3/12/2015

i

Dams:

(Even though it’s from the UK, couldn’t resist an article with a title and photo like this.)Majesty of winter weather captured by Duncan in this fine dam picture

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

Some Dam – Hydro News TM

And Other Stuff

1

Quote of Note: “Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.” -P.J. O'Rourke

Some Dam - Hydro News Newsletter Archive for Back Issues and Search http://npdp.stanford.edu/Click on Link (Some Dam - Hydro News) Bottom Right - Under Perspectives

“Good wine is a necessity of life.” - -Thomas JeffersonRon’s wine pick of the week: 2011 Borgo Scopeto Italian (Tuscany) Red "Borgonero" “ No nation was ever drunk when wine was cheap. ” - - Thomas Jefferson

It is one of the glorious sites of our region, especially in the harshness of winter.shropshirestar.com, 2/28/15

This magnificent picture of the Craig Goch reservoir in the Elan Valley came from Shropshire Star reader Duncan Foulkes. It shows the landmark set off by snow-capped hills, a scene that may return in the coming days as our warmer spell is replaced by colder weather. The wet and mild weather of the last week has seen water levels at 100 per cent at each of the famous Craig Goch, Penygarreg, Caban Coch and Claerwen dams. Craig Goch, the highest upstream of the series of dams in the Elan Valley, is often referred to as the ‘top dam’. It is located at a height of 1,040 feet above sea level. For more than 100 years the dams have carried a vital water supply all the way to Birmingham. There has been plenty of water around this winter, and there will be more to come next week. Temperatures that will touch 10C (50F) today will drop dramatically next week. It will stay wet, but there will also be the prospect of night time frosts to contend with.

(The annual campaign has begun. Sooner or later, they’ll win. Funny arithmetic forgot to mention wind power subsidies.)Letter - Lower Snake River dams are economic losersunion-bulletin.com, February 28, 2015 Jim Waddell, a civil engineer retired from 35 years of service with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, recently released a re-evaluation of the Corps’ 2002 Lower Snake River “dam breaching” study in which the Corps understated the true costs of keeping the Lower Snake dams in place by $161 million on an average annual basis. Using actual costs over the past 15 years and Waddell’s corrections, total average annual cost for keeping the dams over their projected life span is estimated at $217 million. Citing the 2002 study, the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association recently claimed that replacing hydropower produced by the dams would cost an average annual $271 million. That claim, however, ignores the fact that Lower Snake River hydropower has already been replaced more than double by wind energy. PNWA also fails to share key economic information with the public: The study’s identified recreational benefits of breaching the dams — $85-$350 million per year. Using a midpoint dollar figure of those benefits of a free-flowing river, most of which would be shared by hundreds of small businesses from Astoria, Ore., to Salmon, Idaho, keeping the dams is costing us an estimated net $118 million a year in lost recreational benefits alone. The Lower Snake River dams are economic losers costing taxpayers and ratepayers millions every year. It’s time for all of us to take our heads out of the sediment and learn the economic truth about these dams. Borg Hendrickson, Kooskia, Idaho

(Another of the never-ending views.)Rocky Barker: New numbers won't change debate about Snake River structuresBy ROCKY BARKER, March 5, 2015, idahostatesman.com

Jim Waddell is walking the path blazed by McCall biologist Don Chapman. Waddell, a retired U.S. Army Corps of Engineers economist, now says the agency's 1999 calculations - released in final form in 2002 - on the cost and benefits of the four lower Snake River dams in Washington were wrong. Breaching the dams, he says, was the most economically sound route for the Pacific Northwest, not gold-plating the dams with fish-passage devices, new electric-generating turbines, new locks and repeated, regular dredging. Chapman is a former University of Idaho fisheries professor who went from beloved mentor for a generation of fisheries biologists to become the hydroelectric industry's most respected defender in the 1990s. He said until 2005 that the fish-bypass systems were adequate, until it became clear that the rising temperature of the Columbia River and its tributaries and the effects of global warming on ocean conditions made breaching those dams the best hope for Idaho's wild salmon to survive or flourish. It's a decade later and little has changed. Cyclical Pacific Ocean conditions - cold currents that increase the availability of food and keep predator numbers low - have allowed salmon and steelhead numbers to balloon since 2000, when the decision was made to forgo breaching despite the scientific consensus of the time. Fish-passage devices at the dams and increased spill of water over the dams ordered

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu2

by a federal judge to aid migration have helped boost salmon populations, as have a host of other costly actions throughout the watershed.

But the overall scientific argument has changed very little. The science continues to show that breaching the four dams is the most effective way to restore salmon in what is the best, healthiest habitat left in the Pacific Northwest: Central Idaho. Some biologists do believe recovery of the endangered stocks of salmon can happen simply with more water spilled over the dams instead of run through the turbines. But they remain a minority. An even smaller group thinks the status quo is enough, and they are backed, largely, by the dams' barging, hydroelectric, irrigation and industrial interests. The truth is, neither the science nor the Corps' economic numbers in 2000 were significant to the debate. Instead, politics ruled the day. The Clinton administration decided it could concentrate on forcing ranchers and farmers to restore water to salmon spawning tributaries throughout the region and defer breaching. Because both Washington and Oregon were battleground states in the presidential race between then-Democratic Vice President Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush, a no-breaching decision peeled off independent agriculture votes from Republicans. Gore lost anyway. Now it's 15 years later and the Port of Lewiston and other lower Snake River ports have dramatically lost business. Trains are taking cargo overland to the Puget Sound instead of barges down the Columbia to Portland. The nation has spent billions on the dams that could have been spent otherwise. Science and economics have never been the driving force in this debate. Our cultural ties to the federal dams and to the power, barging, irrigation and even recreation they bring overrode the region's fiscal conservatism and anti-government sentiment. This will continue until conditions in the Pacific Ocean cycle again and salmon numbers plunge again. Then maybe we will listen to what Chapman and Waddell are trying to tell us.

(Small or large, the problems can seem big! Change the name of the City so it can be pronounced. What the heck is a Parsippany?)Engineers: Manor Lake could be fixed by fall 2016By William Westhoven, March 2, 2015, dailyrecord.com PARSIPPANY, NJ – About a dozen residents of the Manor Lake section attended the township council's meeting on Tuesday to see a presentation from the engineering firm hired to manage the long-awaited revival of the tiny, municipally owned lake. Residents in the area have for years complained about the lack of upkeep at the 2.5-acre lake in the Intervale section, downstream from Lake Intervale along Troy Brook, which feeds both bodies of water. During periods of adequate rain and water flow, the narrow lake provides a postcard view, and longtime residents say people there enjoyed boating, skating and fishing in the past. But all too often, during warm weather and drought, Manor dries into an unsightly mud puddle and breeding ground for mosquitoes that negatively impacts both quality of life and property values. Township officials have frequently cited the large number of permits involved to satisfy both state and federal guidelines regarding dam and wetland issues "I understand this has been a long time coming and we definitely understand the anxiousness of everyone involved," said Cherry Weber project engineer Stephen Gomba. Gomba explained that the firm is still in the process of obtaining final approvals from all the agencies, but they have made enough progress to move ahead with the project.

"It's been several years now the project has been in the permitting phase with dam safety," Gomba said. "We had to establish a design dam to act safely without breaching and causing inundation of downstream properties and waterways." Those critical dam approvals were finally obtained in August. "The dam now finally has a spillway we can design to and we know now know what the parameters are," he said. One key accomplishment was successfully downgrading the design storm for the project to a 100-year storm which calls for allowance for 8.3 inches of precipitation in a 24-hour period. The previous "significant-hazard" classification of the Manor dam required design allowance for a storm producing 34 inches of precipitation in 24 hours.

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu3

"It's a lot smaller volume," Gomba said. "It allows us to have a much smaller dam, a much smaller spillway, so it's a lot cheaper to construct."

Referring to renderings and charts, Gomba outlined a timetable of project completion, including dam construction and dredging, to be completed by fall of 2016. Permitting should be complete by mid-March, although some regulatory agencies, including the state Department of Environmental Protection, could take up to four months to issues approval, he said."As those permits move forward, the documents will be at town hall for review so everyone can keep tabs on how the progress is going," Gomba said. "In the fall of this year, bidding and award should be feasible." Meanwhile, consultants and subconsultants continue to inspect the property to locate lot corners, right of way lines and document the topography and location of wetlands requiring protection. Dredging an estimated three or four feet of bottom sediment could double the current depth of the lake, and aerators will likely be installed to discourage future growth of algae. The lake was last dredged in 1989. After the presentation in council chambers, Pat Farnan, a longtime Manor resident who for years has pushed the township administration for remediation of the lake, joined the engineers and other residents in the hallway for further examination of the Cherry Weber diagrams and participate in an informal Q&A session. "I'm disappointed at the latest time line but at least it's going in the right direction," Farnan said. "We've got to keep pushing."

(For your reading interests.)DamSafetyNewsletterSpring2015.pdf

(Watch the video!)Video: Water flows over Quail Creek Diversion Damfox13now.com, March 3, 2015

Click on this URL:http://fox13now.com/2015/03/03/video-water-flows-over-quail-creek-diversion-dam/

SOUTHERN UTAH — The WashingtonCounty Water Conservancy Districtposted a video on its Facebook page ofwater flowing over the Quail CreekDiversion Dam after the rainfall this pastweek.Storms have pounded southern Utahwith rain and snow over the past fewdays. The weather is expected to dry upand bring warmer temperatures toWashington County later this week.

(TVA is doing a lot of dam work.)TVA to install earthquake alert system at Pickwick Dam courieranywhere.com

March 5– The Tennessee Valley Authority announced today that it will install an early warning system to notify downstream residents should an earthquake occur that is large enough to damage the dam’s south earthen embankment. The work is to be performed during the next six weeks.TVA said that while the dam is performing as designed, the water level at Pickwick was lowered to winter levels several weeks early last October so the embankment investigation and analysis could be completed. The Pickwick reservoir is to be returned to normal summer lake levels on schedule by mid-April, depending on rainfall.

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu4

“TVA and the industry are using more stringent criteria today to evaluate dams. This is based on our modern-day understanding of how embankment dams constructed like Pickwick perform in large earthquakes,” said John McCormick, vice president of Safety, River Management and Environment. “Although the likelihood of a large, damaging earthquake is small, the safety of downstream communities, industries, the public and our employees is our top priority.” Very large earthquakes such as those that occurred near New Madrid, Missouri, in 1811 and 1812 would be of concern for the Pickwick embankment, McCormick said. That earthquake reached 7.5 on the Richter scale, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. TVA is installing multiple layers of seismic detection equipment that will send a notification to TVA and the National Weather Service of any change in the embankment. If necessary, a notification for downstream residents to seek higher ground will be sent via the National Weather Service. Anyone with a weather radio in the vicinity of Pickwick Dam should receive an alert in case of damage to the dam due to a major seismic event. TVA said it will provide weather radios to downstream area residents this spring. Beginning March 12, portions of Tenn. 128 will be blocked so that crews can install cables running the length of the embankment. The cables detect even slight amounts of movement. In addition, video and thermal cameras are being installed. “This multi-layered system adds extra safety measures for those who live near this beautiful reservoir and enjoy the recreational and economic opportunities it presents,” McCormick said. Installation of the early warning system is scheduled to be completed by early April. Pickwick Landing Dam was designed and constructed in the 1930s. The concrete portion includes the powerhouse, spillways and two navigation locks with long earthen embankments on each side. The south embankment is about 4,000 feet long. Some enhancements to strengthen the south embankment are planned, a TVA spokesman said.

Hydro: (Buying lots of hydro projects. There must be profit in this idea.)Saratoga County hydro plant has new ownerBy Chelsea Diana, Reporter- Albany Business Review, Feb 27, 2015, bizjournals.com

The Stillwater Hydroelectric Facility in Saratoga County, New York has been sold to a renewable energy company out of Colorado. Located on the Hudson River, the Stillwater plant is the third hydro plant that Gravity Renewables has bought in upstate New York, according to a statement. It owns two other plants on the Catskill Creek in Leeds, New York and on the Kinderhook Creek Stuyvesant, New York. The Stillwater plant opened in 1993. It generates about 13.9 million kilowatt-hours of clean energy each year, enough to power 2,286 New York homes.There are about 60 small hydro projects in New York. About half of those projects are within 50 miles of Albany or farther downstate. "We like to buy older hydro plants and we got a chance to meet the owners and were able to come to a mutual agreement," said CEO Ted Rose. "We're excited to be on the Hudson and be in Saratoga county. We consider the Capital Region to be a fantastic place to do business." The Stillwater plant was last sold in 2008 for $5.76 million, according to a report from the Times Union. Rose did not disclose the details of the current acquisition. He said Gravity is evaluating other potential hydro plant acquisitions in the area.

(He keeps on tickin’)Feds reject objection to hydroelectric facility in Woodbury By Rick Harrison Republican-American, rep-am.com. 3/2/15

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu5

WOODBURY, CT — The Federal Energy RegulatoryCommission has reasserted Andy Peklo's right to beginconstructing a hydroelectric dam beside his home on thePomperaug River.

On Monday, the agency responded to a letter sent byU.S. Rep. Elizabeth H. Esty, D-5th District, on behalf ofa neighbor opposed to the project questioning whetherPeklo owns all of the property necessary forconstruction.

(What would the NW look like without the hydro?)Past Tense Oregon: Oregon's post-war economy directly tied to Columbia River dams By John Killen | The Oregonian/OregonLive, oregonlive.com, March 03, 2015

When World War II ended 70 years ago, Oregon's economy was still heavily reliant on natural resources: Abundant water, thick forests and fertile soil. In many ways, that's still the case. It's just that the way we rely on those resources has changed. That was the central message delivered Monday evening at McMenamins Kennedy School in Northeast Portland by Dr. Daniel Pope, professor emeritus at the University of Oregon. Pope spoke to a group of more than 100 people at the Kennedy School theater as part of the "Oregon History 101" series.His talk, entitled "From Ships toSilicon Chips," basically coveredhow the state's economy shiftedafter World War II - and how the shiftactually began in the decade beforethe war as Bonneville Dam wascompleted and construction ofGrand Coulee Dam began. Theseries is sponsored by OregonHistorical Society, OregonEncyclopedia, Oregon HistoryProject and McMenamins. Pope,whose specialties are business andeconomic history, said it was thecheap hydropower produced by theColumbia River dams thatencouraged the shift to take place.And in the years that followed, other changes took place, as well.

High-tech companies began to flood Washington County and the state's "Silicon Forest" began to take root; vineyards began to take over the rolling hills of many parts of the state; and a state that once saw trees as something to be cut down and turned into dimension lumber slowly began to see them as something to value in their original form. "Oregon is still in fundamental ways a natural state," Pope told his audience. "We are still reliant on forest, soil and water. But in very different fashion than 70 years ago." "The resources of Oregon's past have assumed new roles and gained new meanings." Pope pointed out that the whole shift had a sort-of backward start. When the big hydro dams were undertaken in the 1930s during the Great Depression, they provided thousands of jobs and Bonneville's locks improved river navigation, but there was no great need for the huge amount of power they would produce. But World War II changed that. The aluminum plants that would be key to building bombers and fighters consumed huge amounts of electricity and the top-secret projects going on a Hanford to produce plutonium began

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu6

Bonneville Dam - Old postcard photo

soaking up more electricity each day than all the public and private utilities in the region combined, Pope said.

When the war ended, the realization that the hydro dams on the Columbia and other Northwest rivers could provide that much electricity would help draw in the new electricity-hungry high-tech companies: Tektronix, Floating Point, Lattice Semiconductor and, beginning in 1976, the 800-pound gorilla: Intel, which Pope said is now by far the largest private employer in the state with more than 17,000 workers. Not that hydropower was without problems. The dams nearly destroyed the Pacific Northwest's salmon runs and in the 1970s, the effort to keep producing cheap electricity led to some major missteps, such as WPPSS - the Washington Public Power Supply System. The utility's over-reliance on nuclear energy led to the second-largest municipal bond default in U.S. history. But other new ideas did work out. Pope pointed to the wine industry as an example. He said that it now employs nearly as many people statewide as does Intel and that wine tourism is worth about $200 million a year to the state. And he said that Oregon's forests, once seen as a source for lumber, are now seen as a resource for recreation and tourism, worth millions annually to the state. Near the end of his talk, Pope pointed out that Oregon's economy has lots of problems. It is notoriously unstable and "when the rest of the nation comes down with the flu, we get pneumonia," he said. But Oregonians often seem willing to take such problems in stride and instead focus on quality of life issues. Such an attitude can be a bit of a double-edged sword. "Oregon rates high in the standings of life's amenities and pleasures," he said. On one hand, "we ignore the economy at our own peril. But we neglect the pleasure of Oregon at our own loss."

(It is supposed to get wet!)Meldahl electric plant prepping for flooding3/5/15 • WENDY MITCHELL, maysville-online.com

BROOKSVILLE, Ohio | Weatherconditions will continue to testpreparations as snows ceaseand the threat of flooding alongthe Ohio River increase thisweekend. In Augusta, becauseof Snow Emergency levelslimiting travel, some ClopayPlastic Products plantemployees could not leave theplant until Thursday. Companyofficials made arrangements tofeed the crews as snow removalwork continued in Bracken County.According to Bracken County Judge Executive Earl Bush, at one time overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, three county road trucks were stuck in the snow filled roads.

At the Meldahl Dam Hydroelectric plant site, preparations were under way early for flooding expected to flow over the turbine plant which is adjacent to the Meldahl Dam in Bracken County.The Meldahl Project includes a 105 megawatt run-of-the-river hydroelectric plant. According to officials from American Municipal Power, the plant was constructed with the expectation of occasional flooding. “What they are doing is making sure the hatches are closed for the flow-over,” said Kent Carson, AMP spokesman. AMP and City of Hamilton Ohio have jointly built and benefit from electric power created by the flow of the Ohio River through the turbines, which only recently became active. “It was built to be underwater, so the river flooding should not impact its operation,” Carson said. According to the National Weather Service Office in Wilmington, Ohio, the Ohio River is expected to crest at about 52 feet at Augusta and the dam near Foster on Saturday.

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu7

(When it rains, hydro folks smile.)Analysis: Northwest US winter hydro output rises5 Mar 2015, argusmedia.com

Washington, 5 March (Argus) — Hydropower generation in the northwest US has risen fast this year even as above-normal temperatures have depressed load. Power flows from the region are up sharply and wholesale power prices are trailing year-earlier levels by a hefty margin. Hydropower generation by the Bonneville Power Administration averaged 11,384MW so far this year, based on data reported by the federal power marketing agency. That represents an increase of 58pc over the same period last year. Thermal and wind generation in the same period dropped by 30pc and 42pc, respectively. Seasonal accumulations of heating degree days — a measure of heating demand — in Oregon and Washington as of 1 March were 19pc below normal and 18pc lower than a year earlier, according to the National Weather Service. Load in the Bonneville service area in January-February averaged 6pc lower year-over-year.The rise in hydropower generation combined with lower load has boosted flows outside of Bonneville's control area by 62pc on the year, to 7,650MW on average in January-February. Peak prescheduled prices at Mid-Columbia this year averaged $21.34/MWh, just a third of the year-earlier average. By contrast, NP15 peak values in California are down by 43pc year over year. The Mid-Columbia discount to NP-15 in peak hours widened to 38pc from 10pc last year. Warmer-than-normal weather contributed to higher hydro run but it also left snowpack below normal levels across parts of the northwest. The Natural Resources Conservation Service reports Columbia river basin snow-water equivalent at 52pc of the median as of yesterday even though precipitation in the past five months has been at 97pc of normal levels. Northwest hydropower generation could be below normal levels in the next few months, possibly boosting gas-fired generation, analysts with PIRA Energy Group said in a research note this week.

Environment: (Time to go fishin’)First spring chinook counted at Bonneville DamBy ERIC BARKER Lewiston Tribune, billingsgazette .com, 2/28/15

The first spring chinook of the year has beencounted at Bonneville Dam, a sure sign thatspring and loads of other chinook can’t be farbehind. The precocious swimmer climbed thedam’s fish ladder on Thursday. If salmonmanagers are right, more than 232,000 otherspring-run chinook are on their way, includingmore than 140,800 bound for the Snake Riverand its tributaries.

That prediction is for the mouth of theColumbia River, where many of them will becaught by anglers, commercial fishermen or beeaten by seals and sea lions before they reach Bonneville Dam, located near the Oregon-Washington border. Idaho salmon managers predict about 88,450 chinook will make it all the way to Lower Granite Dam, including 54,176 hatchery and 34,273 wild chinook. When the number of fish needed for spawning at hatcheries are accounted for, the forecast calls for anglers on the Clearwater River to have a harvest share of 4,500 hatchery spring chinook, and those fishing the

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu8

lower Salmon and Little Salmon rivers to have a harvest share of about 6,200 hatchery chinook. After later arriving chinook bound for the South Fork of the Salmon River and the upper Salmon River are factored in, Idaho will have a total harvest share of about 16,500 hatchery chinook.A harvest share is the number of chinook available to harvest. By court precedent, the harvestable share of the run is split evenly between sport and tribal fishing interests, meaning tribal members will also be able to catch about 16,500 chinook in Idaho. Last year’s sport fishing harvest was about 3,700 on the Clearwater, 6,100 on the lower Salmon and Little Salmon River and just more than 900 on the Snake River in Hells Canyon.

(Where are these fish now? Downstream, of course!)Removing dams on the Fox River will increase number of fish speciesBy Gloria Casas Elgin Courier-News, chicagotribune.com, 2/28/15

The Fox River is in much better shape than50 years ago when "the Fox" — ananonymous environmental activist — wouldplug sewer outlets going into the river andcall out companies throwing pollutants into it. Today, the Fox River provides drinking waterfor more than 300,000 people and is home todozens of fish species. There is no need forsecret environmental movements and morepeople, like the Fox River Study Group, aretaking action to make sure the state of theFox River remains strong. A major problemalong the river nowadays is the amount ofalgae growing as a result of too manynutrients running into it, said Cindy Skrukrud,clean water advocate and member of the FoxRiver Study Group. An Illinois EnvironmentalProtection Agency 2014 report listed the riveras impaired because of the high levels ofalgae and phosphorus resulting in low levelsof dissolved oxygen, she said. Algae depletes oxygen in the water, depriving aquatic life of oxygen and also causes odor in drinking water, she said. "This is not the kind of thing we want," Skrukrud said.

The Fox River Study Group is working on a plan — the Fox River Implementation Plan — to be released at the end of this year looking at ways to reduce pollution and do river enhancement projects. Skrukrud said they are currently looking for municipalities to partner with on the projects.What really tells the story of the Fox River's health is the fish. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources uses fish to determine stream quality. The department does regular sampling of fish at 43 stations and has found 84 species of fish throughout the Fox River, said Stephen Pescitelli, Region II Stream Specialist with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. The Fox River is a mixed bag of good areas, bad areas and areas that have potential to be good habitats, Pescitelli said. Fish like the motted sculpin needs cool, clean ground water and is among the species found in the Fox River, he said. Flathead catfish are also found in the river as well as rainbow darter and rare fish like one called the greater redhorse, he said.

Downstream, the Fox River has many more species than in the Fox River Valley because the quality of streams is better and there are fewer dams than in the northern branch, Pescitelli said.Thirteen dams along the Fox River mean 50 percent of the river is impounded and causes a big impact on its flow and connectivity to other bodies of water, he said. Dams block fish communities' ability to move around, affecting the habitat and water quality, he said. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is removing dams free of charge, he said.

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu9

Currently, the Forest Preserve District of Kane County is planning to tear down dams at Fox River Shores Forest Preserve in Carpentersville and the Causeway at Fabyan Forest Preserve in Geneva. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is providing $3.5 million to remove the dams and do shoreline restoration. More than 1,100 dams around the state have been removed to improve streams and rivers. Locally, two dams have been removed. The south Batavia dam was removed in 2005 and a dam in Aurora was removed in 2006, he said. Another nine tributary dams were removed including at Brewster Creek, Ferson Creek and Blackberry Creek. The Blackberry Creek stood for 170 years and within two weeks of its removal, carpsucker fish began spawning in the creek, Pescitelli said. The dams were originally built to help power manufacturing companies located along the riverfront, Skrukrud said. The structures are no longer necessary, she said. There is, however, some resistance about removing dams, Pescitelli said. Batavia officials are trying to decide what direction to take with the remaining dam in its jurisdiction. A common misconception is the river will dry up if a dam is removed or the opposite will occur, flooding, he said. Pescitelli thinks people are afraid of change but removing the dams will help the river's health in the long run.

(Dam builders pitch in to help.)Beavers are saving California’s wild salmonMiria Finn / onEarth, 1st March 2015, theecologist.org

With California's wild Coho salmon populations down to 1% of their former numbers, there's growing evidence that beavers - long reviled as a pest of the waterways - are essential to restore the species, writesMaria Finn. In the process, they raisewater tables, recharge aquifers andimprove water quality. What's not to love?

Beavers are the single most important factorin determining whether Coho salmon persistin California. They work night and day, don'tneed to be paid, and are incredibleengineers.In an unexpected twist to California's droughtsaga, it turns out that beavers, once reviledas a nuisance, could help ease the waterwoes that sometimes pit the state'senvironmentalists and fishermen against itsfarmers. In California, where commercial andrecreational salmon fishing brings in $1.5 billion a year, and agriculture earns $42.6 billion annually, farmers, fishermen and Indigenous Peoples have long warred over freshwater from the Klamath and Sacramento rivers.Dams built for reservoirs on these rivers have cut off many salmon from their breeding areas, which has severely depleted the populations. Typically, up to 80% of the diverted water is used by agriculture, much of it sent to the arid Central Valley region where moisture-demanding crops like almonds are now being intensively farmed. In the ongoing drought, however, both sides of this conflict are suffering. Authorities have cut water supplies to agriculture, forcing farmers to abandon crops or drill wells and buy surplus water at ever-steeper prices. Meanwhile, fishery experts predict the worst for Chinook and Coho salmon. Only 5% of the Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon survived this year, according to a recent report from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. This would mean very few wild adult Chinook salmon would return to the rivers in three to four years, making hatchery fish the species' only hope.In 2008 and 2009, California officials shut down Chinook salmon-fishing entirely, leaving not just fishermen adrift, but chefs and consumers without a favorite summer food.

Only beavers can restore California's wild salmon

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu10

While Coho salmon runs are healthy in places like Alaska, California does not allow commercial or sportfishing of the species due to its critically low numbers. It's believed that only 1% of the historical population still exists in the state. Some fear the drought may push California's endangered Coho salmon all the way to extinction. Salmon spend their first one to two years in freshwater before heading to the sea. They return as adults to lay eggs. During these times, they require cold, slow water and protective covering, which coastal rainforests in California once provided. Heavy logging in the late 19th century destroyed much of this habitat, which was then converted into farms, vineyards, and residential areas. Beavers, which were almost hunted to extinction in California during the 1800s, can help restore this watery habitat, especially in drought conditions. Fishery experts once believed the animals' dams blocked salmon from returning to their streams, so it was common practice to rip them out. But, consistent with previous studies, research led by Michael M. Pollock, an ecosystems analyst with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shows the opposite: wild salmon are adept at crossing the beavers' blockages. In addition, the dams often reduce the downstream transport of egg-suffocating silt to the gravel where salmon spawn, and create deeper, cooler water for juvenile fish and adult salmon and steelhead. The resulting wetlands also attract more insects for salmon to eat. In ongoing research that covered six years, Pollock and his colleagues showed that river restoration projects that featured beaver dams more than doubled their production of salmon.Can the animals help bring back the Coho salmon? "Absolutely", Pollock says. "They may be the only thing that can."

Beaver dams recharge aquifers, raise water tablesNot far from the Oregon border, the Mid Klamath Watershed Council (MKWC) is collaborating with the Karuk and Yurok tribes to create a beaver-centered river restoration plan on tribal and public lands. "Beavers are the single most important factor in determining whether Coho salmon persist in California", MKWC executive director Will Harling says. "They work night and day, don't need to be paid, and are incredible engineers." What's more, Pollock's work shows that by slowing a river's flow and allowing water to soak into the ground, beaver dams can raise the water table under the land. "So they don't just help fishermen", he says, "but can help ranchers and farmers save on water pumping and irrigation costs." Short version (2.33) of the David Attenborough BBC/PBS video on beavers. Full length (20.35) version below. Because of water shortages, the Scott River Watershed Council (part of the Klamath River system) has been working with US Fish and Wildlife Services and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to encourage beavers to do their thing. Early findings show that wells behind beaver dams have recharged significantly faster than those on land without them.

Cattle ranchers turn to growing 'beaver food'Garreth Plank, a cattle rancher on the Scott River, has always welcomed the animals to his land. As a result, he has found that the beavers save the ranch significant amounts of money each year: "One of our largest expenses is electricity for pumping water. With beavers on the land, the water tables are higher, and we've had a 10% to 15% reduction in pumping costs." Along with saving money, Plank now boasts 76,000 Coho fingerling (very young fish) and 35,000 Chinook fingerling in his property's rivers. Jim Morris, a Scott Valley rancher at Bryan-Morris Ranch, says he tried to get rid of beavers for years. "But they do slow the water from leaving the valley and enhance water tables", he says. "Due to their benefits, we started planting more trees, and instead of calling it riparian and shade plantings, we call it 'beaver food.' " But California Department of Fish and Wildlife environmental scientist Matthew Meshriy says North America's largest rodent is still often unwelcome in the state's agricultural areas, particularly the Central Valley, where their dams can interfere with the complicated water infrastructure vital to farms: "If we had a more natural system and grew things appropriate to the land and at an intensity level that was sustainable for the long term, then a beaver could be a powerful part of it. But that's not the case here." Despite such resistance, beavers are enjoying a comeback in California, even building dams in downtown San Jose, Martinez, and Napa. And interest is increasing elsewhere: Pollock has been hosting standing-room-only workshops on the benefits of beavers in salmon watersheds all along the West Coast. "Fishermen welcome beaver dams much more than the human-built dams on salmon streams", says Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu11

Federation of Fishermen's Associations. "If beavers are allowed to do their jobs, they'll help the fishermen keep salmon on the plates."

(A great bald eagle story. More photos on the website.)http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/03/06/bald-eagle-pennsylvania-game-commission-eggs-snow/24503667/

That's love: Eagles covered in snow protect eggs

You can barely see the head of a bald eagleburied in the snow as it protects its eggs in astorm. But on Thursday, love and dedicationwere in clear view. According to Washington,D.C., news station WTOP, a bald eagle livestream in Hanover, Pa., captured the scene:"The bald eagle was stoic. Occasionally, as theeagle's beak became covered, it moved itshead for room. But other than that, the nationalbird remained steadfast." Actually, two birds,which WTOP called mates, have actually beenon egg duty. And on Friday, conditions were abit better, allowing viewers of the stream tomake out one of them. But don't worry about eagles -- they know how to handle themselves in cold weather. The Pennsylvania Game Commission says their feathers provide adequate insulation.

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu12

iThis compilation of articles and other information is provided at no cost for those interested in hydropower, dams, and water resourcesissues and development, and should not be used for any commercial or other purpose. Any copyrighted material herein is distributed withoutprofit or payment from those who have an interest in receiving this information for non-profit and educational purposes only.