A review of potential conservation and fisheries benefits of breaching four dams in the Lower Snake River (Washington, USA)

Storch, Adam J.; Schaller, Howard; Petrosky, Charles E.; Vadas, Robert L.; Clemens, Benjamin J.; Sprague, G.L.; Mercado‐Silva, Norman; Roper, Brett B.; Parsley, Michael J.; Bowles, Edward; Hughes, Robert M.; Hesse, Jay A.

doi:10.1016/j.watbs.2022.100030

Cited by 6 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 102 publications

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“…Thus, the river suffers from heavy organic and nutrient loading and flows are intensively managed using a series of 22 dams built between 1901 and 1982 . These dams, and their resulting reservoirs, which vary in their purpose, construction, and management, subsequently have a range of impacts on the hydrology, biogeochemistry, and ecology of the Snake River. , Further, the Snake River provides critical spawning and rearing habitat for numerous fish species of cultural significance and conservation concern including Bull Trout (Salvelinus confluentus), Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), , Pacific Lamprey (Entosphenus tridentatus), Sockeye Salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka), Steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss), and White Sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus), , which vary substantially in their exposure to the mainstem Snake River environments. , …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reservoir Stratification Modulates the Influence of Impoundments on Fish Mercury Concentrations along an Arid Land River System

Willacker,

Eagles-Smith,

Chandler

et al. 2023

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Impoundment is among the most common hydrologic alterations with impacts on aquatic ecosystems that can include effects on mercury (Hg) cycling. However, landscape-scale differences in Hg bioaccumulation between reservoirs and other habitats are not well characterized nor are the processes driving these differences. We examined total Hg (THg) concentrations of Smallmouth Bass ( Micropterus dolomieu ) collected from reservoir, tailrace, and free-flowing reaches along an 863 km segment of the Snake River, USA, a semiarid river with 22 impoundments along its course. Across three size-classes (putative 1-year-old, first reproductive, and harvestable sized fish), THg concentrations in reservoirs and tailraces averaged 76% higher than those in free-flowing segments. Among reservoirs, THg concentrations were highest in reservoirs with inconsistent stratification patterns, 47% higher than annually stratified, and 144% higher than unstratified reservoirs. Fish THg concentrations in tailraces immediately downstream of stratified reservoirs were higher than those below unstratified (38–130%) or inconsistently stratified (32–79%) reservoirs. Stratification regimes influenced the exceedance of fish and human health benchmarks, with 52–80% of fish from stratifying reservoirs and downstream tailraces exceeding a human consumption benchmark, compared to 6–17% where stratification did not occur. These findings suggest that impoundment and stratification play important roles in determining the patterns of Hg exposure risk across the landscape.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reservoir Stratification Modulates the Influence of Impoundments on Fish Mercury Concentrations along an Arid Land River System

Willacker,

Eagles-Smith,

Chandler

et al. 2023

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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“…The once free‐flowing river has been transformed into reservoirs by a series of dams that impede the movement of these fishes and greatly decreases their survival. The four dams on the lower Snake River (Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose, and Lower Granite) significantly reduce access to the cold‐water, high‐quality spawning and nursery habitat that are essential for fish sustainability (Storch et al 2022).…”

Section: Statement Of the American Fisheries Society And The Western ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When the body of scientific evidence is considered (Williams et al 1989; Nehlsen et al 1991; Thurow 2000; NOAA 2017, 2022; Isaak et al 2018; Storch et al 2022; TU 2022), it is clear that breaching the four lower Snake River dams is necessary to (1) substantially improve the probability of recovering these cultural and ecological keystone species to healthy and harvestable populations and (2) safeguard those fishes from extinction.…”

Section: Statement Of the American Fisheries Society And The Western ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Today, only 1–2% of historic wild salmon and steelhead numbers return to the Snake River to spawn above the four lower dams (Thurow et al, 2020). Climate change has (NWPCC 2015; Storch et al 2022) and will continue to worsen the outlook for these coldwater species. Access to this habitat is the best opportunity to promote broad‐scale population recovery and persistence in the face of climate‐change induced warming.…”

Section: Statement Of the American Fisheries Society And The Western ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Breaching the dams to restore riverine habitats in the lower Snake River will also benefit ecosystem processes, entire biological communities, and increase climate change resilience of anadromous fishes. Dam breaching has shown success towards recovering migratory fish species, notably in the Elwha River, WA (Hess et al 2020; Storch et al 2022) and Kennebec and Penobscot rivers, ME (Johnston et al 2019; Kober 2019; Prosek 2020; Sharma and Waldman 2021; Wippelhauser 2021; NRCM 2022). Notably, the Penobscot River project was accomplished by a combination of breaching, fish passageways, and increased power production for different dams, such that total hydropower production was maintained while restoring diadromous fish runs.…”

Section: Statement Of the American Fisheries Society And The Western ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Statement of the American Fisheries Society and the Western Division of AFS About the Need to Breach the Four Dams on the Lower Snake River

Winters¹

2023

Fisheries

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Optimal approach for upstream fish passage design: One‐size‐fits‐all or made‐to‐order?

Nestler,

Gosselin

2023

River Research & Apps

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Nearly 60,000 large dams (higher than 15 m) occur worldwide in addition to an estimated 16 million smaller impoundments with individual surface areas larger than 100 m2. The resulting habitat fragmentation threatens global riverine biodiversity and sustainable fish populations. Two opposing approaches for selecting fish passage designs to mitigate river fragmentation are possible: develop a limited number of standardized (reference) designs from which a design for a candidate dam is selected (one‐size‐fits‐all approach) versus conduct scientific fish passage studies specific to each dam and targeted fish species (made‐to‐order approach). The two approaches vary in probability of effectiveness, cost of supporting biological studies, and overall project cost and schedule impact. To address this conundrum, we analyzed 73 USA dams to identify two groups that differed markedly in fish passage planning approaches. Snake River dams are similar in design, flow, geological setting, and target fish species. By contrast, Mississippi River dams are relatively dissimilar in design, flow, and geological setting but generally similar in target fish species. We conclude that the more similar a candidate dam for fish passage is to a reference set of similar dams (i.e., the Snake River dams), then the more likely fish passage technology can be successfully extrapolated to a proposed dam in the same or a nearby watershed. As a general strategy, we recommend that dams in a region be clustered using key hydrologic, structural, operational, and biological variables. These variables can be used to assign a new dam or retrofit an existing dam to a cluster to which they are most similar, thereby optimally extending existing knowledge to new applications. In the process, reliance on the less efficient and more expensive made‐to‐order approach can be reduced.

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A review of potential conservation and fisheries benefits of breaching four dams in the Lower Snake River (Washington, USA)

Cited by 6 publications

References 102 publications

Reservoir Stratification Modulates the Influence of Impoundments on Fish Mercury Concentrations along an Arid Land River System

Reservoir Stratification Modulates the Influence of Impoundments on Fish Mercury Concentrations along an Arid Land River System

Statement of the American Fisheries Society and the Western Division of AFS About the Need to Breach the Four Dams on the Lower Snake River

Optimal approach for upstream fish passage design: One‐size‐fits‐all or made‐to‐order?

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