New plan for dams aims to improve salmon runs

By Warren Cornwall
Seattle Times staff reporter

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Two hydroelectric dams once blamed for harming Skagit River and Baker River salmon runs would be managed in a more fish-friendly way under an agreement reached by Puget Sound Energy, tribes, state and federal environmental agencies and environmental groups.

The deal would set stricter limits on how much water should be released from two dams on the Baker River, which flows through the North Cascades town of Concrete, Skagit County, before joining the Skagit River.

The energy company, which owns the dams that have a combined output of 175 megawatts of power, also would pay for expanding a fish hatchery, transporting fish around the dams, improving habitat, redeveloping a resort along Baker Lake and protecting tribal cultural sites.

The agreement, which the energy company said would cost $360 million over the next 30 years, marks an unusual consensus.

Setting the rules governing dam operation is often an acrimonious process pitting environmental and tribal interests against power companies. In this case, 24 parties signed off on a deal negotiated over five years.

"Together, we showed that people can find common ground for the common good even when they hold widely differing interests and objectives at the outset," Steve Reynolds, PSE president and chief executive officer, said in a prepared statement.

Larry Wasserman, environmental-services director for the Skagit River System Cooperative, described it as a process of compromise by everyone.

"All of the parties felt that it was better to have an agreement than to take it to court," said Wasserman, whose cooperative works on fisheries management for the Swinomish and Sauk-Suiattle tribes. Those tribes signed the agreement.

The dams presented myriad problems for salmon. On the Baker River, they flooded habitat and blocked the upper reaches, except when the fish were moved by truck. On the Skagit River, the dams also created sharp river fluctuations. High water could cause spawning salmon to lay eggs in places that later would be left dry.

Low water could strand young salmon in small pools of water. In early 2001, after the reservoirs were drawn down, the company stopped water flow below the dams, sparking criticism. Skagit River chinook are listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.
 
Under the agreement, the company would release at least 1,200 cubic feet per second of water. Flows would be capped at certain times of the year. The limit under the last license, issued in 1956, required at least 80 cubic feet per second and had no upper limit.

The agreement will be sent to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, with the hope it will be used to craft a new license for the dam. The agency probably won't act on the license request until 2006.

Warren Cornwall: 206-464-2311 or wcornwall@seattletimes.com