The planned removal of north-central Oregon's Powerdale Dam in 2010 will allow salmon and steelhead unimpeded access to the Hood River's upper reaches and restore natural flows, but it will also take away one of the key tools in efforts to rebuild those species' populations.

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council on Thursday recommended $965,000 in spending in the short term to replace those tools and continue an evaluation of how the Hood River Production Program can better meet its goals. The program is run jointly by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon.

Every adult salmon and steelhead that attempts to swim up the Hood River must pass over Powerdale Dam at river mile 4 and pass through the Powerdale Fish Facility. Fish at Powerdale are typically counted and biosampled daily by ODFW researchers. Fish are captured in the only existing fish ladder and diverted into the Powerdale Fish Facility where adult salmon and steelhead are sampled and counted.

All adult salmon and wild steelhead are released above Powerdale while a proportion of hatchery steelhead are not allowed to pass over Powerdale and are recycled downstream for anglers.

Powerdale and the associated fish trapping facility are going to be removed in 2010 as agreed to in 2003 by its owner, Pacificorp, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and other parties. The power company decided that relicensing conditions imposed by FERC were too costly to allow continued operation of the aging hydro project.

The funding will allow minor renovations at the Parkdale Fish Facility and the water intake structure at Moving Falls on the West Fork Hood River, and the construction weirs and traps at Moving Falls and on the lower East Fork Hood River.

Annual operation and maintenance costs associated with the short-term alternative range from $650,000 in 2009 to $830,000 in 2014. Annual monitoring and evaluation costs range from $1,120,000 in 2009 to $1,420,000 in 2017.

The Hood River basin's east, middle and west forks support spring- and fall-run chinook salmon, summer and winter steelhead and coho salmon. It is believed that winter and summer steelhead are the only remaining endemic naturally spawning anadromous species in the basin, according to an Oct. 1 memo from NPCC project implementation manager Mark Fritsch.

Native spring chinook salmon were extirpated prior to the 1960s and native coho and fall chinook populations were likely functionally extirpated during the same period. Hood River coho salmon, winter and summer steelhead and chinook salmon are part of the Lower Columbia Evolutionarily Significant Unit that are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Hood River spring chinook salmon is not listed under the ESA because they are re-introduced from a non-listed out of basin donor stock.

The HHPP was launched with a 1987 NPCC Fish and Wildlife Program recommendation that the Bonneville Power Administration fund the development of a master plan for artificial production facilities that could be used to rear hatchery production for the Hood River subbasin. Bonneville funds the Council program as mitigation for fish and wild affected by the construction and operation of the federal Columbia/Snake river hydro system.

To accomplish that recommendation, Bonneville funded the development of Hood River and Pelton Ladder master plans that outlined the rationale and general approach to enhance and restore wild and natural populations of anadromous fish.

The Bonneville-funded supplementation program for winter steelhead began in 1991, spring chinook in 1992, and summer steelhead in 1997. Three hatcheries are used for these programs: two in the Deschutes River basin -- Round Butte/Pelton Ladder and Oak Springs -- and one in the Hood basin at Parkdale. All rearing is completed at existing facilities in the Deschutes basin, while only the collection and spawning of adults and final acclimation of smolts at the time of release are conducted at the PFF and acclimation sites in the Hood River basin.

The HHPP's goals and strategies have evolved over the years based on research carried out by the project sponsors. A revised master plan addresses modifications to the HRPP as approved and implemented in 1991. Proposed changes to the current HRPP proposed in a revised master plan include:

-- An increase in the total number of spring chinook smolts released from 125,000 to 150,000.

-- Cessation of the summer steelhead program with last smolt release in spring 2009. The need to resume supplementation will be evaluated after two generations of post supplementation wild returns.

-- Continue the existing winter steelhead program with a smolt release of approximately 50,000 unless a significant change in return or harvest rates occurs. An evaluation to determine if a change in production numbers is warranted is scheduled for 2010.

A two-phase approach is being used to evaluate possible upgrades to the existing Powerdale production facilities to meet the revised spring chinook production goal. Phase I will consist of upgrades at PFF to provide an additional water source and upgrades to the hatch house to raise 30,000 full term smolt and infrastructure development for a temporary acclimation facility at Moving Falls in the West Fork Hood River. That will include design and construction of a headbox and water delivery system to acclimation ponds prior to 2010 releases.

Pending the results of the comparative rearing evaluation to be completed by 2013, Phase II planning, design and construction will commence. That could include an expansion of the Parkdale facility and development of the Moving Falls site to produce 150,000 smolts within the Hood River basin.

A comparative release study of spring chinook will be undertaken with rearing at Carson National Fish Hatchery in south-central Washington, Round Butte Hatchery in Oregon's Deschutes County and at Parkdale to determine the smolt quality associated with and cost-to-benefit ratio of various strategies for rearing hatchery spring chinook salmon for release as smolts in the Hood River subbasin. The study will also determine the potential for in-basin rearing at the Powerdale facility and a new facility at Moving Falls on the West Fork.

The addition of two the new seasonal adult trapping facilities (floating weirs) are intended to replace facilities lost due to the removal of the Powerdale Dam. One trap will be located at Moving Falls on the West Fork, and one will be located on the Lower East Fork.