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Lost Creek Lake release to benefit fish Never has ODFW sought this much water support for salmon in a nondrought year By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune State fish managers hope higher water releases from Lost Creek Lake this spring and summer will help make up for the killing and stranding of infant Rogue River wild salmon last month during operational mistakes at Lost Creek dam. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife wants the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to release 10 percent more water than normal from the lake to ensure survival of most of the stranded wild coho, chinook and steelhead stuck in Rogue side-channels. Those small fish were stranded April 19 when Corps hydrologists cut Lost Creek Lake water releases too aggressively and left the pinkie-sized fish without access to the main-stem Rogue. Since then, higher lake releases have kept most of those stranded fish alive, biologists say. Now ODFW biologists believe that continuing the higher-than-normal spring releases into June - and guaranteeing not to decrease flows for another four weeks - could increase survival rates among adult and juvenile spring chinook to cover most of last month's losses. "We can't say for sure that it will completely compensate for the stranding loss that occurred last month," says Tom Satterthwaite, an ODFW fisheries project leader for the Rogue. "But doing this will help, no question about that." This strategy is part of an ODFW request that the Corps spill 200,000 acre-feet of water from the now-full reservoir this year for fishery needs. The ODFW historically has asked for the extra water during drought years, but never has the agency sought that much water support for fish in a nondrought year, Satterthwaite said. Mike Posovich, a Corps hydrological engineer, said his agency is "looking favorably" at the plan, but agency leaders are awaiting comments from the general public and other agencies before deciding next week. If the Corps accepts the proposal as expected, the lake would drop to its regular low fall level in early September, about three weeks earlier than normal. By the end of September, the lake level would likely be about 8 feet lower than normal for Oct. 1. However, those levels would be about 35 feet higher than the lowest level during last year's drought, Posovich said. The Corps will hold a public meeting Wednesday night in Grants Pass to present the ODFW recommendation, as well as another ODFW alternative that spills less water and likely will save fewer fish but will not drop lake levels below their normal September levels. Public comment will be taken at the meeting, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Grants Pass High School Commons Area, 830 N.E. Ninth Ave. A similar meeting is set for 7 p.m. Thursday at the Gold Beach City Council Chambers. Under a 1962 Congressional law authorizing Lost Creek dam's construction, downstream fish needs are the top summer priority for Lost Creek Lake water. When full, the lake has 125,000 acre-feet of water - or three times the entire capacity of Emigrant Lake near Ashland - allocated specifically for Rogue fish needs. The lake also contains thousands of acre-feet of unpurchased water set aside for municipal, industrial and irrigation interests, and the ODFW historically has helped determine when to release that unwanted water for fish needs. In normal or near-normal water years, the ODFW wants 180,000 acre-feet of water released in a fashion for fishery enhancement. This year's amount is 200,000 acre-feet, the top request ODFW fish managers make during extreme drought conditions. The ODFW went to the higher releases after the April fish-stranding. In that incident, a Corps regulator cut back high water releases more than twice as dramatically as ODFW biologists recommend. The drop caused thousands of fish to be stranded in the side-channels where they take refuge from high flows. A short ODFW survey of less than 1 percent of the affected river habitat turned up 4,000 stranded fish and six dead ones, including a threatened wild coho. A top Corps official in Portland said the April 19 releases did not violate policies in the Corps' Water Control Manual that call for following the ODFW recommendation "whenever possible," and the need to keep lake levels high made the more fish-friendly releases impossible. However, Corps officials said the fish loss was an unwanted and unforeseen result, and that the agency leader regretted the error. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.