Water release will aid salmon

More water is flowing down the North Fork Skokomish River these days.

That's good news for struggling salmon and steelhead runs not only in the river, but also in lower Hood Canal.

But it will hit the pocketbook of Tacoma Power customers in the form of higher electricity rates.

The utility is trying to balance cost efficiency with environmental stewardship, said Pat McCarty, generation manager for Tacoma Power.

The Skokomish tribe and Tacoma Power have fought a decades-long legal battle over river flows and other effects from the Cushman Dam project, which was finished in 1930. The two parties have reached an agreement that requires at least 240 cubic feet per second of flow out of the second dam into the North Fork Skokomish River.

Previously, it was 60 cubic feet per second. A cubic foot of water is equal in volume to a cube of water that measures 1 foot by 1 foot by 1 foot.

Reduced fish runs, wrecked habitat and damaged cultural sites have all caused pain for the tribe, said Tom Strong, deputy tribal secretary.

"The North Fork issue affected every part of our tribe," Strong said.

Further talks

Negotiations continue on adjusting flows out of the dam to create a more natural habitat for fish, McCarty said.

Other issues, such as habitat restoration and creating a system that gets salmon above the Cushman project to spawn in the upper Skokomish River, are under discussion, McCarty said.

More water in the river gives salmon and steelhead a chance to recover from years of low water, said Marty Ereth, habitat biologist for the tribe.

"It will make pools deeper and wider," Ereth said. "We'll have a lot more water to flush juvenile salmon downstream, and we'll have a lot more water for fish to spawn."

Biologists for the tribe and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife say there is a tiny chance that increased flows from the natural Skokomish River might help ease the chronic low-oxygen zones — and related fish kills — in lower Hood Canal.

The reason it's a small chance is because the water flowing out of the Skokomish River is fresh and tends to float on top of the denser salt water in Hood Canal, while the low-oxygen zone is near the bottom, said Greg Bargmann, Fish and Wildlife marine scientist.

The additional water flowing into the southern end of Hood Canal might help in September and October, when southern winds often cause oxygen-poor water to upwell from the bottom of Hood Canal, Bargmann said.

"I can't imagine it will do anything but help," Ereth said.

The new flow into the North Fork cuts about one-sixth of the power generation capacity of the Cushman project, McCarty said.

The new flow is the first step toward restoring the North Fork and rebuilding salmon runs — and Puget Sound, said Brett Swift, deputy director of the Northwest office of American Rivers.

A dry river for years

Tacoma Power did not release any water from Kokanee Reservoir — the second dam in the Cushman project — from 1930 to 1988, except for water that leaked from the dam.

The Skokomish River is the biggest river that flows into lower Hood Canal, but most of the flow hasn't reached the river below the Cushman project since 1930. Most of the flow is caught in Kokanee Reservoir and then routed into a 17-foot-diameter tunnel that takes the water 2.5 miles to a section of three 10.5-foot-diameter pipes that go into Tacoma Power's generator house at Hoodsport.

Tacoma Power started releasing water into the North Fork in 1988, when the utility agreed to send 30 cubic feet per second of water from the dam. In 1998, the flow was increased to 60 cubic feet per second. The 240 cubic feet per second flow started on March 7.

Progress is made

Skokomish tribal members and Tacoma Power said the expanded water flow shows incremental progress in the legal battle, which has held up Cushman's federal relicensing process.

American Rivers has worked for more than 10 years to get more help for the North Fork during the federal dam relicensing process, Swift said.

"This was a long time coming," Swift said.

The Skokomish tribe and Tacoma Power continue to negotiate a deal that would get a new federal license for the Cushman project and improve the rivers and surrounding habitat.

Bringing back a North Fork that is as close to what was lost in 1930 is the goal, Ereth said.

"We're trying to do what is best for the salmon," he added.

Chester Allen is outdoors reporter for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-4226 or callen@theolympian.com.