Lower Snake River Drawdowns May Be Erased From Salmon Plan Four-State Power Council May Revise Fish, Wildlife Plan It Adopted In 1994

Drawdowns of lower Snake River reservoirs to save salmon and steelhead runs may soon disappear from the Northwest Power Planning Council’s recovery plan.

Ken Casavant of Pullman, who represents Eastern Washington on the four-state panel, said he expects the council to reopen the fish and wildlife plan it adopted in 1994.

The council is meeting this week in Astoria, Ore.

The actual vote on whether drawdowns will stay in the plan probably will not come until sometime this fall, Casavant said.

Scientific evidence and new theories from an independent group of scientists commissioned by the council suggest drawing down the waterways to speed the current through slackwater lacks merit, Casavant said.

Drawdowns were championed by former Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus, but panned by shippers who could face shutdowns on river locks when the reservoirs were lowered.

Casavant was one of the council members who voted in favor of the 1994 blueprint, which called for including drawdowns as an option for a regional salmon recovery effort.

Within weeks of that vote, Phil Batt, then Idaho’s governor-elect, replaced both of Idaho’s representatives on the council, and Idaho and Montana began a campaign to sink the drawdown option.

“I know nobody remembers, but I opposed drawdowns then but voted for the overall program,” Casavant said.

He said tests by the National Marine Fisheries Service showed losses of young salmon migrating through the lower Snake were much less than expected.

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