. 1. BACKGROUND On October 21, 1999, PacifiCorp filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission an application for amendment of license and approval of offer of settlement (“Surrender Application”) to surrender the Condit Hydroelectric Project (P-2342) license and decommission the project. On December 16, 2010, the FERC issued the Surrender Order. On January 14, 2011, PacifiCorp filed with the FERC a Request for Clarification and Rehearing and Motion for Stay. The FERC responded to the request issuing the Order on Rehearing on April 21, 2011. In the Surrender Order and Order on Rehearing, the FERC set forth a number of conditions that PacifiCorp was to undertake and complete to remove Condit dam and restore the project area.