FY 2002 Columbia Plateau proposal 200203200

Section 1. Administrative

Project location

Reasonable and Prudent Alternatives (RPAs)

Section 2. Past accomplishments

Section 3. Relationships to other projects

Section 4. Budget for Planning and Design phase

Task-based budget

Outyear objectives-based budget

Outyear budgets for Planning and Design phase

Section 5. Budget for Construction and Implementation phase

Task-based budget

Outyear objectives-based budget

Outyear budgets for Construction and Implementation phase

Section 6. Budget for Operations and Maintenance phase

Task-based budget

Outyear objectives-based budget

Outyear budgets for Operations and Maintenance phase

Section 7. Budget for Monitoring and Evaluation phase

Task-based budget

Outyear objectives-based budget

Outyear budgets for Monitoring and Evaluation phase

Section 8. Estimated budget summary

Itemized budget

Total estimated budget

Cost sharing

Reviews and recommendations

This information was not provided on the original proposals, but was generated during the review process.

Comment:

Fundable.

This is a good proposal for research needed to clarify the migration timing of fall chinook salmon that may overwinter in the Lower Snake River. Project personnel have identified a gap in understanding of life-history of chinook salmon. Bypass systems for migrating juvenile chinook salmon are closed between November and April at Lower Granite Dam. Recent information shows that this may impede emigrating fall chinook salmon that did not escape before November, but presumably stayed in the system through much of the winter (or alter our migration understanding, because of lack of monitoring data in winter). Preliminary data show that these fish make a significant contribution to the returning adults from a given brood. The proposal is to assess the significance of this situation for fall chinook salmon.

The proposal is generally complete and persuasive. The information in Part 1 is complete. There is an excellent background section. The work is justified with specific action items from the NMFS BiOp and the Subbasin Summary (but strangely not the FWP). There is a good description of the relationships to other projects, not just BPA's. There are good objectives (although stated more like tasks than as desired outcomes), tasks, and methods. One wonders if the scale pattern analysis for sea-water entry has been verified with elemental analyses (e.g., Sr/Ca ratios). There is an appropriate reference list. Staff resumes are complete and the staff is clearly competent to do the work. This is the same crew that has been doing the wild fall chinook studies underway since the early 1990s and this project is a logical extension of that work (but not within the existing scope). The studies are needed and this is the right group to do them.

Based on the presentation and discussion, it is even more convincing that we have generated an overwintering stock of fall chinook through our thermal manipulations of the Snake-Clearwater system. If it is happening, we are missing much of it with our standard fish monitoring operations that end in fall and don't begin again until spring. This change in life-cycle could be highly important for the general notion of species' adaptability and for the persistence of the Snake River wild fall chinook. It must be tested with the sort of work proposed here. A peculiarity is that the proposal continually implies that the bypass system should perhaps be operated for these fish, presumably to improve their survival, yet it provides data suggesting that their rate of survival is high relative to fish that do not hold over (i.e., use the bypass when it operates). Perhaps an alternative hypothesis deserves exploration. In summary, this is important work that deserves high priority for funding.

Comment:

Comment:

The proposal is generally complete and persuasive. The information in Part 1 is complete. There is an excellent background section. The work is justified with specific action items from the NMFS BiOp and the Subbasin Summary (but strangely not the FWP). There is a good description of the relationships to other projects, not just BPA's. There are good objectives (although stated more like tasks than as desired outcomes), tasks, and methods. One wonders if the scale pattern analysis for seawater entry has been verified with elemental analyses (e.g., Sr/Ca ratios). There is an appropriate reference list. Staff resumes are complete and the staff is clearly competent to do the work. This is the same crew that has been doing the wild fall chinook studies underway since the early 1990s and this project is a logical extension of that work (but not within the existing scope). The studies are needed and this is the right group to do them.

Based on the presentation and discussion, it is even more convincing that we have generated an overwintering stock of fall chinook through our thermal manipulations of the Snake-Clearwater system. If it is happening, we are missing much of it with our standard fish monitoring operations that end in fall and don't begin again until spring. This change in life-cycle could be highly important for the general notion of species' adaptability and for the persistence of the Snake River wild fall chinook. It must be tested with the sort of work proposed here. A peculiarity is that the proposal continually implies that the bypass system should perhaps be operated for these fish, presumably to improve their survival, yet it provides data suggesting that their rate of survival is high relative to fish that do not hold over (i.e., use the bypass when it operates). Perhaps an alternative hypothesis deserves exploration. In summary, this is important work that deserves high priority for funding.

Comment:

Comments
Fall chinook have low passage survival; this project will help determine how SR Fall chinook migratory behavior and bypass operations may interact to contribute to that low survival.

Already ESA Req? no

Biop? yes

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Sponsor comments: See comment at Council's website