YAKIMA — Every September, the rising Tieton River becomes a magnet for its high-quality white-water rafting. Thousands of thrill-seekers from across the Pacific Northwest are drawn to the roiling waters created when the gates are swung open at Rimrock Lake after Labor Day.
It’s all done for the fish.
But now the federal Bureau of Reclamation is rethinking whether the annual rush of high water is the best way to help fish listed under the Endangered Species Act. Changing the flow might be good for the fish, but it could hurt commercial rafters and small business along a river that offers the state’s only white water in September.
The rethinking also represents an evolving approach in the way the bureau manages the river system, which is critical to fish, farmers and, increasingly, rafters.
Whatever emerges from the bureau’s reassessment will not affect its delivery of irrigation water.
In a move hailed by fish agencies as forward-looking and cooperative, the bureau is examining again how its operations affect fish listed under the Endangered Species Act.
In the Yakima River Basin, the listed species are steelhead and bull trout, both of which are threatened.
“I’m very optimistic this will bear fruit,” observed Dale Bambrick, Eastern Washington habitat team leader for NOAA Fisheries, formerly the National Marine Fisheries Service, citing what he described as the agency’s courage for re-examining the issue.
That could not have been said as recently as a decade ago, when there was less commitment to fish protection.
It is too early to say exactly how dramatically flows in the Tieton River could change. But a change there and adjustments elsewhere in the system could reduce chances that legal challenge by environmental groups could put a federal judge in charge of managing the river system.
Certainly, the rafting industry will likely have to adjust.
About a dozen licensed outfitters bring an estimated 6,000 people annually to the Tieton, where the flow can triple to more than 2,000 cubic feet per second of water.
Jerry Michalec, owner of North Cascades River Expeditions of Arlington, said the Tieton rafting season accounts for about 20 percent of his business.
“It is a unique opportunity for rafters in the fall. You can’t run anywhere else,” he said. “Having the Tieton is a real bonus and a critical part of our business. It would mostly result in a loss of revenue, which can’t be replaced.”
He said the outfitters will just have to deal with whatever comes out of the bureau’s new assessment.
“I think the real value is it gets people to see an area they would have no other reason to visit and enjoy,” he said. “The fish will take first place in any of these deliberations.”
Known as the flip-flop, the Tieton’s high flows stem from a 1980 federal judge’s order to protect spring chinook salmon eggs in the upper Yakima River. To do that, the bureau decided to reduce releases from Yakima River reservoirs during the spawning season so less water is needed during the winter months to protect incubating spring chinook salmon eggs.
To make up for reductions in the Yakima River, the Tieton amps up to ensure irrigation deliveries.
Fish agencies, however, have long questioned the effect that the Tieton’s higher flows are having on other fish species.
Bambrick said high summer flows in the Yakima River create problems for young fish, which must find places to rest and feed. The same thing happens in the fall for fish in the Tieton.
“Most of us on the fish side say this isn’t the best way to run the river. But if you are going to make a change, you have to find a remedy that keeps irrigation whole,” he said.
This is the second time the bureau has conducted such an assessment. Its first report was eight years ago, but it was never acted on as fishery agencies and bureau officials continued discussing the effects.
Enough has changed that a new review is now warranted, said Dave Kaumheimer, the bureau’s environmental programs manager in Yakima.
He said newer fish studies and better water-supply predictions have expanded knowledge about how the three-county project works as it delivers water to 460,000 acres between Easton and Richland.
“We simply felt we know more than we did then,” Kaumheimer said.
The new assessment is expected to be completed this summer and is given a better chance of resulting in a decision by the agencies.
John Easterbrooks, fishery program manager for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, agreed flip-flop has been modified over time to reduce the dramatic changes in river flows and be friendlier to other fish species, including those that are listed.
Based on the talks, more changes are likely in store.
“We may not have as high a flow in September and the peaks might be lower,” he said. “There are all sorts of possible different flow scenarios that could be developed to achieve the benefits for spring chinook without doing harm to steelhead and bull trout.”
But the outcome — to be determined over the months ahead — could also lessen the chances of third-party lawsuits for damaging fish protected by the act.
Gerald Kelso, the bureau’s Upper Columbia Area Office manager, said no guarantees exist in our lawsuit-happy society.
“We do need to move the process along because a successful consultation is better than being mired in some other kind of process that involves the agencies and us and everyone being party to some lawsuit,” he said.
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