Contact
About

Integrating energy and the environment in the Columbia River Basin

About the Council
Mission and Strategy Members and Staff Bylaws Policies Careers / RFPs
News

See what the Council is up to.

Read the Latest News
Read All News Press Resources Newsletters International Columbia River

Explore News By Topic

Fish and Wildlife Planning Salmon and Steelhead Wildlife Energy Planning Energy Efficiency Demand Response
Fish and Wildlife

The Council works to protect and enhance fish and wildlife in the Columbia River Basin. Its Fish & Wildlife Program guides project funding by the Bonneville Power Administration.

Fish and Wildlife Overview

The Fish and Wildlife Program

2020 Addendum 2014/2020 Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program Subbasin Plans Project Reviews and Recommendations F&W Program Costs Reports

Independent Review Groups

  • Independent Economic Analysis Board (IEAB)
  • Independent Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB)
  • Independent Scientific Review Panel (ISRP)

Forums and Workgroups

  • Asset Management Subcommittee
  • Ocean and Plume Science and Management Forum
  • Regional Coordination
  • Science and Policy Exchange
  • Toxics Workgroup
  • Columbia Basin Research, Monitoring and Evaluation Workgroup
  • Informal Hatchery Workgroup
  • Strategy Performance Indicator Workgroup

Topics

  • Adaptive Management
  • Anadromous Fish Mitigation
  • Blocked Areas
  • Invasive and Non-Native Species
  • Lamprey
  • Predation: Sea lions, pike, birds
  • Protected Areas
  • Research Plan
  • Resident Fish
  • Resource Tools and Maps
  • Sockeye
  • Sturgeon
  • Hatchery Map
Energy

The Council develops a plan, updated every five years, to ensure the region’s power supply and acquire cost-effective energy efficiency.

Energy Overview

The Northwest Power Plan

The 2021 Northwest Power Plan 2021 Plan Supporting Materials Planning Process and Past Power Plans

Technical Tools and Models

  • Regional Portfolio Model
  • Generation Evaluation System Model (GENESYS)

Energy Advisory Committees

  • Regional Technical Forum
  • Conservation Resources Advisory Committee
  • Demand Forecast Advisory Committee
  • Demand Response Advisory Committee
  • Generating Resources Advisory Committee
  • Fuels Advisory Committee
  • Resource Adequacy Advisory Committee
  • System Analysis Advisory Committee
  • RTF Policy Advisory Committee
  • System Integration Forum

Energy Topics

  • Energy Efficiency
  • Demand Response
  • Power Supply
  • Resource Adequacy
  • Energy Storage
  • Hydropower
  • Transmission
Meetings
See next Council Meeting October 11 - 12, 2023 in Redmond › See all meetings ›

Recent and Upcoming Meetings

Swipe left or right
NOV 2022
TUE WED
15 - 16
Council Meeting
NOV 2022
WED
30
9:00 am—10:00 am
RTF Policy Advisory Committee Q4 Meeting
DEC 2022
MON
05
1:30 pm—3:30 pm
Resource Adequacy Advisory Committee
DEC 2022
TUE
06
9:00 am—4:00 pm
RTF Meeting
DEC 2022
TUE WED
13 - 14
Council Meeting
JAN 2023
TUE WED
10 - 11
Council Meeting
JAN 2023
WED
18
9:00 am—4:00 pm
RTF Meeting
FEB 2023
TUE WED
14 - 15
Council Meeting
FEB 2023
WED
22
2:00 pm—3:30 pm
Conservation Resources/Demand Response Adv Comm Combined Meeting
FEB 2023
WED THU
22 - 23
RTF Meeting
FEB 2023
FRI
24
9:00 am—2:00 pm
Conservation Resources Advisory Comm.
MAR 2023
TUE WED
14 - 15
Council Meeting
MAR 2023
TUE
21
9:00 am—4:00 pm
RTF Meeting
MAR 2023
THU
23
9:00 am—12:00 pm
Resource Adequacy Adv Comm - Technical Committee
MAR 2023
TUE
28
9:00 am—11:00 am
RTF Policy Advisory Committee Q1 Meeting
MAR 2023
FRI
31
9:00 am—10:30 am
Generating Resources Advisory Committee
APR 2023
WED
05
9:00 am—12:00 pm
System Analysis Advisory Committee
APR 2023
MON
10
1:00 pm—4:00 pm
Regional Coordination Forum (RCF) Meeting
APR 2023
TUE WED
11 - 12
Council Meeting
APR 2023
TUE
18
9:00 am—12:30 pm
RTF Meeting
MAY 2023
TUE WED
16 - 17
Council Meeting
MAY 2023
TUE
23
9:00 am—4:00 pm
RTF Meeting
10:00 am—12:00 pm
Regional Coordination Forum (RCF) Meeting
MAY 2023
WED
24
1:00 pm—3:00 pm
RTF Policy Advisory Committee Q2 Meeting
JUN 2023
TUE WED
13 - 14
Council Meeting
JUN 2023
WED
21
9:00 am—12:00 pm
RTF Meeting June 21, 2023
JUL 2023
TUE WED
11 - 12
Council Meeting
JUL 2023
FRI
14
9:00 am—12:30 pm
Demand Forecast Advisory Committee
JUL 2023
TUE
18
9:00 am—4:00 pm
RTF Meeting
JUL 2023
THU
20
9:00 am—3:00 pm
Conservation Resources Advisory Committee
AUG 2023
TUE WED
15 - 16
Council Meeting
SEP 2023
TUE
05
1:30 pm—4:30 pm
System Analysis Advisory Committee
SEP 2023
TUE WED
12 - 13
Council Meeting
SEP 2023
FRI
15
9:00 am—11:00 am
RTF Policy Advisory Committee Q3 Meeting
SEP 2023
TUE
19
9:00 am—3:00 pm
RTF Meeting
SEP 2023
THU
21
1:00 pm—3:00 pm
Regional Coordination Forum (RCF) Meeting - Governors Report and Future Reporting
OCT 2023
WED THU
11 - 12
Council Meeting
OCT 2023
TUE WED
17 - 18
RTF Meeting
OCT 2023
TUE
24
9:00 am—12:30 pm
Fuels Advisory Committee
OCT 2023
THU
26
1:00 pm—3:00 pm
Regional Coordination Forum (RCF) Meeting - Flat Funding
NOV 2023
WED
01
9:30 am—4:00 pm
Reserves in Power Planning Workshop
NOV 2023
THU
02
9:30 am—12:30 pm
Demand Response Advisory Committee
NOV 2023
TUE
07
9:00 am—1:00 pm
RTF Meeting
NOV 2023
WED
08
12:30 pm—3:30 pm
RTF Policy Advisory Committee Q4 Meeting
NOV 2023
TUE WED
14 - 15
Council Meeting
DEC 2023
TUE
05
9:00 am—4:00 pm
RTF Meeting
DEC 2023
TUE WED
12 - 13
Council Meeting
JAN 2024
TUE WED
09 - 10
Council Meeting
FEB 2024
TUE WED
06 - 07
Council Meeting
MAR 2024
TUE WED
12 - 13
Council Meeting
APR 2024
TUE WED
09 - 10
Council Meeting
MAY 2024
TUE WED
14 - 15
Council Meeting
JUN 2024
TUE WED
11 - 12
Council Meeting
JUL 2024
TUE WED
09 - 10
Council Meeting
AUG 2024
TUE WED
13 - 14
Council Meeting
SEP 2024
TUE WED
10 - 11
Council Meeting
OCT 2024
TUE WED
08 - 09
Council Meeteing
NOV 2024
WED THU
13 - 14
Council Meeting
DEC 2024
TUE WED
10 - 11
Council Meeting
View Council Meetings View All Meetings
Reports and Documents

Browse reports and documents relevant to the Council's work on fish and wildlife and energy planning, as well as administrative reports.

Browse Reports

REPORTS BY TOPIC

Power Plan Fish and Wildlife Program Subbasin Plans Financial Reports Independent Scientific Advisory Board Independent Scientific Review Panel Independent Economic Analysis Board

COLUMBIA RIVER HISTORY PROJECT

Review of a Revised Proposal for the Yakama Nation’s Accord project, Upper Columbia Nutrient Supplementation (#2008-471-00)

Council Document Number: 
ISRP 2015-1
Published date: 
Jan. 28, 2015
Document state: 
Published

Share

In response to the Council’s December 4, 2014 request, the ISRP reviewed a revised proposal for the Yakama Nations’ Upper Columbia Nutrient Supplementation Project (#2008-471-00). The revised proposal is intended to address a condition placed on this project as part of the Council’s decision made on the project on May 12, 2010 and a follow-up review by the ISRP in February 2014 (ISRP 2014-2). In addition to the 2014 ISRP review, the ISRP has reviewed the project three other times (ISRP 2009-27, 2009-50, and 2010-8). In the 2014 review, the ISRP found that the project proponents’ submittal did not meet scientific review criteria and recommended that any future proposal be presented as a stand-alone study proposal that addresses the ISRP’s comments, especially those related to experimental design and statistical analysis.

Project short description:

This project evaluates the effects of nutrient addition on natural production of anadromous salmonids in Hancock Spring Natural Laboratory in the Methow River Basin. The project applies a food web approach to quantify energy flow through food webs, using both Trophic Basis of Production modeling and stable isotope analyses. The project also assesses the effects of habitat complexity on efforts to restore natural production. To scale findings, the project formalizes ecological mechanisms of energy routing in a mechanism-based model for understanding restoration effects on ESA-listed fish species.

The ISRP found that the revised proposal does not meet scientific review criteria.

Some of the concerns raised in the previous ISRP review were addressed in the revised proposal and in the point-by-point responses provided by the project proponents. For example, limiting the experimental treatment to analog additions reduced the issue of confounding effects from multiple types of treatments associated with the previous design. 

However, the revised proposal still has a number of major flaws:

  1. The nutrient addition study will still be unreplicated, lacks a non-enrichment control, and suffers from a lack of independence between the restored and unrestored reaches. Reach 2 is immediately downstream of Reach 1. Any activities occurring in Reach 1 could impact conditions in Reach 2, including the addition of analogs to Reach 1 (i.e., Reach 2 will receive enrichment from both the analogs placed in this reach and any organic matter and nutrients transported from Reach 1). Therefore, it would not be possible to attribute any difference in response to enrichment with analogs between Reach 1 and Reach 2 to difference in physical habitat condition. The lack of an unenriched reference site will affect the ability to ascribe observed responses to the treatment rather than temporal effects. A before-after control-impact (BACI) design is needed to disentangle treatment and temporal effects. The lack of replication implies that any conclusions would be specific to this particular location and may not be applicable to other locations.
  2. The two study reaches appear to be physically very different, even before Reach 1 was restored (see comments below). This further increases concern about the validity of attributing any differences in food web responses to the habitat restoration actions that were undertaken before enrichment began.
  3. Hancock Springs is an unusual site at the landscape scale, as the proponents acknowledge in the proposal. Therefore, concerns remain about the applicability of the information generated at Hancock Springs to other systems in the Upper Columbia region. Using the Hancock Springs data to parameterize ecosystem models may aid, somewhat, in understanding the extent to which the responses observed at Hancock Springs can be applied to other sites. However, the application of models parameterized with data from a spring stream to systems with the variable flow and thermal regimes typical of non-spring streams will be highly uncertain. It is likely that knowledge gained from this project will be of limited value in improving restoration actions on other small tributaries.

Although a better understanding of food web response to various restoration actions remains a key knowledge gap across the Columbia Basin, the issues listed above indicate that Hancock Springs is not an appropriate location to conduct this type of research. Overall, the proponents have not provided a convincing argument that this project will provide new information that can be used by other researchers or managers.

Topics: 
Fish and wildlife
Tags: 
ProposalYakama NationISRPFish AccordNutrient Supplementation2008-471-00

ISRP 2021-05 LibbyMFWPfollow-up1June.pdf

Download the full report

Sign up for our newsletter

  •    

Contact

  • Central Office
  • Idaho Office
  • Montana Office
  • Oregon Office
  • Washington Office
  • Council Members

Social Media

Facebook Twitter Instagram LinkedIn Vimeo Flickr

Copyright 2023

Privacy policy Terms & Conditions