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OCR for page 46
Human History and Influences
The general decline of salmon in the Pacific Northwest has initiated a wide
range of technical, social, and political debates concerning what can and should
be done to maintain or restore native populations. The situation is very difficult
because of the complexity of the species' life cycles and the diversity of human
activities and land uses that affect them. Throughout the various environments
that make up the Pacific Northwest, the life history of salmon is intertwined with
human history.
HISTORICAL SETTING
The American Indian settlements in the Pacific Northwest constituted "one
of the most densely populated nonagricultural regions of the world" (Boyd
1990:135~. There were perhaps 100,000 living in the Pacific Northwest in 1770
when Euro-Americans began to interact with them with some frequency (Boyd
1990:136~. The Indians were very successful in using salmon to meet their own
needs.
In the late 1700s, events in eastern North America set the stage for the
changes that were about to commence in the Pacific Northwest. After the signing
of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, a newly formed nation of states
along the eastern seaboard looked westward. In the early 1800s, Meriwether
Lewis and William Clark led a party across the recently acquired Louisiana
Purchase and continued into the largely unknown Oregon Country to the mouth
of the Columbia River. Lewis wrote remarkably detailed and accurate descrip-
tions of Pacific salmon long before they were given formal taxonomic recogni
46
OCR for page 47
HUMAN HISTORY AND INFLUENCES
47
lion. Descriptions of the region's flora, fauna, landforms, and climate by Lewis
and Clark and others indicated that the Northwest was a special place. For
example, accounts of plentiful beaver and muskrat populations helped to initiate
a rush of trappers to the Northwest. Early reports of vast and valuable natural
resources prompted a westward migration. Immigrants were aided by Lieutenant
John Charles Fremont's 1842 expedition that examined the Platte River-South
Pass route into Oregon. His well-publicized exploits made Americans more
aware of the Oregon Country.
With the discovery of gold on the American River in 1848, a flood of pros-
pectors headed west into the future California. In addition, tens of thousands,
desiring opportunities to develop, use, and control the natural resources of the
West, journeyed along the Oregon Trail via horseback and wagon during the
1840s and 1850s. By now, major impacts on American Indian cultures were well
under way. The capture of Chief Joseph and his people during their flight toward
Canada in 1877 was one of many events that marked the uneasy truce between
the rights and needs of American Indians and the surging immigration of Euro-
Americans. Even before the immigrating Euro-Americans arrived in large num-
bers, their diseases had a substantial impact: by the late 1850s, the American
Indian population had decreased by 80-90%, and some tribal groups had disap-
peared.
By the mid-1800s, Euro-Americans along the West Coast had become suf-
ficiently numerous that statehood was reasonable; California obtained statehood
in 1850, Oregon in 1859, Washington in 1889, and Idaho in 1890. The Euro-
American population had reached 100,000 by about 1870; the American Indian
population had declined to under 10,000. By 1900, the combined population of
Idaho, Oregon, and Washington had reached nearly 1 million. By 1990, the total
population of the region was 8.7 million; 133,000 identified themselves as Ameri-
can Indians. From 1940-1990, the population grew at an annual rate of 1.9%,
mostly as a result of inmigration (Figure 3-11.
The immigration of Euro-Americans into the Pacific Northwest, with their
accompanying cultural and industrial perspectives, transformed the region in
ways that were previously unimaginable. The bountiful natural resources and the
desire to use them for a growing economy were precursors to the widespread use
of forests, water, salmon, and other resources of the region. Unless the current
population growth rate slows dramatically, which appears unlikely, these trans-
formations will continue.
CULTURES AND TREATIES
The Euro-American settlers that migrated to the region in large numbers
after 1800 were farmers. To address the conflicts between American Indian and
non-Indian ways, the U.S. government negotiated treaties in the 1850s with many
of the Indian groups. Those of a Euro-American background wanted formal
OCR for page 48
48
UPSTREAM: SALMON AND SOCIETY IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
10
Idaho
8
---Washington
-Oregon
-Total
/
-
-
O_ ........
i , I , , , I I I I I I I I
~ ~ ~ ~ ~9~9~9~9~ x9~ ~9~ ~9~ x~
Year
FIGURE 3-1 Population growth in the Pacific Northwest states from 1850-1990. Source:
Data from Statistical Abstracts, USDC Bureau of the Census 1975, 1995.
treaties and required the signing of agreements to assign land ownership, sover-
eignty, and rules for fishing and hunting. The treaty-making process created
treaty and nontreaty tribes.
Treaty-making in the Northwest began with the Medicine Creek Treaty of
1854. Over the next year, eight additional treaties tried to establish and settle
relations between Indians and Euro-Americans. Each treaty envisioned tribal
peoples becoming family farmers, each family with its own independent piece of
land. The transcript of the 1855 Treaty at Walla Walla gives insight into the
cultural differences. Isaac Stevens, governor of Washington, commented about
American Indian land ownership: "On these tracts the land was all in common:
there were one or more larger fields for the tribes but no man has his special field"
(U.S. Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Oregon Territory, 18551.
The treaties signified radical changes in property rights. They were prima-
rily about land division and private land ownership, and they marked a formal
transition from a culture convolved with salmon and their landscapes toward a
cultural assemblage that substituted intervention, engineering, markets, and miti-
gations all undertaken on time scales shorter than a single human generation-
as ways to mediate humans' needs and nature's capacities.
Provisions of the treaties have been taken to the U.S. Supreme Court for
OCR for page 49
HUMAN HISTORY AND INFLUENCES
49
interpretation eight times (Cohen 19861. Two major decisions advanced the
treaty rights to fishing: the Belloni decision in 1969 and the 1974 Boldt decision.
As a result, the treaties now serve as a critical legal basis for the contemporary
salmon problem. Among other things, the treaties guarantee signatory tribes a
right of access to salmon and other resources, implicitly signaling the importance
of the natural world to the Indian cultures.
DECLINE OF THE BEAVER
Beaver (Castor canadensis) had a key role in creating and maintaining con-
ditions of many headwater streams, wetlands, and riparian systems that were
fundamentally important to the rearing of many salmon. Not only did they
provide an important disturbance regime that helped to maintain environmental
heterogeneity (see Chapter 7 for a discussion of the ecological role of distur-
bance), but their dams and ponds created storage locations for water, sediment,
and nutrients. Many riparian plants and aquatic organisms' life cycles required
change in the water-table depth; beaver dams and ponds caused such depth alter-
ations (Neiman et al. 1992~. Beaver ponds were of particular importance in the
more arid regions but also had important implications for coastal streams, where
they also provided rearing habitat for salmon.
The regional decline of the beaver was an early example of the capacity of
Euro-American exploitation to deplete resources. Even in Oregon, which ulti-
mately adopted the beaver as its state animal, current beaver populations are
diminished greatly from their former extent and numbers; persistent trapping
pressure over the decades has continued to keep beaver populations relatively
small throughout much of the state and the region. The general decline of beaver
and their associated habitats constituted perhaps the first major impact on salmon
populations from the influx of Euro-Americans.
FISHING PRESSURES
The size of salmon and steelhead runs in the Columbia River before signifi-
cant non-Indian presence has been estimated at 10- 16 million fish per year (NPPC
1986) and 7-8 million fish per year (PFMC 1978, Chapman 1986~. The first
salmon cannery along the West Coast was established in 1864 along the Sacra-
mento River of northern California (Hittell 1882, Goode and others, 1884-18879.
However, sediment from hydraulic mining so devastated the runs that the can-
nery was soon shut down and moved to the lower Columbia River in 1866. In the
first year on the Columbia, the company packed 4,000 cases of salmon, or about
240,000 lb. Salmon canning spread from the Columbia River to Puget Sound,
British Columbia, and Alaska; soon southeastern Alaska and Bristol Bay domi-
nated. Columbia River packers sought to create and retain the advantage of high-
quality, prime spring-caught chinook salmon (Cobb 1930, Craig and Hacker
OCR for page 50
so
UPSTREAM: SALMON AND SOCIETY IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
1940, Smith 1979~. Historically, the Columbia River runs were huge by any
standard. Catches in the late 1800s reached 43 million lb. Peak catches might
have been 3-4 million fish of all species (Chapman 1986~. From one cannery and
two gill-net boats in 1866, the Columbia River fishery grew to 40 canneries in the
early 1900s (Smith 1979, Netboy 19801. After the 1870s, the river catch of
spring chinook began a steady decline; canners extended their season to include
fall chinook runs and broadened the species they caught to include sockeye,
steelhead, and coho. The last cannery on the Columbia closed in 1975 (Figure 3-
21. By the early 1990s, the run size dropped to about 2.5 million fish (NPPC
1994~.
Although much of the decline in the Columbia River fishery has been attrib-
uted to increases in inriver and ocean fishing, other factors, such as dam construc-
tion and modifications of freshwater spawning and rearing habitats in the Colum-
bia basin, are important contributors as well (Simenstad et al. 1992, Bottom
1994).
PROPAGATING FISH
Early fish propagators had confidence that the salmon-producing environ-
ment could be made better. The belief that humans could tinker with one part of
nature reproduction of salmon and obtain expected results has turned out to
be simplistic. Today, freshwater and ocean ecosystems are understood to exhibit
complex, often unpredictable interactions and feedbacks among their countless
parts. And the appropriate role of artificial propagation in salmon management
has become a much more complex question than was conceived by the early fish
propagators (see Chapter 12~.
The federal government and canners supported artificial propagation. In
1877, concerns about overfishing led the Oregon and Washington Fish Propagat-
ing Company to construct a salmon-breeding station on the Clackamas River
(Whale and Smith 1979 as cited by Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority
1990~. Its problems presaged today's salmon problem. At first, the station
produced many eggs, but "gradually mills and dams, timber-cutting on the upper
waters of the Clackamas, and logging in the river, together with other adverse
influences, so crippled its efficiency that it was given up in 1888" (Stone
1897:2181. Federal hatcheries were built in the 1890s. State hatcheries also
increased in number: Oregon had 12 hatcheries releasing 27 million salmon fry
by 1907 (Lichatowich and Nicholas in press).
Even in the first half-century of artificial propagation (1877-1930), Pacific
salmon abundance did not always increase in response to increased releases of
hatchery fish (Smith 1979, Lichatowich and Nicholas in press). In the early
1900s, tens of millions of fry were released annually from Columbia River and
Oregon coastal hatcheries, but declining catches discouraged the hatchery propa-
gators and, starting in 1910, stimulated them to rear fish until they were larger
OCR for page 51
51
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OCR for page 52
52
UPSTREAM: SALMON AND SOCIETY IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
before releasing them. The hope was that larger hatchery fish would survive
better in the wild.
When the catch did increase, in 1914, fishery managers were quick to con-
clude a cause-effect relationship between the first releases of larger hatchery fish
and the improved catch. The Oregon Fish and Game Commission (1919, as cited
by Lichatowich and Nicholas in press) boldly stated its conviction:
This new method has now passed the experimental stage, and . . . the Columbia
River as a salmon producer has "come back." By following the present system,
and adding to the capacity of our hatcheries, thereby increasing the output of
young fish, there is no reason to doubt . . . that the annual pack in time can be
built up to greater numbers than ever before known in the history of the indus
try.
In retrospect, it is impossible to rule out the possibility that if there had been no
releases of larger hatchery fish, catches nevertheless might have increased by
around 1914 in response to changes in freshwater or ocean conditions. Inter-
views with residents who witnessed the 1914 salmon runs to the Umatilla River,
where no hatchery fish had been released at that time, indicate that 1914 was the
year of "the largest run of chinook salmon within the memory of white men"
(Van Cleve and Ting 19601. If the early releases of larger hatchery fish had been
handled as a legitimate field experiment, they would have involved estimating
adult returns for both the hatchery population and one or more control, wild
populations in carefully matched tributaries not influenced by hatchery fish
(Eberhardt and Thomas 1991~.
For many artificial-propagation facilities, the lack of long-term monitoring
makes it nearly impossible to differentiate impacts of the hatchery program from
impacts of other human interventions or of natural environmental trends. And no
effort was made to evaluate cumulative effects of releasing large numbers of fish
from different programs.
From the 1930s through the early 1950s, support for hatcheries dropped
considerably because of poor returns and disease problems (Columbia Basin Fish
and Wildlife Authority 1990, F. J. Smith 19791. In the Columbia River Basin,
many early facilities were closed; if not for the rapid expansion of dam construc-
tion, the use of hatcheries might not have resurged.
With increasing dam-building on the Columbia River from the 1930s through
the 1970s, the purpose of hatcheries gradually shifted from improving on nature
to merely making up for huge losses of salmon populations and their spawning
habitats caused by dams for hydropower, irrigation, and navigation. In the 1960s,
the invention of pasteurized and formulated feeds that reduced the incidence of
disease brought new expectations that artificial propagation could overcome nega-
tive dam effects and even increase salmon abundance (Anonymous 19591.
Eventually, more than 80 hatcheries were built in the Columbia River Basin,
with the Mitchell Act of 1938 playing a major role in the development of 39
OCR for page 53
HUMAN HISTORY AND INFLUENCES
53
federally funded facilities (Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority 19901.
Although hatchery construction originally was authorized to mitigate damage
from the dams, an agreement (which did not include Indian tribes) put most of the
artificial propagation downstream from most of the dams. That arrangement
avoided losses from dams and reservoirs and functionally allocated the bulk of
the fish to non-Indian fishers (Lee 1993a:26-27~. Negative effects of dams on
upstream habitat and the down-river placement of hatcheries dramatically shifted
the geographical distribution of Columbia River salmon production from mostly
the upper river to mostly the lower river. The downstream siting of hatcheries
combined with fishery management decisions to favor certain species (primarily
coho and fall chinook) led to a major alteration of species composition: compari-
sons between the period before 1850 and 1977-1981 show more than a doubling
of the relative proportion of coho and a virtual elimination of sockeye and chum
salmon (Lee 1993aJ.
Hatchery facilities are widely distributed throughout the five regions of the
Pacific Northwest; Figure 3-3 illustrates their distribution within the Columbia
River Basin. Coho, chinook, and steelhead are the principal species cultured;
chum and pink are cultured to a smaller extent and primarily in Washington; and
small-scale captive breeding of sockeye was initiated to help recover the endan-
gered Snake River population in Redfish Lake, Idaho, and to compensate for
hydropower-caused losses of sockeye from Osoyoos and Wenatchee lakes.
The abundance of many coastal and Columbia River populations has de-
clined sharply since the mid-1970s and again in the late 1980s. This decline has
occurred while reliance on artificial propagation has been at a historic high and
hatchery-released fish have dominated the overall composition of anadromous
salmon originating in Washington, Idaho, Oregon,and California. Coastwide
estimates of relative abundance of hatchery fish are also difficult or impossible to
make with existing data. There is little coastwide coordination to mark all hatch-
ery fish physically] or to collect and analyze the relevant data. Available data
allow for only rough estimates of the proportion of hatchery fish of some species
in some locations (see Box 12-11. Even so, Light (1987) and Burgner et al.
(1992) estimated that hatchery steelhead adults made up half the 1.6 million
steelhead adults that return annually to the Pacific coast of North America.
The history of artificial propagation reveals a recurring cycle of technologi-
cal optimism followed by pessimism. With the increasing reliance on artificial
propagation, concerns became greatly heightened that contemporary hatchery
programs are having negative effects on the genetic diversity and persistence of
wild populations and that increasing releases of hatchery fish cannot override
iAll hatchery steelhead released from Columbia River hatcheries have the adipose fin removed so
that adult wild fish can be identified. A similar mark is applied to all spring-summer chinook smelts
released from Snake River hatcheries.
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54 UPSTREAM: SALMON AND SOCIETY IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
FIGURE 3-3 Approximate geographical location of existing facilities in the Columbia
River Basin for artificial propagation of anadromous Pacific salmon. Source: Feist 1994.
Other factors contributing to an overall decline of salmon. Some recent trends
also call into question the sustainability of a fishery dependent on large-scale
hatchery releases. These include decreasing body size at maturity and increasing
age at maturity of Japanese chum as total returns have increased, suggesting
density-dependent rearing limitations in the oceanic environment (Kaeriyama
1989 cited by Riddell 1993a); reduced catches of chinook salmon in the Strait of
Georgia, British Columbia, when hatchery releases exceeded 8.3 million fish per
OCR for page 55
HUMAN HISTORY AND INFLUENCES
55
year (Riddell 1993a); and the suggestion that interannual variability in fish abun-
dance might increase as releases of hatchery fish increase (McCarl and Rettig
1983, Fagen and Smoker 1989~.
Disappointment has resurfaced whenever sufficient data have accumulated
to indicate that hatchery programs had failed either to improve on nature, to
circumvent natural fluctuations in ocean conditions, or to make up sufficiently
for large, human-induced losses of natural reproduction. Each turn of the cycle
formed a larger orbit as the scale of artificial propagation has increased, naturally
reproducing populations declined more precipitously, and the number of hatchery
critics has increased. Prevention of another repetition of the cycle will require
development of more realistic hatchery goals (see Chapter 12), overhaul of hatch-
ery practices, and serious commitment to evaluation of hatcheries in an adaptive-
management context.
GRAZING RANGELANDS
Because rip arian areas provide a crucial link between aquatic and terrestrial
ecosystems, sustained grazing of these areas can substantially affect fish and
aquatic habitats. Overgrazing, both inside and outside the topographic bound-
aries of the Columbia River Basin, has caused sedimentation of spawning grav-
els, changes in channel structure, loss of shading, high stream temperatures,
channel incision, and other deleterious effects (NPPC 1986, Elmore and Beschta
1987~. Fish production in grazed streams is much lower than in ungrazed streams
(NPPC 1986).
As ranchers and settlers entered the Columbia River system, livestock num-
bers rapidly increased, and they probably peaked well before the turn of the
century (Wilkinson 1992~. Although the forage productivity and resilience of
this previously ungrazed region was initially able to sustain intense livestock
pressure, ultimately the ecological costs of overgrazing western rangelands in-
cluded increased erosion and surface runoff, loss of shrub and riparian communi-
ties along stream systems, extensive alteration of native plant communities, con-
tinued decline of beaver populations, widespread channel downcutting, and broad
impacts on fish and wildlife habitats.
In 1934, Congress passed the Taylor Grazing Act (TGA), which established
the Grazing Service later to become the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in
the Department of the Interior to regulate grazing on public lands. High levels
of grazing in the previous decades and an extended period of drought had contrib-
uted to the widespread degradation of many rangelands by the 1930s.
In 1941, the Grazing Service authorized the highest level of use ever, 22
million animal unit months (an animal unit month represents about one cow and
her calf or five sheep grazing for 1 month), on the 258 million acres of public
rangelands (USDI Bureau of Land Management Undated-a, NRC 19941. Since
then, the extent of livestock grazing on public lands has declined steadily (Figure
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56
UPSTREAM: SALMON AND SOCIETY IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
20
15
10
5
O
1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990
Year
FIGURE 3-4 Levels of livestock grazing on Bureau of Land Management Section 3
public rangelands in the 11 western states in 1941-1991 (Section 3 lands encompass about
90~o of the total grazing use of public rangelands). Source: Annual reports of Public
Land Statistics, USDI Bureau of Land Management.
3-43. Although the effects of declining use might have translated into some
improvement of upland range condition (USDI Bureau of Land Management
Undated-b), riparian and aquatic resources remain in poor condition and in urgent
need of improvement (General Accounting Office 1988, Chaney et al. 19933.
Other aspects of livestock grazing might also affect fishery resources. For
example, in southeastern Oregon, the Vale District of BL\I established 28 deep
wells and storage tanks, constructed 440 miles of pipeline, and developed 1,000
reservoirs and springs from 1962 to 1973. The effects of those developments on
fish habitat are largely unknown. In addition, intensive grazing occurs along
many lowland streams and estuaries west of the Cascades. Such practices might
have substantial local impacts on riparian resources and fish habitat, but hardly
any research has been undertaken to evaluate their magnitude.
HARVESTING THE OLD GROWTH
To the first settlers and loggers, the extensive coniferous forests of the Pa-
cific Northwest appeared vast and endless, and it was difficult to imagine that
they could ever run out of trees. However, in much less time than it takes to
develop an old-growth forest, much of the forest land was harvested or converted
to other uses. The first sawmill was constructed at Vancouver, Washington, in
1827. Lumbering and logging became the leading industry in the Pacific North-
west in the last several decades (Figure 3-51. There have been dramatic declines
in harvest rates on some federal lands in recent years, but nonfederal commercial
OCR for page 64
64
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~ 2,O00
o
n 1,500
is
a' 1,000
.~
-
500
UPSTREAM: SALMON AND SOCIETY IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
O
-
1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000
Year
FIGURE 3-9 Cumulative number of federal and nonfederal dams in the Pacific North-
west (Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and northern California) from 1860 to 1990. (Data
from individual state water-resources agencies; minimum size of dams varies by state-
see Table 3-2.)
the upper Columbia River became a reality with construction of the Grand Cou-
lee Dam (1941) and Chief Joseph Dam (1950) on the mainstem Columbia River.
The Hells Canyon Dam (1961) had an equivalent effect on salmon stocks that
formerly spawned and reared along some portions of the Snake River and several
of its tributaries. Similarly, many dams associated with tributaries of the Colum-
bia River or with coastal streams do not provide for the migration of anadromous
fish. In addition, instream barriers prohibiting the upstream migration of adult
salmon were built during the construction of many Pacific Northwest fish hatch-
eries; although these barriers were apparently installed because of concerns about
disease in hatchery fish, the structures delineate watershed areas that have be-
come off limits to anadromous fish. Dams of various sizes and functions provide
important benefits to human populations and industries, but their ability to elimi-
nate habitat access constitutes a major contribution to the decline of salmon runs
in the Pacific Northwest.
Before dam construction, the mainstem Columbia River was an important
spawning area for anadromous fish (NPPC 19861. Aerial surveys conducted in
1946, after construction of Grand Coulee had already blocked upriver reaches of
the Columbia, showed that chinook salmon used gravels throughout a 210-mi
reach between the confluences of the Snake and Okanogan rivers with the Co-
lumbia. The only spawning habitat remaining after dam construction in this
reach is a 50-mi portion between the McNary Reservoir and the Priest Rapids
Dam. One of the most productive populations in the Columbia system is the
OCR for page 65
HUMAN HISTORY AND INFLUENCES
70
$
-
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. _
E
Q
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.>
3
6Q
50
40
30
10
o
65
f
)
t
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1
1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000
Year
FIGURE 3-10 Cumulative volume of water impounded by federal and nonfederal dams
in Pacific Northwest (Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and northern California) from 1860 to
1990. (Data from individual state water-resources agencies; minimum size of dams var-
ies by state-see Table 3-2.)
Hanford Reach chinook, which spawns in the only free-flowing stretch left in the
mainstem.
The John Day and McNary pools inundate about 137 mi of river and numer-
ous spawning areas. Before construction of the Chief Joseph Dam in l95O, the
Grand Coulee Dam inundated a 103-mi stretch of river that once supported great
numbers of chinook salmon that spawned on gravel bars in the main river and
near the mouths of tributaries; it also eliminated access to other upriver areas in
the United States and Canada (NPPC 1986~.
Fish-passage facilities have been installed at many of the mainstem Colum-
bia River dams and other dams in the Pacific Northwest. These, however, can
result in delays in upstream migration, increased stress, prespawning mortality,
and reduction in success of late spawners. In 1970, mortalities of 13~o for
migrating adult chinook salmon were reported for Bonneville Dam. In the same
year, adult mortalities of 12-25% were reported for the Dalles Dam (NPPC 1986~.
More recent work indicated average per-project losses of JO or less (Pratt and
Chapman 1989, Stuehrenberg et al. 1994~.
In addition, smolts migrating downstream must negotiate reservoirs and the
physical barrier of a dam, where they will pass over a spillway, be routed through
a bypass facility, or be drawn through the turbines. Although controversy sur-
rounds the question of how many smelts pass through a spillway, bypass facility,
or generating system and what mortalities are associated with a given dam during
a given year for a given species of salmon, there is a consensus that migration
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66 UPSTREAM: SALMON AND SOCIETY IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
Who i:
N
"it\
Historically inaccessible
Access blocked
| Presently accessible
Canada
'I
FIGURE 3-11 Columbia River Basin and Oregon Closed Basin, showing areas that were
historically accessible to anadromous salmon and areas that have become inaccessible
because of dam construction. Source: Kaczynski and Palmisano 1993:310.
hazards (e.g., time of travel, predators, turbine passage) associated with mainstem
dams are a leading factor in the mortality of smelts as they migrate downriver
(Table 3-41.
WATERING THE LAND
As rainwater or snowmelt flows to lower elevations, it is used for hydro-
power, irrigation, industrial, and municipal demands. Not surprisingly, of all the
water withdrawn from lakes, streams, and rivers, irrigation uses the most (Figure
3-12~. The demand for irrigation water is particularly great for the mid-Columbia
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HUMAN HISTORY AND INFLUENCES
TABLE 3-3 Salmon and Steelhead Habitats in Columbia River Basin Before
Water Development and in 1975
67
Habitat Available (mi of stream)
River Location Pre-18501975 Change %
Columbia River below Bonneville Dam
Spring chinook1,835
Summer chinookO
Fall chinook861 1,047
Coho1,319 2,124
Steelhead2,410 2,378
Columbia River between Bonneville Dam and its
confluence with Snake River
Spring chinook1,218 655
Summer chinook0 148
Fall chinook70 201
Coho231 344
Steelhead1.834 1,479
Columbia River above its Confluence with Snake River
Spring chinook
Summer chinook
Fall chinook
Coho523
Steelhead1,485
Snake River below Hells Canyon Dam
Spring chinook3,899
Summer chinook2,198
Fall chinook674
Coho481
Steelhead5,156
Snake River above Hells Canyon Dam
Spring chinook1,865
Summer chinook1,865
Fall chinook371
Coho
Steelhead
1.191
1,801
909
485
-35
o
+~9b
__
+61b
-1
46c
c
-19
758
286
115
361
938
2,813
1,834
345
379
4,120
o
o
O O
2,050
-58
-69
-76
-31
-37
-28
-17
-49
-21
-20
-100
-100
100
o
-100
aHabitat rel^ers tic natural spawning and rearing areas.
bFishway at Willamette Falls constructed in 1971 increased habitat in the Willamette River Basin.
CReason for increase in fish habitat not identified in original report.
Source: Northwest Power Planning Council 1986.
River Basin (eastern Oregon and Washington) and the Snake River drainage
(southern Idaho), where well over 90% of the surface-water withdrawal in most
areas is for irrigation (Jackson and Kimerling 19931. Overappropriation is com-
mon in western basins.
The history of irrigation in the Pacific Northwest dates back to early settle
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UPSTREAM: SALMON AND SOCIETY IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
TABLE 3-4 Hypothetical Example of Potential Cumulative Mortality in
Juvenile or Adult Salmon Migration in Relation to Number of Dams Requiring
Passagea
Passage Mortality
for Individual Dams
(I)
Cumulative Mortality for
Number of Dams Requiring Passage
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
5 5 10 14 19 23 26 30 34 37
10 10 19 27 34 41 47 52 57 61
15 15 28 39 48 56 62 68 73 77
20 20 36 49 59 67 74 79 83 86
25 95 44 58 68 76 82 86 89 92
30 30 51 66 76 83 88 92 94 96
aMortality numbers for individual dams vary.
Source: Committee generated.
meet. In 1840, missions near Walla Walla, Washington, and Lewiston, Idaho,
were the first sites to use irrigation for crop production. In 1859, the first irriga-
tion project began in the Walla Walla River Valley; it was followed soon by
projects in the John Day, Umatilla, and Hood River valleys of Oregon. Near the
turn of the century, the Klamath irrigation project was begun in southern Oregon
and northern California. An increasing demand for agricultural products in com-
bination with the expansion of railroads throughout the region attracted commer-
cial-scale farmers during the late 1800s and early 1900s (NPPC 19861. Federal
legislation that encouraged the establishment of irrigation on newly acquired
lands included the 1877 Desert Land Act and the 1894 Carey Act (Johansen and
Gates 19671.
In many areas, irrigation techniques evolved from simple stream diversions
to complex systems that used a variety of pumping and application mechanisms,
such as sprinklers, storage reservoirs, groundwater pumps, and pressure-distribu-
tion devices. Technological advances in irrigation after World War II made it
economically possible to cultivate lands that had previously been only marginally
productive. The rapid increase in irrigated land during the 1900s (Figure 3-13)
was due largely to an increase in federal multipurpose-reservoir projects as a
result of the Reclamation Act of 1902 (NPPC 19861.
The areal extent of irrigated lands provides an indication of the volume of
water withdrawn for irrigation, but it does not reflect changes in irrigation prac-
tices that result in more efficient use of water. Although annual water withdrawal
has remained relatively constant over nearly 2 decades for Bureau of Reclama-
tion projects (Figure 3-14), it is about 3-4 times that of the early 1950s. In 1990,
total surface-water withdrawal for irrigation in the Pacific Northwest was about
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HUMAN HISTORY AND INFLUENCES
69
?~-~f~,:"'w" - ,=== ::
FIGURE 3-12 Surface-water withdrawal in subbases of Pacific Northwest for irrigation,
municipal, and industrial purposes. 1, Spokane; 2, Upper Columbia; 3, Yakama; 4, Upper
Snake; 5, Central Snake; 6, Lower Snake; 7, Mid-Columbia; 8, Lower Columbia; 9,
Willamette; 10, Coastal; 11, Puget Sound; 12, Oregon Closed. Source: Kimerling and
Jackson 1985:77.
JO of the annual flow of the Columbia River at its mouth (Solley et al 19931.
Pacific Northwest surface-water withdrawal of 27 million acre-feet in 1990 was
the highest annual water use of any region in the United States-even higher than
that in California.
Solley et al. (1993) estimated that in 1990 only one-third of the water with-
drawn in the Pacific Northwest was returned to the streams and lakes. Water that
returns to a stream from an irrigation project is often substantially altered and
degraded (NRC 19891. Problems associated with return flows include increased
water temperature, which can alter patterns of adult and smolt migration; in-
creased salinity; increased pathogen populations; decreased dissolved oxygen
concentration; increased toxicant concentrations associated with pesticides and
fertilizers; and increased sedimentation (NPPC 19861. Water-level fluctuations
and flow alterations due to water storage and withdrawal can affect substrate
availability and quality, temperature, and other habitat requirements of salmon.
Indirect effects include reduction of food sources; loss of spawning, rearing, and
adult habitat; increased susceptibility of juveniles to predation; delay in adult
spawning migration; increased egg and alevin mortalities; stranding of fry; and
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70
UPSTREAM: SALMON AND SOCIETY IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
12
10
cn
a)
o
In
o
. _
=
. _
__ ~
a)
8
6
2
1840 1850 1900 1910
Projected ;
A,.,'
J
Estimated /
,. ~'
~ _ ''' 1 1
-
-
-
-
1 1
1925 1966 1980 2030
Year
FIGURE 3-13 Area of instigated lands in Columbia River Basin. Source: NPPC 1986.
delays in downstream migration of smolts (NPPC 1986~. In some instances,
irrigation withdrawal can result in the total dewatering of a stream and concurrent
desiccation of aquatic habitats. In other situations, annually constructed instream
diversion dams can block adults migrating upstream, prevent the redistribution of
rearing juveniles within the stream system, or cause juveniles to enter the irriga-
tion system.
The loss of juvenile salmon to irrigation intake systems has contributed to
fish declines. Of over 55,000 water diversions in Oregon, fewer than 1,000 have
protective fish screens; an additional 3,240 were recently identified as having a
high priority for screening (Nichols 1990~. In the summer of 1994, more than
80% of pumping sites taking water from the Columbia River on the Oregon shore
failed to comply with requirements to protect migrating salmon (Roberta Ulrich,
June 14, 1994, The Oregonian, Portland). However, the extent of fisheries losses
resulting from the impingement of juvenile salmon on intake screens is essen-
tially unknown.
ALTERING WETLANDS AND ESTUARIES
Since colonial times, wetlands in the United States have been considered a
hindrance to productive land use. Swamps, bogs, marshes, and other wet areas
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HUMAN HISTORY AND INFLUENCES
14
__
a)
$ 12
a)
10
o
o
a_
._
-
~n
4
8
6
2
71
Upper
- - Middle ~
- - Lower ~I\
Snake |
~Total |
. . . . . . . . . ..
.. .. .. .. .. .. _. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
.. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. ..
O -- ......................... - - ...........................
194{) 1950 1960 1970 1 g80
Year
FIGURE 3-14 Surface-water withdrawal by Bureau of Reclamation for irrigation in
Columbia River basin. Upper Columbia, above Chief Joseph Dam; Mid-Columbia, be-
tween confluence of Snake River and Chief Joseph Dam; Lower Columbia, below conflu-
ence with Snake River; Snake, Snake River basin. Source: NPPC 1986.
used to be considered wastelands to be drained, ditched, filled, or manipulated for
other purposes (NRC 1995a). For the Pacific Northwest, wetland losses have
been severe, with California experiencing the highest percentage loss of wetlands
of any state. Of the estimated 5 million acres of wetlands that existed in Califor-
nia in 1780, only 454,000 acres remained in 1980, a loss of 91%. The amount of
wetland area in Idaho declined from 877,000 to 385,700 acres, a reduction of
56% over the 200-year period from 1780 to 1980; in Oregon, from 2.26 to 1.39
million acres, a 38% loss; and in Washington, from 1.35 million to 938,000 acres,
a 31% loss (Dahl 1990~.
Agricultural land conversion and urban development-the same land uses
responsible for most of the freshwater wetland losses are the primary causes of
estuarine wetland losses. Although most estuarine wetland losses result from
conversions to agricultural land by ditching, draining, or diking, these wetlands
are also experiencing increasing effects from industrial and urban causes. For
example, historical changes in the lowlands of Humboldt Bay, California, indi-
cate increasing encroachment of residential, commercial, and industrial land uses
(Figure 3-lSj. Coastal salt marshes close to seaports and population centers in
the Pacific Northwest have been especially vulnerable to conversion, with losses
of 50-90% common for individual estuaries in Oregon and Washington. In the
Puget Sound area, urbanization has caused even greater disruptions and conver
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72
17
16
~4
to
~2
u'
0 11
o lo
oh
~ 9
0 8
-
UPSTREAM: SALMON AND SOCIETY IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
A
t
/
.
-
6
s
4
3
/
/
/
-
-
lo, , ~
Agricultural
Residential
Commercial-lndustrial
1870 1890 1910 1930
-
O- . - Wetlands
9So 1970 ,990
FIGURE 3-15 Historical changes in land use in lowlands surrounding Humboldt Bay,
California. Source: Shapiro and Associates 1980, as reported in Boule and Bierly 1987.
signs of many estuarine wetlands. Although 24% of the Columbia River estuary
had been converted from wetland habitat type between 1870 and 1983, tidal
swamps and marshes together lost some 65% of their former area because of
diking and filling (Thomas 19831. For the Salmon River estuary of Oregon, 75%
of the wetlands had been isolated from the rest of the estuary by dikes (Frenkel
and Morlan 1991~. For salmon that prehistorically used freshwater and estuarine
wetlands for rearing habitat, the conversions and losses of Pacific Northwest
wetlands constitute a major impact.
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HUMAN HISTORY AND INFLUENCES
73
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
The historical account of human development and natural resource use in the
Pacific Northwest clearly illustrates formidable disruptions to the life cycles of
anadromous salmon. The ecological fabric that once sustained enormous salmon
populations has been dramatically modified through heavy human exploitation
trapping, fishing, grazing, logging, mining, damming of rivers, channelization of
streams, ditching and draining of wetlands, withdrawals of water for irrigation,
conversions of estuaries, modification of riparian systems and instream habitats,
alterations to water quality and flow regimes, urbanization, and other effects. In
many places throughout the landscape, human exploitation has lowered the pro-
ductive capability of habitat, harvested animals and plants at an unsustainable
intense level, or eliminated populations or habitat outright.
This characterization of the scope and magnitude of human impacts on the
habitat and population of salmon in particular is robust even though the availabil-
ity, completeness, and quality of historical records are neither consistent nor
complete across the region. Only a few research efforts have attempted to under-
stand some of the ecological consequences of past human activities for aquatic
resources and fisheries; the studies that have been done are often of limited
geographic coverage. Although various land uses and alterations were generally
considered on an individual basis, their capability, in combination, to alter aquatic
habitat or affect fisheries often involves complex interactions with other land
uses and with natural disturbance regimes that operate across the region. Not-
withstanding these limitations in our understanding and documentation, it is clear
that human impacts on the land and waterways of the Pacific Northwest have
basically and irreversibly altered the genetic and ecological constitution of anadro
mous salmon.
These human impacts have not only been widespread, but they have also
been rapid by biological time scales. They should be expected to continue in the
future, unless the momentum of human exploitation and transformation of the
land and waters changes drastically.
The exponentially increasing human population and economic development
of the region is likely to produce higher levels of resource impacts. In 1800, the
collective population of a region bounded by the present-day states of Idaho,
Oregon, and Washington stood at approximately 0.1 million, yet significant in-
roads into the habitats and populations of Pacific salmon had already begun. One
hundred years later, the regional human population had climbed to 1 million with
fishing, grazing, agriculture, and forest harvesting under way. At the end of the
current century, the region's population will approach 10 million people (Figure
3-11.
From 1940 to 1990, census data indicate a regional (Idaho, Oregon, and
Washington) population growth of 1.9% annually (Statistical Abstracts, USDC
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74
UPSTREAM: SALMON AND SOCIETY IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
Bureau of the Census). To the degree that the regional population growth contin-
ues beyond the year 2000, the expected population of 10 million people will
continue to expand. If the population continued to grow at the rate it has in the
past half-century, for example 1.9% per year, the population in 2100 would be
over 65 million people.
The challenge is evident. Current and future efforts to save natural runs of
salmon by reducing per capita impacts through conservation measures, improved
land use practices, reduced hatchery competition, improved dam passage, better
riparian protection, etc., could all be undermined by continued regional popula-
tion and economic growth.
The salmon problem includes far more than simply numbers of people or
their standard of living. From the perspective of a geologic clock that has regis-
tered natural disturbance patterns and transitions of ecosystems during the last
10,000 years, salmon thrived and sustained a wide distribution throughout the
Pacific Northwest. However, the pace of time for salmon populations, as viewed
through the kaleidoscope of ecological alterations and infractions, has been ac-
celerating. lIuman disturbances of ecosystems that were once complex and
productive may ultimately exceed the ability of salmon to adapt and maintain
their populations. (In the Columbia River Basin alone, more than half of the
basin that was originally accessible to salmon is no longer.) More important, the
extent of environmental changes may exceed our understanding of what once
existed, our ability to correct past mistakes, or our willingness to even try.
In sum, the salmon problem is about more than just a few species of fish. It
Ma question of cultural values, stewardship, and living with the land instead of
Off the land. In the 1970s, a Pacific Northwest River Basins Commission report
(1972) expressed concern that
projections of continued growth in population and economic activity in the
Northwest would eventually lead to a major deterioration of the present high
quality environment.... [L]and, energy, and air resource planning was lagging
far behind water resource planning. [The committee presented] a view of the
future of the Northwest based upon attainable balances between ecology and
economics as an alternative to traditional projections of economic growth alone.
Thinking of the priorities of environmental protection and a market economy as
competing with each other is counterproductive; they are probably in agreement
more often than many people believe, especially over the longer term. In many
respects, a sound economy depends on ecosystem functioning (Ashworth 1995,
NRC l995b).
If the Pacific Northwest is going to have more people, which may be inevi-
table, history has indicated that those increases will test our ability to sustain all
that the fish need. Should we accept the challenge of trying to sustain native
stocks of salmon across streams and ecoregions of the Pacific Northwest, that
challenge Is likely to test fundamentally our institutions, our views of resource
use and economic development, and our social patterns and cultural beliefs.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
river basin
