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Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest (1996)

Chapter: 3 Human History and Influences

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Suggested Citation:"3 Human History and Influences." National Research Council. 1996. Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4976.
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Suggested Citation:"3 Human History and Influences." National Research Council. 1996. Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4976.
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Suggested Citation:"3 Human History and Influences." National Research Council. 1996. Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4976.
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Suggested Citation:"3 Human History and Influences." National Research Council. 1996. Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4976.
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Suggested Citation:"3 Human History and Influences." National Research Council. 1996. Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4976.
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Suggested Citation:"3 Human History and Influences." National Research Council. 1996. Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4976.
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Suggested Citation:"3 Human History and Influences." National Research Council. 1996. Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4976.
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Suggested Citation:"3 Human History and Influences." National Research Council. 1996. Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4976.
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Suggested Citation:"3 Human History and Influences." National Research Council. 1996. Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4976.
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Suggested Citation:"3 Human History and Influences." National Research Council. 1996. Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4976.
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Suggested Citation:"3 Human History and Influences." National Research Council. 1996. Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4976.
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Suggested Citation:"3 Human History and Influences." National Research Council. 1996. Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4976.
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Suggested Citation:"3 Human History and Influences." National Research Council. 1996. Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4976.
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Suggested Citation:"3 Human History and Influences." National Research Council. 1996. Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4976.
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Suggested Citation:"3 Human History and Influences." National Research Council. 1996. Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4976.
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Suggested Citation:"3 Human History and Influences." National Research Council. 1996. Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4976.
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Suggested Citation:"3 Human History and Influences." National Research Council. 1996. Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4976.
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Suggested Citation:"3 Human History and Influences." National Research Council. 1996. Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4976.
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Suggested Citation:"3 Human History and Influences." National Research Council. 1996. Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4976.
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Suggested Citation:"3 Human History and Influences." National Research Council. 1996. Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4976.
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Suggested Citation:"3 Human History and Influences." National Research Council. 1996. Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4976.
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Suggested Citation:"3 Human History and Influences." National Research Council. 1996. Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4976.
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Suggested Citation:"3 Human History and Influences." National Research Council. 1996. Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4976.
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Suggested Citation:"3 Human History and Influences." National Research Council. 1996. Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4976.
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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

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

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

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

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

51 c> Q. o, - i ILL u, c, - - - ~l -1 ~ ~ - - ~- o, - - - - N' ~ MUSS 1/ :a - us ~ . ~= CO ~ O _- a, 8 _ _Z _ _ ~_! i 1 1 1 SONnOd do SNOI~lIW - a Ct . . o - ~D Do so .~ PA Ct ._ 3 o V C) .~ Ct a' Can Can 3 Ct Can Can o Can o Can . 5 Ct - ._ so o V V

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

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.

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

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

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

HUMAN HISTORY AND INFLUENCES I, 18- . 16- g 14 Q o o ._ = ._ Q E in 2 I 2 57 Washington -- Oregon Total 12 10 8 6 4 1~1 pit/-/!. . ~ .n. /N Be.. 1 1 1 1 1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 Year FIGURE 3-5 Timber harvest volumes (Scr~bner scale) in Oregon and Washington in 1870- 1990. Source: Oregon data for 1870- 1924 based on lumber-production data from Oregon State Board of Forestry, Forest Resources of Oregon, 1943; Washington data for 1870-1924 obtained from unpublished records provided by D. Larsen, forest economist, Washington Department of Natural Resources; data for 1925-1950 from USDA Forest Service, 1972, Resource Bulletin PNW-42, Log Production in Washington and Oregon; data for 1951-1990 obtained from timber-harvest reports published by state agencies. forest lands continue to experience high levels of harvest, much of it harvest of relatively young second-growth stands. Some of the earliest logging operations were along the banks of larger rivers and streams, where logs could be floated downstream for milling. When the timber within easy access of a navigable stream was exhausted, logging opera- tions moved to another location. According to Sedell and Luchessa (1982), "by 1880 the land along the western banks of Puget Sound and all around Hood Canal had been cleared of trees for 2 miles inland and up to 7 miles around the major streams and rivers." The complete harvest of these riparian forests had important implications for the production of anadromous salmon. In addition to harvesting riparian timber, it was common practice to remove and salvage large wood from coastal streams and major rivers in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Removing snags and downed trees from the streams and rivers was well established by the turn of the century (Sedell and Beschta 1991~. Rivers used for navigation were routinely "cleaned" of all large wood and boulders to provide unobstructed passage for log rafts. Salvage logging of timber in rivers and streams, especially western red cedar, had a serious impact on small streams throughout western portions of Washington and Oregon. Loss of large woody debris to salvage logging likely reduced both the size and frequency of pools in

58 UPSTREAM: SALMON AND SOCIETY IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST these systems, and diminished the amount of cover available to rearing salmon (Bisson et al. 1987~. The use of splash dams to transport logs downstream degraded many miles of important spawning and rearing habitat of salmon. Splash dams consisted of temporary structures that created a sizable backwater pond. Logs were dumped into the pond and the waterway below it. Once filled with logs and water, the dam was collapsed and a torrent of logs and water rushed downstream. The procedure was then repeated. More than 150 major splash dams existed in coastal Washington rivers, and an additional 160 were used on coastal and Co- lumbia River tributaries in Oregon (Figures 3-6 and 3-73. Although splash dam- ming is no longer used to transport logs, its effects are still evident in many streams. With the increased availability of heavy equipment after World War II (e.g., portable yarders, loaders, bulldozers, and trucks), areas formerly inaccessible \ COW it,_ Me_ UP - Sail 10 c, /~ ~ r~/I FW :6 (/~J CO(~\/~R~ _ - ARES I~J ~ FIGURE 3-6 Splash dams in western Washington rivers in 1880-1910. Source: Sedell and Luchessa 1982.

HUMAN HISTORY AND INFLUENCES I A ~ GENE : fit' is J <I _ g ~ SPLASH DAMS Id. MEDFORD ~ 10 0 10 20_ 30 MILES , I: FIGURE 3-7 Splash dams in western Oregon rivers in 1880-1910. Source: Sedell and Luchessa 1982.

60 UPSTREAM: SALMON AND SOCIETY IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST because of steep terrain or distance became accessible for commercial logging. Extensive networks of roads were constructed throughout mountainous terrain to provide access. According to The Federal Ecosystem Management Assessment Team (FEMAT) (1993), federal lands in western Oregon and Washington aver- age between 3 and 4 miles of road per square mile of watershed area; road densities of over 12 miles per square mile occur in some commercial forests. The frequency of landslides associated with logging roads constructed in steep terrain during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s was up to several hundred times greater than that in unroaded terrain (Swanston and Swanson 1976, Sidle et al. 19859. Even with improvements in road location, design, construction, and maintenance the potential for mass failures, accelerated sedimentation, and resulting effects on water quality and fish habitat remains an important concern. Forest-harvesting practices used into the early 1970s generally produced large volumes of logging slash and woody debris in many northwestern streams. However, during the 1964-1965 winter, major floods throughout the Pacific Northwest, in conjunction with numerous road and hillslope mass failures, caused extensive damage to streams and riparian zones. Large debris jams were com- mon. Fishery biologists largely viewed the accumulations of large woody debris as barriers to fish migration or as material that might scour channels during later large storms (Sedell and Luchessa 1982~. Hence, the removal and salvage log- ging of woody debris accumulations from streams were encouraged and required. Since the early 1980s, the practice has largely been curtailed. DAMMING THE NORTHWEST Of the various human-caused changes in the region, particularly the Colum- bia River Basin, perhaps none has had greater impact than dams. The potential for dams to affect salmon runs was recognized early in the Pacific Northwest's development. The constitution of the Oregon Territory, drafted in 1848, prohib- ited dams on any river or stream in which salmon were found, unless the dam were constructed to allow salmon to pass freely upstream and downstream (Stahlberg 1993~. At the turn of the century, R.D. Hume (1908) warned of the impacts of dams: Hundreds of years ago men of my name were resisting the maintenance of dams and other obstructions in the river Tweed, Berwickshire, Scotland, that prevent- ed the passage of salmon to the spawning grounds, and the lapse of centuries finds me opposing like structures on the Rogue (p. 25). Dam construction began during the late 1800s when hydroelectric facilities were built on some of the larger Columbia River tributaries, such as the Willamette and Spokane. Dam construction proceeded relatively slowly into the early 1900s but increased thereafter. The congressional authorization of Grand Coulee and Bonneville dams during the early 1930s signaled the start of a period

HUMAN HISTORY AND INFLUENCES 6 FIGURE 3-8 Location of major dams on the Columbia River and tributaries. Source: NMFS 1995. of intense dam construction. The emphasis during this period was on "taming the Columbia" through a series of major dams that provided, in addition to hydro- power, benefits to navigation, flood control, and irrigation. By 1975, 14 mainstem Columbia River and 13 Snake River dams were completed within the natural range of anadromous fish runs (Figure 3-8, Table 3-1J. Within the Columbia basin, 58 dams were constructed exclusively for hydropower and another 78 are classified as multipurpose (NPPC 1986~. The Pacific Northwest currently de

62 UPSTREAM: SALMON AND SOCIETY IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST TABLE 3-1 Characteristics of U.S. Mainstem Columbia River and Snake River Dams That Affect Anadromous Fish Year Year Distance from Dam Started Completed Ocean (km) Columbia River Bonneville 1933 1938 233 The Dalles 1952 1957 307 John Day 1958 1968 348 McNary 1947 1954 470 Priest Rapids 1956 1959 639 Wanapum 1959 1963 668 Rock Island 1930 1933 729 Rocky Reach 1956 1961 763 Wells 1963 1967 832 Chief Josepha 1950 1955 877 Grand Couleea 1934 1941 961 Snake River Ice Harbor 1957 1961 538 Lower Monumental 1962 1969 589 Little Goose 1963 1970 636 Lower Granite 1965 1973 716 Hells Canyona 1961 1967 919 Oxbow 1958 1961 961 Brownlee 1955 1958 980 Swan Falls 1906 1910 1,255 C.J. Strike 1950 1952 1,313 Bliss 1948 1949 1,423 Lower Salmon 1910 1910 1,444 aBlocks anadromous-fish migration. Source: Pacific Northwest River Basins Commission 1971. pends on hydropower for about 90% of its electrical energy (Jackson and Kimerling 19931. In addition to the major dams, many smaller projects throughout the region provide water for municipal, industrial, irrigation, livestock, and rural uses (Table 3-2J. Unlisted dams that are too small to require state or federal safety inspec- tions are also numerous. The Oregon Water Resources Department estimates that additional thousands of smaller dams are not included in the state inventory (B. Norris, Oregon Water Resources Department, pers. comm., 1993~. Similarly, other states have numerous unlisted small dams. Most of the small dams have no fish-passage facilities; the extent to which they impede anadromous-salmon mi- gration or affect their spawning and rearing habitats has not been documented. Trends in the number of dams constructed over time (Figure 3-9) and im

HUMAN HISTORY AND INFLUENCES TABLE 3-2 Dams in Pacific Northwest That Meet Minimum Federal Criteria for Inventory and Inspection 63 Minimum Minimum Storage Number State Height (ft) (acre-ft) of Dams Californian 25 50 674 Idaho 10 50 523 Oregon 10 10 905 Washington 10 10 842 aIncludes only Amador, Alpine, Sacramento, and Solano counties and counties to the north. NOTE: Dam inventory data for each state were obtained in different forms. Idaho Department of Water Resources and Oregon Water Resources Department provided dam inventory data in digital format taken directly from their own inventory databases. Inventory information for dams in Wash- ington and northern California, however, was obtained from reports published by regulatory agen- cies; data were then transferred into digital format by hand. Quality of data vanes. Data from Idaho and Oregon were of poorer quality, with a higher propor- tion of missing records. Data from Washington and California had been published, so they are of much higher quality, with few missing records. Where there was no information regarding date of construction or normal storage capacity, the record was excluded from analysis. For Oregon and Idaho, this procedure substantially reduced number of dams included in analysis. For example, the database for Oregon contained 3,635 dams, but date of construction or normal storage capacity was known for only 905. In Idaho, 602 dams were included in database, but only 523 were used, because ~ . . . . ,~ . OI slm1 ar gaps in 1ntorrnat1on. Source: Department of Water Resources 1988 and Washington State Department of Ecology 1981. pounded water volumes (Figure 3-10) indicate that many streams and rivers have experienced a rapid and massive change in their hydrology. Even though the rate of increase in storage volume has leveled since the mid-1970s, the total number of dams continues to increase; this suggests that new construction is focused on smaller dams. Before any water-resources development, over 163,000 mi2, including sev- eral thousand square miles in Canada, of the total 260,000-mi2 Columbia River Basin was accessible to salmon and steelhead (Figure 3-111. Netboy (1986) estimated that by 1947 "about 40% of the original spawning areas had been lost" because of blockages due to dams. Today, only 73,000 mi2 of the original area is open to anadromous fish with 7,600 linear miles of stream habitat above and 2,500 linear miles below Bonneville Dam; access to all Canadian habitats has been eliminated by dams. Of the original salmon and steelhead habitat available in the Columbia River Basin, 55% of the area and 31 % of the stream miles have been eliminated by dam construction. Habitat availability for salmon and steel- head before 1850 and in 1975 is shown in Table 3-3. Total blockage of upstream spawning and rearing areas for large portions of

64 2,500 - . u) ~ 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

HUMAN HISTORY AND INFLUENCES 70 $ - o 8 . _ E Q ~20 .> 3 6Q 50 40 30 10 o 65 f ) t r l 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

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

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

68 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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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The importance of salmon to the Pacific Northwest—economic, recreational, symbolic—is enormous. Generations ago, salmon were abundant from central California through Idaho, Oregon, and Washington to British Columbia and Alaska. Now they have disappeared from about 40 percent of their historical range. The decline in salmon numbers has been lamented for at least 100 years, but the issue has become more widespread and acute recently.

The Endangered Species Act has been invoked, federal laws have been passed, and lawsuits have been filed. More than $1 billion has been spent to improve salmon runs—and still the populations decline.

In this new volume a committee with diverse expertise explores the complications and conflicts surrounding the salmon problem—starting with available data on the status of salmon populations and an illustrative case study from Washington state's Willapa Bay.

The book offers specific recommendations for salmon rehabilitation that take into account the key role played by genetic variability in salmon survival and the urgent need for habitat protection and management of fishing.

The committee presents a comprehensive discussion of the salmon problem, with a wealth of informative graphs and charts and the right amount of historical perspective to clarify today's issues, including:

  • Salmon biology and geography—their life's journey from fresh waters to the sea and back again to spawn, and their interaction with ecosystems along the way.
  • The impacts of human activities—grazing, damming, timber, agriculture, and population and economic growth. Included is a case study of Washington state's Elwha River dam removal project.
  • Values, attitudes, and the conflicting desires for short-term economic gain and long-term environmental health. The committee traces the roots of the salmon problem to the extractive philosophy characterizing management of land and water in the West.
  • The impact of hatcheries, which were introduced to build fish stocks but which have actually harmed the genetic variability that wild stocks need to survive.

This book offers something for everyone with an interest in the salmon issue—policymakers and regulators in the United States and Canada; environmental scientists; environmental advocates; natural resource managers; commercial, tribal, and recreational fishers; and concerned residents of the Pacific Northwest.

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