Snake River Currents

Volume 2, Issue 2

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Current Events - Mediation

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SRBA tribal representatives are continuing to work with the federal resource agencies toward the protection and enhancement of on-reservation resources through mediation. Tribal representatives and tribal staff are also continuing their technical work and analysis of the flow protection and augmentation needs in the Salmon and Clearwater basins.

Springs and Fountains Claims Set for Trial in the Fall

The SRBA Court recently entered an order setting the Tribe’s springs and fountains claims for trial on October 14, 2002. There have been some misconceptions in the community about those claims, which the following facts address:

• The SRBA was initiated by the State of Idaho in 1987 when the Legislature passed legislation requiring adjudication of all the water rights in the Snake River Basin whether based on state law or federal law.

• Like all other water users in the State of Idaho, the Nez Perce Tribe must participate in the SRBA or lose any claim it has for its treaty-based water rights including the springs and fountains claims.
  

• The Nez Perce Tribe’s springs and fountains claims in the SRBA are completely based on the terms of the Tribe’s 1863 treaty with the United States, which was approved by Congress.
  

• In Article 8 of the 1863 Treaty between the Nez Perce Tribe and the United States, the United States “agree to reserve all springs and fountains not adjacent to or directly connected with the streams and rivers within the land hereby relinquished, and to keep back from settlement or entry so much of the surrounding land as may be necessary to prevent the said springs or fountains being enclosed; and further, to preserve a perpetual right of way to and from the same, as watering places, for the use in common of both whites and Indians."

• The Tribe filed 1,886 claims for one-half the flow of springs and fountains within the 1863 ceded area based on the express reservation of those springs.
  

• Some of the springs and fountains claims are located on public land, and some are located on private land. Some of the claims on private land overlap claims filed by the private landowners.
  

• In an effort to resolve the Tribe’s claims in a manner that could benefit both the Tribe and its neighbors, the Tribe has been involved in negotiations and mediation of its claims since 1993. Parties in the negotiations include the Nez Perce Tribe, the State of Idaho, various federal agencies, Idaho Power Company, major Idaho irrigation interests, and other parties throughout Idaho.

Global Warming Will Impact Fish

The Pew Center on Global Climate Change recently released a review of more than 150 scientific studies, and concluded that predicted climate changes pose serious risks for inland ecosystems that support salmonids. Higher temperatures along with changes in the hydrological cycle and a disruption of key feeding areas will threaten salmonid survival.

Average global surface temperatures are predicted to rise from 1.5 to 5.8°C, and the increase in the United States may be even greater. Since the geographic range of many fish species is determined by temperature, their distribution may undergo large changes. Cold water fish like salmon may disappear from some of their current range.

Changes to the winter snowpack and the timing of runoff could act with rising temperatures to lead to a further rise in water temperature since summertime water levels could be reduced. Connective corridors to higher elevations, and thus colder waters will increase in importance for fish survival.

The report states that the current depressed populations of Pacific salmonids make them particularly vulnerable to a warmer and drier climate. In the Columbia River Basin, warmer temperatures and reduced streamflows could increase juvenile coho salmon deaths, and also create thermal barriers for migration of adult salmon. Higher temperatures would also favor warm water species, which are already having a detrimental impact on salmon species.

Scientists at a Northwest climate change conference in July predicted that global warming will bring more rainfall to the Northwest. But it will fall earlier in the winter, and so less of it will end up as snowpack., leading to a decrease in both depth and distribution.

Additionally, they predicted that spring runoff will occur earlier, and the normal drought that follows winter in the Northwest will last longer. The result will be very low summer stream flows. There is already evidence of this change. Almost every temperature measuring station in the Northwest shows some warming.

Not all fish will be adversely affected. For example, the report said that Alaska sockeye salmon might benefit from some warming of sea-surface temperatures, which favor increased ocean productivity.

The Pew report concludes with suggestions of what people can do to have an influence on what occurs in inland freshwater ecosystems. It states that “Minimizing the adverse impacts of human activities through policies that promote more science-based management of aquatic resources is the most successful path to continued health and sustainability of these ecosystems." Some of the suggested activities are to assure that aquatic resources have adequate water at the right time, reduce pollution, and limit the introduction of exotic species.

- Langston Hughes

Culverts have been in the news several times recently because of the passage problems they cause for fish. Other aquatic species, such as amphibians and mollusks, are also impacted as are the streams themselves.

Culverts usually narrow the stream width. The result is that sediment and debris often build up behind the culvert causing both blockage and upstream channel changes.

Another impact is that the water flowing through the culvert is fast moving. Fish and other aquatic species migrate in the slower moving portions of stream near the banks. The swiftly moving water through the culvert may make passage impossible.

During low flows, there may not be enough water in culverts for fish or other aquatic species. Also, low flows may result in the culvert entrance and exit being above the height of the stream, thus also blocking passage.

It is possible to design culverts so that these problems do not occur. Culverts must be large enough to span the entire active channel width, and also be bottomless or countersunk. Although a single culvert may not have a large impact, the cumulative impact of the huge number of culverts on roads in the Pacific Northwest has a noticeable effect. Replacing culverts is a way to improve salmon habitat that is known to be effective.

Letter to the Editor

This hatchery/wild coho issue is pretty touchy right now. In many instances, use of hatchery fish - out in the wild - is going to be the only realistic activity that anyone can implement to try and keep alive the Tribe's rights to fish within "all" streams and rivers of the lands that were ceded to the U.S. There are no significant recovery actions occurring to restore salmon runs in the many pristine rivers and streams—e.g. the Selway, Minam and Middle Fork Salmon - that overlay the Tribe’s ceded lands. Those truly significant activities that would need to occur - such as breaching dams, curtailing the U.S.'s ravenous consumption of energy and resources, and relocating all of the northwest population east of the Mississippi aren't likely to happen in the near future.

NMFS, the States and the environmentalists, have made some pretty controversial decisions on the use of hatchery fish in the past - in an effort to minimize their theorized detrimental effects on wild fish. Following their course to its conclusion however, relegates the condition of the wild runs to museum piece resource, and places the tribal members sitting in front of a hatchery to fish, a de facto abrogation of the right to fish in "all streams.” There is no reason why that right should be eroded any further - the Tribes did not cause those fish to go away. The Nez Perce Tribe has gone to court several times to insure that hatchery fish were not wasted, and could be used to bolster the runs where ever possible. Had the Earthjustice people mentioned in the article had their way, we would have lost those cases.

The Tribe has fought to use of all the tools available - including full protection of the habitat, breaching the dams, and making the best use of hatchery fish - to keep these runs alive and the resource a reality. Too often, however, these environmental debates want to present a sword to fall on; and in my opinion, the Tribe, as a resource-dependent entity with its rights always in Congress' safekeeping, has much more to lose in this affair than other publics. I am very happy that they have chosen to diversify their approach, and use what works and implement what is available to them.

                                                               - Dave Johnson, Nez Perce Tribe DFRM

Note: We appreciate feedback and welcome other letters.