Fisheries

doi: 10.1577/1548-8446-18-11pmid: N/A

Wood, Christopher A.

doi: 10.1577/1548-8446(1993)018<0006:iaeotw>2.0.co;2pmid: N/A

The Northwest Power Act established the Northwest Power Planning Council to coordinate hydrosystem operations by developing a program “to protect, mitigate, and enhance” the Columbia River basin's anadromous salmonid resources. The language and legislative history of the act demonstrate the intent of Congress that the basin's power planners consider anadromous fish “co‐equal partners” with hydrosystem operations and planning. An important and controversial element of the council's Fish and Wildlife Program is the water budget, a program that allows fish and wildlife agencies to help determine flow levels in the basin during the peak of juvenile downstream migration. Execution of the water budget has been difficult due to its lack of an authoritative management strategy, limited scope, and the absence of firm implementation guidelines. Implementation problems that have plagued the water budget since its inception make judging the efficacy of the program difficult. Evaluation of the water budget concept is further complicated by the lack of recent comprehensive and quantitative research on the effects of enhanced flows on smolt travel time and survival. This paper critically examines the factors that have made implementation of the water budget problematic and evaluation of the water budget concept difficult.