PRC Weighs In On PacifiCorps' Application For Low-Impact Certification
On December 7, 2009, the Low Impact Hydropower Institute announced receipt of an application for low impact certification from PacifiCorp for the North Umpqua Hydropower Project. Though the decision has yet to be announced, we, along with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and others agree, the North Umpqua Hydropower project's current impact on the river is exceedingly high and it should not be granted this certification.
On December 7, 2009, the Low Impact Hydropower Institute (LIHI) announced receipt of an application for low impact certification from PacifiCorp for the North Umpqua Hydropower Project. Pacific Rivers Council, along with American Rivers, Native Fish Society, and the Steamboaters supplied comments in support of denying this certification. Though the decision has yet to be announced, we, along with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and many other private and academic groups agree, the North Umpqua Hydropower Project’s current impact on the river is exceedingly high and it should not be granted this certification.
The reason for this opposition is the impassable 70-foot tall dam at Soda Springs, which blocks and inundates historically important for salmon, steelhead, and lamprey in the river and tributaries above. Further, it blocks the historically significant supply of gravel and woody debris equally important to habitat in the entire North Umpqua system downstream.
The ecological and social significance of the North Umpqua is immense, with its world-renowned anadromous fishery resources, excellent water quality and historical importance to the local community, which includes the Cow Creek Band of Indians, who has relied on salmon populations in the greater Umpqua basin for hundreds of years.
Since the hydropower project was constructed more than 50 years ago, it has been a principal source of harm to the North Umpqua ecosystem. In addition to the blockage of upstream passage and downstream gravel flow, erosion and sedimentation have resulted from project construction, access roads and flow alterations. Terrestrial, aquatic and riparian habitat connectivity have been disrupted, with small tributaries and headwater streams disconnected, streamflows have been reduced in bypassed reaches, flows and reservoir elevations have fluctuated at unnatural magnitudes and times, and fish, amphibians and terrestrial animals are entrained and killed daily at unscreened diversions. Nonnative, brown trout, highly predatory on native trout and salmon, have established populations in reservoirs and bypass reaches.
One requirement of the relicensing of the hydroelectric system a decade ago was that a fish ladder be built to alleviate the fish migration barrier at Soda Springs Dam. With the construction of a very expensive fish ladder and bypass screen system imminent, its effectiveness for fish passage remains highly questionable. More important, the ladder and screens do nothing to restore the several miles of highly productive historical habitat that remains trapped beneath Soda Springs pool. Scientists agree that removing Soda Springs dam is the largest single opportunity for effective restoration action on the North Umpqua River we are likely to see in our lifetimes.
Pacific Rivers Council believes removal of Soda Springs Dam—the lowermost impoundment in the project which generates a only a small fraction of the project’s power—is the only step that will effectively reverse the negative impacts the hydropower system on salmon and steelhead in the North Umpqua. We anxiously await LIHI’s decision on the Low Impact certification.
You can read more about the system itself and the number of submitted comment letters from PRC/ AR/ NFS/ Steamboaters, USFWS, Kelly Crispen and Jack Stanford on the Low-Impact Hydro Institute website.
The reason for this opposition is the impassable 70-foot tall dam at Soda Springs, which blocks and inundates historically important for salmon, steelhead, and lamprey in the river and tributaries above. Further, it blocks the historically significant supply of gravel and woody debris equally important to habitat in the entire North Umpqua system downstream.
The ecological and social significance of the North Umpqua is immense, with its world-renowned anadromous fishery resources, excellent water quality and historical importance to the local community, which includes the Cow Creek Band of Indians, who has relied on salmon populations in the greater Umpqua basin for hundreds of years.
Since the hydropower project was constructed more than 50 years ago, it has been a principal source of harm to the North Umpqua ecosystem. In addition to the blockage of upstream passage and downstream gravel flow, erosion and sedimentation have resulted from project construction, access roads and flow alterations. Terrestrial, aquatic and riparian habitat connectivity have been disrupted, with small tributaries and headwater streams disconnected, streamflows have been reduced in bypassed reaches, flows and reservoir elevations have fluctuated at unnatural magnitudes and times, and fish, amphibians and terrestrial animals are entrained and killed daily at unscreened diversions. Nonnative, brown trout, highly predatory on native trout and salmon, have established populations in reservoirs and bypass reaches.
One requirement of the relicensing of the hydroelectric system a decade ago was that a fish ladder be built to alleviate the fish migration barrier at Soda Springs Dam. With the construction of a very expensive fish ladder and bypass screen system imminent, its effectiveness for fish passage remains highly questionable. More important, the ladder and screens do nothing to restore the several miles of highly productive historical habitat that remains trapped beneath Soda Springs pool. Scientists agree that removing Soda Springs dam is the largest single opportunity for effective restoration action on the North Umpqua River we are likely to see in our lifetimes.
Pacific Rivers Council believes removal of Soda Springs Dam—the lowermost impoundment in the project which generates a only a small fraction of the project’s power—is the only step that will effectively reverse the negative impacts the hydropower system on salmon and steelhead in the North Umpqua. We anxiously await LIHI’s decision on the Low Impact certification.
You can read more about the system itself and the number of submitted comment letters from PRC/ AR/ NFS/ Steamboaters, USFWS, Kelly Crispen and Jack Stanford on the Low-Impact Hydro Institute website.
