The Northwest Power and Conservation Council this week gave its blessing to a steelhead kelt "reconditioning" project with the hope that the strategy will be a helpful tool in efforts to restore a flagging Upper Columbia River steelhead stock.

The project funding recommendation was made despite an Independent Scientific Review Panel assessment that the proposal does not meet scientific review criteria. The ISRP said in a Sept. 28 review of the project proposal that 10 years of study in the Yakima River basin had failed to produce evidence that the reconditioned kelts had produced viable offspring or otherwise provided benefits to the natural origin Upper Columbia steelhead populations.

The ISRP said the revised proposal does not meet review criteria "because the overall assumed benefits to steelhead NOR (natural origin) abundance (or other VSP criteria) has not been established, the specific objectives in the proposal are inconsistently described, and the evaluation methods are not sufficiently detailed to determine the ability to measure any benefit that might occur."

The panel also said that the project sponsor, the Yakama Nation, needs first to conduct simulation and recruitment analysis that includes historical and current rates of iteroparity (spawning more than once), potential benefits of using reconditioned kelts and the effect of altering the rates of iteroparity on steelhead life-history.

"This would serve the important function of identifying the potential benefit to steelhead VSP [viable salmonid population] metrics that would need to be produced using kelt reconditioning as a recovery strategy and quantified during implementation. This background effort has not yet been completed," the ISRP review said.

But a Yakama response received Dec. 16 addresses the ISRP's concerns, according to a Jan. 7 memo from Mark Fritsch, the NPCC's project implementation manager.

"While troubled by the ISRP's conclusion, YN believes the proposal can shed new light on the reproductive success of reconditioned kelts after release," the memo says. "YN views the proposal as an opportunity to supply additional steelhead to the spawning grounds and that these fish, marked so they can be identified, can contribute significantly to major steelhead reproduction studies described below."

There is scientific uncertainty and risk, but "what is the risk of not doing this," Washington Council member Dick Wallace asked? The wild Upper Columbia steelhead populations are few in number and listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The Council conditioned its recommendation on the understanding that the project will have a performance check-in in 2014.

"Having the check-in makes me more comfortable," Idaho Councilor Bill Booth said.

The proposal says that rates of repeat spawning by wild Upper Columbia steelhead populations are extremely low, likely due to high mortality resulting from the extreme energetic demand required, degraded habitat quality and the rigors of post-spawning migration through the Columbia River hydropower system.

It calls for the capture of seaward-bound female kelts at Wells Hatchery, tributary smolt traps in the Wenatchee and Methow basins and in juvenile bypass facilities at Rocky Reach, Rock Island and Priest Rapids dams.

The captured fish (about 250) will be subject to one of two reconditioning treatments -- short term (3-12 week) and long term (6-10 months) -- in which they will be fed and otherwise cultured in a captive environment before their release into the Wenatchee, Entiat, Methow, Okanogan and upper Columbia mainstem rivers.

The revised program objectives call for the Yakama Nation researchers to"collaborate with ongoing monitoring studies to document the reproductive success of kelts released from the reconditioning program.

The timing is right, given the web of salmon monitoring already in place in the region, including the Integrated Status and Effectiveness Monitoring Program funded by BPA and Mid-Columbia PUD mitigation programs, the Okanogan Basin Monitoring and Evaluation Plan and Bureau of Reclamation research in the Methow River.

"… we believe the proposed long term program will begin to answer critical uncertainties associated with kelt recondition," the YN proposal says.

The Yakima River project referred to by the ISRP was intended to evaluate whether or not kelt could be reconditioned in human hands, whether they would even begin feeding again in captivity. And the process was successful.

"Also, they've demonstrated that the fish spawn," though there's no hard evidence that juveniles hatched out and later headed for the ocean, said Tony Grover, the NPCC's Fish and Wildlife Division director.

The Upper Columbia project is a "next step," he said.

The project was identified during the remand process that led to the development by NOAA Fisheries of the May 2008 Federal Columbia River Power System biological opinion. The BiOp's reasonable and prudent alternative calls it a measure to potentially "close the gap" between current population status and that needed to reach ESA delisting.

Also, a memorandum of agreement or "accord" signed in the late spring of 2008 identifies the Upper Columbia Steelhead Kelt Reconditioning project as a new artificial production action to be funded by BPA. A total of $5.7 million is earmarked for the project for the 2008-2017 period.

The accord says the project must be "carefully coordinated with other kelt reconditioning programs funded through the Accords (e.g. Snake River, Yakima River, Omak Creek) to identify uncertainties associated with kelt reconditioning, allocate research questions among projects, and develop coordinated study plans that make most efficient use of project resources and cost shares to deliver results and promote adaptive management," according to the Yakama proposal.