This just in from the Wild Steelhead Coalition.
The Bonneville Power Administration has proposed funding a significant expansion of hatchery facilities on the Klickitat. The programs which alleges to be designed to reduce the impact of non-native fall chinook and coho on ESA listed wild stocks would actually lead to an overall increase in the total number of fish released in the watershed, including continuing to release 4 million fall chinook. Equally disconcerting, they would expand the number of skamania smolt released annually to 130,000 and possibly (likely) initiate a wild broodstock steelhead program with a production goal of 70,000 smolts. They also plan to expand the spring chinook hatchery program by 200,000 smolts taking broodstock from the extremely fragile spring chinook stock. The Yakama Nation's Klickitat Hatchery Complex Program with the free money they get from the BPA is completely out of control with pro-hatchery mania and this proposal could place the future of wild summer steelhead and spring chinook in the basin in serious peril.
You can read the project proposal here.
All comments and responses to comments will be published in the final EIS. The final EIS will also include any changes to their proposal or analysis. Comments may be submitted online at: http://www.bpa.gov/comment
More to come.