N O R T H W E S T P O W E R A N D C O N S E R VAT I O N C O U N C I L

COLUMBIA RIVER BASIN

FISH AND WILDLIFE PROGRAM

Twenty Years 

of Progress
The Columbia and Snake rivers shown on this map are significant to the Council’s fish and wildlife program and have been highlighted for illustrative purposes.

The Columbia River Basin
The nation’s largest regional effort 

to protect and enhance

 our natural resources.
3 Northwest Power and Conservation Council 

The Columbia River Basin 

Fish and Wildlife Program is unique in the 

nation. The Northwest Power and 

Conservation Council (known until 

2003 as the Northwest Power Planning Council) created the program 

in November 1982 in response to 

direction in the Northwest Power 

Act of 1980, the law that authorized the states of Idaho, Montana, 

Oregon and Washington to create 

the Council. The Act directs the 

Council to mitigate the impacts of 

Columbia River Basin hydropower 

dams on fish and wildlife by protecting and enhancing the affected 

species and their habitat, including the mainstem of the Columbia 

River and its major tributaries.

The fish and wildlife program 

establishes goals, objectives and 

strategies for mitigation. Projects 

that implement the program are 

vetted through the Independent 

Scientific Review Panel and the 

Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife 

Authority, as well as the Council 

itself. Following these reviews, the 

Council recommends projects to 

the Bonneville Power Administration, which provides funding.

Since 1982, funding for the 

Council’s direct program, which 

does not include the cost of 

installing fish passage facilities at 

the major hydropower dams on 

the Columbia and Snake rivers, 

amounts to about $1.16 billion. 

Bonneville also spent $1.03 billion 

on fixed expenses, which primarily 

is debt service on federal bonds issued to pay for capital investments 

at the dams, and $634 million to 

reimburse the federal Treasury for 

the power share of other federal 

agency efforts to protect, mitigate 

and enhance fish and wildlife affected by hydropower, primarily to 

improve fish passage at the federal 

dams and construct and operate 

federal hatcheries. Power purchases 

($2.31 billion) and forgone revenues ($1.29 billion) and other lesser 

expenditures bring the total since 

1982 to $6.45 billion (see Figure 1).

I

mpressive numbers of adult 

salmon and steelhead have been 

returning to the Columbia River 

Basin in recent years. While no 

single factor can be credited for 

the increased run sizes, improved 

ocean conditions likely are one 

cause. Ocean conditions today 

are similar to conditions in the 

Introduction

Council Fact:

Impressive numbers

of adult salmon and

steelhead have been

returning to the

Columbia River Basin

in recent years.

Year

Figure 1. BPA Fish and Wildlife Cumulative Expenditures 1978-2002

(Dollars in Billions)

$7

$6

$5

$4

$3

$2

$1

$0

Year

78 80 82 84 86 88 90 92 94 96 98 00 02

Power Purchases

Foregone Revenue

Capital Investment

Reimbursable Expenses

Direct Program
Northwest Power and Conservation Council 4

1950s, which was a period of cool 

water temperatures in the north 

Pacific. But salmon and steelhead 

returns today are far higher than 

in the 1950s. Other factors, then, 

such as the habitat, hatchery and 

hydropower improvements accomplished through the Council’s 

program, likely also are contributing to the increased success. 

Beginning in 2000, above-average 

returns of salmon to the river 

were sustained for three years in 

a row, setting records in 2001 for 

many different salmon species. In 

2003, tribal fishers were allowed to 

set gillnets in the river during the 

summer run of chinook salmon 

for the first time in 38 years. The 

higher returns have been a boon 

for recreational fishing as well: In 

2001, an estimated 176,000 angler 

trips were recorded for the run of 

spring chinook. 

The Columbia River Basin Fish 

and Wildlife Program contributes 

to rebuilding fish and wildlife populations in each of the four broad 

areas of impact — the so-called 

Four Hs: hydropower, habitat, 

hatcheries and harvest. Here is a 

brief look at the Council’s efforts 

in these areas.

Figure 2. Adult Salmon and Steelhead Counts at Bonneville Dam on the 

Columbia River, 1938-2003 

2,500

2,000

1,500

1,000

500

0

1938 1954 1971 1987 2003

Year

(Fish in Thousands)

Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Dams created reservoirs that inundated thousands of acres of mule deer habitat. 

Through the program, habitat is purchased to mitigate the losses.

Northwest Power and Conservation Council 6

The fish and wildlife program initiated improvements in fish passage at 

dams including increased flows to 

help juvenile fish migrate between 

the dams, construction of juvenile fish bypass facilities at the 

dams and a coordinated program 

of spilling water over dams for 

the benefit of fish that don’t go 

through bypass facilities.

To boost flows between the 

dams, the 1982 program created 

the water budget, which is an 

amount of water reserved in upriver storage reservoirs in winter 

and then released in the spring and 

early summer to help boost river 

flows at the time 

when juvenile salmon and steelhead 

are migrating to the 

ocean. In subsequent revisions of 

the program, the 

Council increased 

the size of the water budget from its 

initial 3.45 million 

acre-feet to about 

12 million acrefeet, when that 

amount of water 

is available. The 

current federal biological opinions establish flow standards that 

accomplish the same purpose as 

the water budget. The average is 

between six million and eight million acre-feet per year.

The 1982 program also called for 

installation of juvenile fish 

bypass facilities at the mainstem 

dams and for water spills at the 

dams to pass juvenile fish while the 

facilities were under construction. 

In 1984 the Council amended the 

program to call on the U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers, the federal 

agency that owns and operates the 

dams, to develop coordinated 

interim juvenile fish passage plans, 

including spill, while it developed 

solutions to fish passage problems 

at five dams on the lower Snake and 

Columbia rivers. In later years the 

Hydropower

Council Fact:

The program causes 

water to be stored 

in winter and released 

in the spring to boost 

flows between the dams 

when juvenile salmon 

and steelhead are 

migrating to the ocean.

Photo: Bonneville Power Administration

Fish ladders like this one at John Day Dam help adult salmon, steelhead and other anadromous fish 

return upriver to spawn.
7 Northwest Power and Conservation Council 

Council established standards for fish passage efficiency and fish survival 

at the dams through 

the use of mechanical 

bypass facilities and spill. 

The current version of 

the program, amended 

in 2003 with specific 

recommendations for 

the mainstem dams, calls 

for dam-by-dam studies 

to determine the most 

efficient level of bypass 

spill in order to maximize passage efficiency 

and fish survival and 

preserve water for hydropower generation when it is not 

needed for spill.

Juvenile fish bypass facilities 

have been improved or installed 

at seven of the eight dams on the 

lower Snake and Columbia rivers.

These bypass facilities and other 

measures have improved the survival of juvenile fish to the point 

that survival today is as high, or 

higher, through the eight dams than 

it was in the 1960s when only four 

dams were in place, according to 

NOAA Fisheries. Only The Dalles 

Dam does not have screens or a 

bypass system, but its ice and trash 

sluiceway has been used effectively for juvenile fish passage, and 

screens and a bypass system are being designed. Screens and bypass 

systems have been studied or tested 

at the five mid-Columbia dams 

owned by public utility districts.

Recently, surface bypass technology, which means passing fish 

over a dam close to the surface 

of the river rather than forcing 

the fish to dive 40 feet or so to 

the level of the spillway, has been 

tested at Lower Granite Dam and 

will be tested at Bonneville Dam. 

This technology has promise for 

passing juvenile fish effectively with 

less water than spillway passage.

The program also provided 

funding for efforts to reduce 

predation on salmon and steelhead. 

Reservoirs behind dams provide 

ideal breeding habitat for predator 

fish such as northern pikeminnow. 

The program funded a multi-year 

project that successfully reduced 

pikeminnow populations through 

a bounty reward fishery. The 

program also funded an effort to 

reduce predation by birds, particularly Caspian terns in the Columbia 

River estuary. 

The program recognizes that dam operations also affect 

resident fish (these do not migrate to the ocean) and wildlife. 

Photo: Lyle Gilbreath

Fish ladders were crowded with record and near-record returns of adult salmon and steelhead at 

Bonneville Dam during the fall of 2003.
Northwest Power and Conservation Council 8

Through the program, the Council 

directed the Corps of Engineers, 

which operates Libby Dam, and 

the Bureau of Reclamation, which 

operates Hungry Horse Dam, to 

provide habitat conditions in the 

reservoirs above the dams and the 

rivers below them that are necessary to restore populations of 

native fish to self-sustaining levels 

capable of supporting harvest. 

Both dams are in Montana, where 

there are no salmon. These dam 

operations include improving the 

seasonal pattern and stability of 

river discharges and reservoir conditions. The Council also directed 

the Bureau to operate Grand Coulee Dam in a manner that provides 

conditions necessary to protect 

spawning and rearing habitat for 

fish in and adjacent to Lake Roosevelt in order to build fish populations to levels capable of supporting harvest consistent with the 

goals of the Spokane and Colville 

tribes. The program includes other 

measures to protect and enhance 

resident fish and wildlife affected 

by the construction and operation 

of dams elsewhere in the Columbia 

River Basin and also recognizes that 

for some species, such as waterfowl, the creation of reservoirs and 

the inundation of shoreline areas 

increased wildlife habitat.

Expenditures in the mainstem 

Columbia and Snake rivers, not 

including fish passage facilities, 

lost hydropower income and power 

purchases in response to river 

operations to protect fish, such as 

spill, total more than $200 million 

since 1982.

This diagram shows how salmon and steelhead pass dams on the mainstem Columbia and Snake rivers.

Juvenile fish migrating downstream can pass over the spillway, through the turbines or via bypass facilities. Because 

turbine passage is the most lethal, screens are installed in front of the turbine entrances to deflect juvenile fish into 

the bypass facilities, which channel the fish safely around the dam. Adult fish are attracted to the falling water of the 

ladder. They climb up the ladder — like a gently inclining, water-filled stairway — and over the dam.
9 Northwest Power and Conservation Council 

Habitat

The program recognizes 

that improved fish passage at dams is not 

sufficient by itself to restore fish 

and wildlife populations. Habitat 

improvements are needed, too.

This work includes installing 

screens at irrigation pumps and 

water diversions to deflect juvenile 

fish, revegetating streamsides in 

areas where fish spawn and rear, 

and purchasing land or easements 

as habitat for both fish and wildlife. 

Since 1982 more than 1,000 water 

diversions have been screened. 

Some of these diversions were 

screened for the first time. 

At others aging screens were 

replaced. Hundreds of miles 

of streamside habitat have been 

fenced, revegetated and, where 

appropriate, recontoured and reconstructed to improve conditions

 for fish — both anadromous 

and resident.

Wildlife species ranging from 

birds to mammals to amphibians 

also were affected by the dams. 

Through the program, the 

Council identified wildlife losses 

due to construction of the dams 

and then called upon the region’s 

fish and wildlife managers to use 

the losses as a starting point for 

wildlife mitigation agreements and 

measures. The program provides 

for substitute habitat away from 

the dams and reservoirs by setting 

aside and protecting land that is 

home to ecological communities 

Council Fact:

Through the 

program, habitat 

is acquired 

and set aside for 

the benefit of fish 

and wildlife.

Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The program has funded the acquisition of thousands of acres of elk habitat, much of it as winter range near rivers.
Northwest Power and Conservation Council 10

similar to those that were affected 

by the dams. Through the program, 

371,431 acres have been acquired, 

either through outright purchase 

or the purchase of easements, and 

set aside as wildlife habitat and 

managed by states and Indian tribes.

Also through the program, in 

1989 the Council protected 44,000 

miles of stream habitat from 

future hydropower development. 

The Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission is required by law to 

account for these protected areas 

in determining whether to issue 

licenses for new hydropower dams.

Habitat and watershed expenditures through the program since 

1982 total more than $450 million.

Photo: Kootenai Tribe of Idaho

Through the Council’s program, the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho 

is working to rebuild white sturgeon populations in the 

Kootenai River.

Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Harlequin ducks benefit from habitat acquisitions through the program.

Northwest Power and Conservation Council 12

non-ocean, or resident, species 

such as trout and kokanee to replace losses of these fish and also 

losses of salmon and steelhead.

The program directs the construction and operation of 

fish hatcheries to 1) complement 

habitat improvements by supplementing native fish populations up 

to the sustainable carrying capacity 

of the habitat with fish that are as 

similar as possible in genetics and 

behavior to wild native fish; and 2) 

replace lost salmon and steelhead 

in blocked areas. This is a shift in 

artificial production philosophy 

from traditional hatchery practices, 

which focused on replacing salmon 

and steelhead lost to construction 

of dams with sufficient numbers of 

Beginning in 1982 the

program initiated extensive efforts to boost

 artificial production of salmon and 

steelhead, primarily through the 

experimental technique of supplementation, which means incubating 

fish in the protective environment 

of hatcheries, acclimating them 

to conditions they will face in 

the wild, and then releasing them 

into streams and rivers to rebuild 

naturally spawning populations. 

Although still being evaluated by 

the scientific community, supplementation is thought by many to 

help rebuild genetically distinct 

populations of fish and increase the 

diversity of life history types and 

species in order to sustain a system 

of populations in the face of environmental variation. This includes 

intensive rescue efforts for the 

weakest runs, such as Snake River 

sockeye salmon, which are raised 

to adulthood and spawned in the 

protective hatchery environment. 

The progeny of these few fish then 

are released into tributary lakes to 

attempt to re-establish naturally 

spawning populations. Supplementation techniques also include 

raising fish to release into streams 

to rebuild naturally spawning runs 

where none exists currently. There 

are major supplementation facilities 

for salmon and steelhead funded by 

Bonneville through the Council’s 

program in Columbia and Snake 

river tributaries in Washington, 

Oregon and Idaho.

In areas now blocked to salmon 

and steelhead passage, the program 

also initiated and continues to fund 

extensive hatchery production of 

Hatcheries

Council Fact:

The Council protected

44,000 miles of

stream habitat from

future hydroelectric

development.

Photo: Bonneville Power Administration

The program supports changes in traditional hatchery practices so that fish are raised 

in a more natural environment, like this raceway painted in camouflage colors. 
13 Northwest Power and Conservation Council 

fish to supply commercial fisheries 

in the lower Columbia River. But 

the program does not discount 

the importance of fisheries. In 

fact, the Council is required by the 

Northwest Power Act to include 

measures in the program that 

complement the existing and future 

activities of the region’s fish and 

wildlife agencies and Indian tribes, 

and these entities certainly have an 

interest in fisheries.

To this end, the program 

recognizes the value of hatchery 

production for the purpose of 

supporting fisheries — throughout 

the Columbia Basin, not just in 

the lower river. To reconcile these 

sometimes competing objectives 

— rebuilding naturally spawning 

runs and also providing fish for 

harvest — the program initiated 

a thorough review of artificial 

production at the request of Congress. A panel of experts appointed by the Council worked with the 

region’s fish managers to identify 

and review the purposes of all fish 

hatcheries in the Columbia River 

Basin and suggest operational 

changes consistent with the goals 

and objectives of the fish managers for rebuilding runs, providing 

fish for harvest and preserving the 

genetic integrity of wild and naturally spawning fish. The Artificial 

Production Review and Evaluation 

was completed in September 2003.

The program also directs 

substantial investment toward 

propagating and rebuilding resident 

fish populations using native fish 

species, particularly in areas where 

dams blocked anadromous fish passage. In this way, resident fish are 

substituted for the lost anadromous 

populations. Resident fish substitution also includes providing an 

alternate source of harvest, such as 

a hatchery stock.

Artificial production expenditures through the program since 

1982 total more than $350 million.

Photo: Barry Kovish

The goal of the program for salmon and steelhead is to increase the number of fish that spawn in the wild.
Northwest Power and Conservation Council 14

While salmon and 

steelhead harvests are 

regulated by state fish 

and wildlife agencies and the federal 

court, the Council has addressed the 

impacts of harvest on weak salmon 

and steelhead populations. The 

Council proposed that harvest be 

reduced in order to protect weak 

stocks, which mix with more abundant stocks in the Columbia River.

To protect these stocks from 

overharvest and to provide fisheries at the same time, the program 

directs funding to an experimental 

program in the lower Columbia 

River in which salmon are raised in 

net pens in bays and sloughs. The 

fish are released from the pens and 

return to the bays and sloughs as 

Harvest

adults, where they are harvested. 

This reduces fishing pressure in 

the main Columbia River, allowing 

the more depleted stocks to pass 

by on their way to spawning areas 

upstream. The program also paid 

for experiments with innovative gill 

nets designed to capture salmon 

and steelhead but not kill them. In 

this way, fishers can identify and 

release the protected, naturally 

spawning stocks and keep the more 

abundant hatchery fish. 

I

n the future the program will 

address conflicts between 

harvest and fish conservation 

through subbasin plans, which will 

identify the purposes of artificial 

production programs and wildlife 

mitigation efforts and recommend 

harvest policies consistent with 

goals and objectives of the fish and 

wildlife agencies and Indian tribes 

and also account for the ecological 

carrying capacity of habitat within 

the subbasins.

Harvest-related expenditures 

through the program since 1982 

total more than $35 million.

Photo: Bonneville Power Administration

The program supports Indian fishing rights in the Columbia River. These tribal 

members are celebrating their catch in the reservoir behind Bonneville Dam.

Photo: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Below Bonneville Dam, recreational fishers were almost shoulder to shoulder in the spring 

of 2003, when one of the largest spring chinook runs on record returned from the ocean.
15 Northwest Power and Conservation Council 

While the heart of the 

program is a set of 

actions to improve 

conditions for fish and wildlife, 

the program also recognizes that 

these efforts are based on scientific 

knowledge that is imperfect. Thus, 

the program directs funding toward 

improving scientific knowledge 

through research, monitoring 

and evaluation.

The program emphasizes monitoring and evaluation of project 

implementation to ensure that the 

effects of the actions are measured 

and analyzed. The results of this 

monitoring and evaluation will 

help the Council select the best 

Research

projects to implement the program 

in the future.

Data management also is important. By investing in improved 

data management, the program 

supports the research, monitoring, 

and evaluation strategies by making 

the results readily available. Improved data management also will 

enhance public accountability of 

the program by making the results 

accessible not only to specialists, 

but also to the public at large.

Research and evaluation expenditures through the program since 

1982 total more than $200 million.

Photo: Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks

Important shoreline habitat for bears was flooded by the construction and operation of dams and is 

replaced through acquisitions funded through the program.
Northwest Power and Conservation Council 16

An open, public process

The Council’s fish and 

wildlife program is the 

region’s program. The 

Council’s process is open to all 

interested parties. Decisions are 

made in public, and public comments are crucial in helping the 

Council shape the program.

Through the planning and 

implementing of the program, 

diverse interests from around the 

Columbia River Basin, from local 

landowners to state and federal 

agencies and Indian tribes, have 

the opportunity to identify and address problems affecting fish and 

wildlife and to build a mitigation 

program that is consistent with 

goals and legal requirements for 

production, harvest and restoration. By addressing the impacts of 

hydropower on all fish and wildlife 

of the basin, the program incorporates actions that benefit both 

Endangered Species Act-listed and 

nonlisted fish and wildlife.

Fish and wildlife recovery can 

be a contentious undertaking, but 

the collaborative nature of the 

Council’s program development 

and implementation brings potential litigants to the same table and 

provides the opportunity to work 

through areas of disagreement in 

an open, public process. The result 

is a scientifically credible mitigation 

effort that enjoys broad political 

and public support and is unique in 

the nation. Photo: David Jensen

The Columbia River Gorge about 40 miles east of Portland, with Mount Adams in 

the distance.

Northwest Power and Conservation Council 18

Front and Back Cover Photos: David Jensen. Snake River at Robertson Ridge in Hells Canyon 

Inset Cover Photo: Barry Kovish 

Page 2: David Jensen, Grande Ronde River, Washington

Page 5: David Jensen, Sumac and Imnaha River

Page 11: Josh Kling, Sandy River

Credits

Northwest Power and Conservation Council

November 2003

Seated left to right: Tom Karier, council vice chair, Washington and Judi Danielson, council chair, Idaho. 

Standing left to right: Ed Bartlett, Montana; Melinda Eden, Oregon; John Hines, Montana; Frank L. (Larry) Cassidy, Jr., 

Washington; Jim Kempton, Idaho and Gene Derfler, Oregon.

Photo: Rich Iwasaki

Twenty Years of Progress: 20th Anniversary Review of the Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program, Council 

Document 2003-20

Produced by the Public Affairs Division of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, November 2003.
Meeting the Needs of People

Protecting Our Natural Heritage

851 S.W. Sixth Avenue

Suite 1100

Portland, Oregon 97204

Telephone: 503-222-5161

Toll free: 800-452-5161

Web site: www.nwcouncil.org

Council Document 2003-20