YBSA Monthly Report May, 2007
YBSA Monthly Report
May, 2007
Meeting with Gerry Kelso: Members of YBSA discussed with Gerry Kelso the hypothetical Simulations of potential impacts to the Hanford Site Unconfined Aquifer from Black Rock seepage prepared by V.L. Freedman Pacific Nothwest National Laboratory. The study consists of how 27,000 acre/feet of water will move on the Hanford Reservation. The BOR is planning to complete a study on possible seepage from Black Rock Reservoir in the near future. Access to the complete report can be found at www.usbr.gov/pn/programs/storagestudy.
Dedication: YBSA attended the dedication of the Yakama Nation’s Fish Research and Hatchery in Prosser. The facility was designed to monitor and track salmon returns to the Yakima River. The Yakama’s are also using the facility to reintroduce sturgeon to the river.
Advisory Committee Meeting: YBSA attended the Yakima River Basin Water Resources Advisory Committee meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to review detailed implementation plans for water conservation and fish enhancement projects. A list of recommended projects will be presented to the Yakima River Basin Water Resource Agency and the Boards of County Commissioners. The commissioners will hold public hearings and meet jointly to approve the projects.
Report on Global Warming Impacts: As reported by the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife News Bulletin – “A Report Exploring Global Warming Impacts on Columbia Basin”.
“Salmon habitat loss would be most severe in Oregon and Idaho with potential losses exceeding 40 percent by 2090,” according to “Climate Change Impacts on Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife,” a report released Monday by the Independent Scientific Advisory Board.
Mantua, of the University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group, said climate change projections for the coming century show a “consistent picture of wet places getting wetter and dry places getting drier. Warmer temperatures will result in more precipitation falling as rain rather than snow. Snow pack will diminish, and stream flow timing will be altered.
The changed climate will bring a changed hydrology. Under natural, pre-dam conditions, peak flows in the Columbia at The Dalles were in early June; the lowest flows in October through April. A warmup would likely mean higher runoff from the available snowpack during late winter and early spring, and less water in the summer.
Some river basins, such as the Yakima, will be “more sensitive than the Columbia Basin as a whole” to that changing hydrology, Mantua said.
“Any action that can help minimize water temperatures increases or augment stream flow during summer and autumn would contribute to this end,” according to the report.
Some possible actions that could be taken on the mainstem to address climate change impacts include: flow augmentation from cool/cold water storage reservoirs; and open back water, slough, and other off-channel habitats along rivers and the estuary to encourage increased flow through these areas to help reduce water temperature and provide cool-water refugia.
Complete report can be found at http://www.cbbulletin.com/Free/215708.aspx
Executive Committee Meeting: The executive committee met to discuss how YBSA could better explain the values of Black Rock to the general public. A publication explaining the value of five areas: fish enhancement, water resources (irrigation), municipal needs, power generation, and recreation needs to be developed. The publication would need to be distributed by media outlets to reach the greatest number of people.
The executive committee agreed to email a letter explaining the Black Rock project. The information was derived from the process the BOR used to evaluate the three alternatives included in the Storage Study.
Presentations/Meetings: An update of the Storage Study and the value of Black Rock Reservoir was presented to Yakima Business Network.
Rockey Met with the Harrah City Council and gave them an update.