|
After years of litigation over how to help the Kootenai River white
sturgeon successfully reproduce, environmental groups, government
agencies and the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho have agreed on a restoration
plan.
The Center for Biological Diversity, the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho,
the state of Montana, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers and the Bonneville Power Administration on Tuesday
submitted a collaborative restoration plan to the District Court of
Montana for approval.
Under the plan submitted this week, the
corps would continue to control temperature and flow from the Libby Dam
to create conditions that will allow the fish to reproduce. If these
measures are unsuccessful, the corps also will test increased flows in
the dam's spillway. Also under the agreement, the Kootenai Tribe of
Idaho will work to restore habitat conditions for the sturgeon with
funding and support from federal agencies.
Kootenai River
sturgeon is a landlocked, genetically unique species of white sturgeon
-- massive fish that can weigh hundreds of pounds and can live for more
than a century.
The Kootenai sturgeon have experienced
significant declines in recent decades and were added to the federal
list of endangered species in 1994. The population is falling at a rate
of 9 percent each year -- a decline blamed on degraded water quality
and the 1972 construction of the Libby Dam in Montana, which altered
the river's flows. Researchers estimate that fewer than 500 of the fish
remain.
"They essentially have not successfully spawned since
the dam became operational," said Noah Greenwald, science director for
the Center for Biological Diversity.
The dam altered the
hydrology of the river, Greenwald continued, changing the spring water
flow. The sturgeon are still spawning, but in the wrong places.
Sturgeon eggs should sink down into the gravel, where the fish can
hatch. But now they are spawning over sand, and the eggs fall to the
bottom and suffocate, he said.
A long road to this agreement
Since the sturgeon was
listed as an endangered species, environmental groups have criticized
the government for failing to create suitable spawning habitat.
The
Center for Biological Diversity began a legal battle with the
government in 2003 when it sued the Fish and Wildlife Service, saying
that the designated critical habitat was insufficient for the
sturgeon's survival. The center sued again in 2007, challenging the
agency's 2006 biological opinion regarding the effects of the dam on
the sturgeon.
Greenwald said that there was some frustration
with the Army Corps of Engineers' lack of action toward implementing
sturgeon protection plans.
"Their interest is in maintaining as much operational flexibility with the dam as they can," he said.
Nola
Leyde, a spokeswoman for the corps, said the dam serves a variety of
purposes, including flood risk management in the Columbia Basin and the
Kootenai Valley, hydropower generation, recreation, navigation and fish
and wildlife needs.
"Those are all needs that need to be balanced," she said.
She
added that this week's agreement was able to manage flood risk while
meeting the biological needs of the fish. "The white sturgeon comes
first," she said.
Billy Barquin, the attorney representing
the Kootenai tribe, said the tribe welcomed the agreement, in part
because it would allow it to go forward with the restoration projects
it had already planned. The tribe has been engaged in sturgeon
restoration projects for years, including operating a hatchery to
artificially propagate the fish.
Bruce Measure, a Montana
member and vice chairman of the Northwest Power Planning Council, said
the deal required a great deal of compromise, and that it is a "good
marriage" among a variety of groups with varying interests.
"We're
really glad that we could come to some sort of an agreement," Greenwald
said. "Nobody got exactly what they wanted, but I think everyone's in a
position where they can live with the agreement."
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
