February 2011

Juvenile spring Chinook acclimating to its home stream (Photo courtesy Todd Pearsons)

Spring Chinook Salmon

Grant PUD continues to work with local community members to implement the White River and Nason Creek spring Chinook salmon programs. The goal is to aid the recovery of these endangered spring Chinook while balancing impacts to other species and the unique landscape qualities of the Wenatchee River Basin.

This newsletter provides updates on plans and upcoming activities for the long-term facilities for these programs and shares information about the near-term fish acclimation and monitoring activities in the White River and Nason Creek.

Moving Forward 

In spring 2010 Grant PUD staff & White River work group members toured an acclimation side channel

Upcoming Activities

Grant PUD biologists test the best strategies for acclimation of White River spring Chinook

Grant PUD and its partners are working cooperatively to develop programs that are scientifically sound while also respectful to the environment and multiple public interests. To minimize the facility footprint and environmental effects, the use of existing hatcheries outside the Wenatchee Basin will be utilized to spawn spring Chinook adults, incubate eggs, and provide early rearing of young fish. Currently, White River spring Chinook salmon are being raised at the Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery located just east of Stevenson, Washington in the Columbia River Gorge, before they are transported over 240 miles to their home stream in the White River basin for acclimation and spring release.

In-basin, long-term acclimation facilities are necessary for the success of these programs. These facilities are expected to show marked survival and return improvement; fish that spend winter months in river or creek waters of their origin appear to have higher survival rates and are more likely to find their way back to spawn as adults. Protecting acclimating  fish from predation and the elements is also critical.

The over-winter rearing and acclimation facilities planned for sites near the White River and Nason Creek are being designed to address both aesthetic and habitat impacts. In order to reduce effects on the local environment and viewscape, a minimized facility footprint is planned for both facilities. Important habitat elements will also be developed or enhanced at both sites.

Upon completion, juvenile spring Chinook will be at these facilities from the beginning of October to approximately the end of May. The White River bridge site on Little Wenatchee River Road at river mile 2 and the Nason Creek site, located at the property between Coulter Creek Road and Nason Creek on Highway 2, are both Grant PUD-owned properties. We expect to have these facilities operating in 2014-2015.

Until these long-term facilities are complete, short-term spring acclimation is necessary for White River spring Chinook. Each spring since 2005, White River salmon have been transported from rearing facilities, acclimated, and then released from a variety of locations in the White River basin. 

Spring 2011

Grant PUD staff & consultants estimate sediment size & slope within side channel on the White River

Both homing and outmigration survival have been identified as significant issues for the White River supplementation program and efforts to evaluate the best release strategies are underway. Crews will mobilize equipment in early March to prepare for the acclimation and release of approximately 118,000 White River spring Chinook smolts in May. On the White River, smolts will acclimate in rectangular mobile tanks and an in-water net at the bridge site, and in tanks and in a side channel near the confluence of the Napeequa River. Additionally, some fish will be acclimated in net pens in Lake Wenatchee. As a component of this project, habitat enhancement activities at both sites will also occur this year. These activities include vegetation enhancement at both sites to improve habitat functions for avian, aquatic, and other species, as well as streambank stabilization.

Once the sites are prepared, smolts will be transported from Little White Salmon Hatchery in late March. The fish will rear at these locations for several weeks until they are released from their acclimation locations or from tank trucks used to transport a portion of the smolts around Lake Wenatchee. Grant PUD is evaluating each of these release strategies to determine which are best for survival of out-migrating fish and to avoid returning adults from straying into streams other than the White River.

Annual monitoring and evaluation activities in both the White River and Nason Creek also begin in March and continue through November. A rotary screw trap will continue to operate downstream of the Sears Creek bridge on the White River and near the state park on Nason Creek to count juvenile fish migrating downstream. Fish are tagged at the screw traps, allowing them to be detected at other locations. Water quality monitoring also occurs regularly at these sites.

Background

The White River and Nason Creek spring Chinook programs are components of a comprehensive protection program for the spring Chinook populations in the mid-Columbia region affected by the Priest Rapids Hydroelectric Project. The White River spring Chinook is part of the Upper Columbia River (UCR) Spring Chinook Salmon Evolutionarily Significant Unit, which was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 1999. This unique conservation hatchery program was developed by the National Marine Fisheries Service in collaboration with a multi-agency state, federal and tribal technical group as an emergency, short-term emergency measure to prevent extinction of the White River spring Chinook, an important and unique spawning aggregate of salmon. 

Grant PUD, in collaboration with its partnering agencies and tribes, has been implementing the White River spring Chinook program since 1997. Overall direction for this program is a provision of the 2008 National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Biological Opinion and 401 Water Quality Certification for the Priest Rapids Project. These provisions were adopted as terms and conditions of Grant PUD's FERC license, issued in April 2008, to operate the Project. These documents can be viewed at Grant PUD license documents.

Under the terms and conditions of its license to operate the Priest Rapids Project, Grant PUD is obligated to construct and fund long-term facilities that will aid in the recovery of the White River UCR spring Chinook. 

Hatchery and Genetic Management Plans