Contract Description:

Fall Chinook historically spawned in the mainstem of the mid-Columbia and Snake Rivers.  The two most important spawning and early rearing areas for upriver bright fall Chinook prior to development were the mainstem Snake River above Hells Canyon and the main stem Columbia River from Celilo Falls to the confluence with the Snake River.  Construction of The Dalles Dam in 1957 and John Day Dam in 1967 inundated much of the available spawning area for fall Chinook in the mainstem Columbia River.   Congress authorized the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to mitigate for the losses caused by construction of both dams as early as 1948 with the passage of the Columbia River Fishery Development Program.  The difficulty in determining the level and location of mitigation is indicated by the long history of correspondence between the USACE and the state and federal fish agencies.  Funding for The Dalles/John Day mitigation was used to produce fall Chinook at Bonneville Hatchery and Spring Creek Hatchery, both of which are downstream from the mitigation areas.  More recently the USACE funded fall Chinook production at Priest Rapids Hatchery, which is upstream of the area of loss.  

In 2008, as part of the development of a new fish management plan, the state, federal and tribal entities party to U.S. v. Oregon engaged the USACE in reexamining the implementation of The Dalles/John Day mitigation.  The U.S. v. Oregon parties and the USACE are negotiating the mitigation level and locations to produce and release mitigation fish.  The U.S. v. Oregon parties and the USACE have exchanged information requests.  The U.S. v. Oregon parties Production Advisory Committee (PAC) and Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) have provided co-managers with data analyses.

The goal of the proposed project is to provide the tribes with technical assistance in developing reprogramming goals for losses in production due to construction of The Dalles and John Day Dams, as well as implementing the production reprogramming measures.  The reprogramming effort must be consistent with overall regional basin-wide objectives.    The project will have three phases.  The first phase is review and planning, and will last 1-2 years.  The second phase is developing options to achieve the reprogramming goals, including implementation methodologies and site selection.  The third phase will consist of contracting and construction activities.

The planning phase will consist of several activities.  A new staff member will be hired to lead the project, including development of the annual statement of work.  Historical documents and the more recent analyses will be reviewed.  The new staff member will provide technical support to tribal policy representatives in the development of the reprogramming goal.  Since development of the production programs needs to be consistent with existing co-manager agreements, the new staff member will participate in regional hatchery management processes.  Regional coordination activities, such as representing the tribes on the U.S. v. Oregon Production Advisory Committee and U.S. v. Oregon John Day Mitigation Workgroup, will be carried on in conjunction with co-managers.   The new staff member will also coordinate with tribal biologists to ensure consistency with tribal vision for reprogramming activities.  Planning activities will lead to development of a fish production reprogramming proposal.  The proposal will represent a unified effort to reprogram a portion of the US v OR production to upriver areas, where the fish may contribute to zone 6 fisheries.  The first phase will require one year for implementation.