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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSuWa224Alaska Resources Library & Information Services Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Project Document ARLIS Uniform Cover Page Title: Proposed Susitna dam an outdated option, would set salmon back SuWa 224 Author(s) – Personal: Rand Hagenstein and Corinne Smith Author(s) – Corporate: AEA-identified category, if specified: AEA-identified series, if specified: Series (ARLIS-assigned report number): Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Project document number 224 Existing numbers on document: Published by: Anchorage : Alaska Dispatch Publishing, 2015. Date published: February 1, 2015 (online) February 2, 2015 (printed) Published for: Date or date range of report: Volume and/or Part numbers: Final or Draft status, as indicated: Document type: Article Pagination: page B-4 Related work(s): Original source: Alaska dispatch news Pages added/changed by ARLIS: Notes: Image of online article copied from the publisher's website February 10, 2015. ARLIS scanned printed article February 9, 2015. All reports in the Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Project Document series include an ARLIS- produced cover page and an ARLIS-assigned number for uniformity and citability. All reports are posted online at http://www.arlis.org/resources/susitna-watana/ . B-4 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 Alaska Dispatch News I www.adn.com COMMENTARY Proposed Susitna dam an outdated option, would set salmon back By RAND HAGENSTEIN and CORINNE SMITH The recent withdrawal of fund- ing for the Susitna dam project from Gov. Bill Walker's budget recommen- dations may have clouded the future of the proposal for now. While it's too soon to know the project's ultimate fate, it's not too early to assess what the proposed dam would mean for Alaska salmon. The Susitna River is home to Alas- ka's fourth-largest run of chinook sal- mon. In a single summer you could catch all five species of salmon in its waters. The river supports subsis- tence traditions, sportfishing and com- mercial fisheries, and as such, its con- tributions to the people of Alaska are tremendous. At the same time, the facts show that Alaska has plenty to gain from hy- dropower. It's a clean energy source. It can be relatively inexpensive. Many communities in Alaska-Sitka, Ko- diak and Cordova are among them- rely on small-scale hydropower for an alternative to municipal diesel gener- ators. And of course, in the year 2015, we cannot deny the value of carbon- neutral energy. That's plus, plus and another plus for hydropower. This is why The Nature Conservan- cy works with communities, govern- ments and power utilities around the world to help make sure that hydro- power is developed and managed in a way that doesn't harm fish and wild- life. This includes working hand in Hydropower will continue to have a place in a clean, carbon-neutral energy portfolio for Alaska .... Let's think creatively, tap our ingenuity and work together to find Alaska's best hydropower solutions. Hagenstein hand with the U.S. Army Corps of En- gineers in the Lower 48 to reduce im- pacts to fish from e?risting dams. Just last spring, the conservancy joined the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in a: his- toric effort to restore Colorado River fish habitat with a rejuvenating pulse of water. The conservancy also helps lead the innovative Low Impact Hy- dropower Institute, a nonprofit led by a diverse array of companies and or- ganizations committed to sustaining hydropower's contributions to the na- tion's energy grid while reducing its impacts on our nation's rivers . As Alaskans, we want to know that when hydropower gets developed, it's done in the right way. While we've neither opposed nor supported the Susitna project, we have applied our organization's global hydropower ex- pertise to address an important ques- tion for Alaska: How does the Susitna supply what salmon need, and how would a hydropower project as pro- posed affect the river's ability to pro- vide it? To answer questions such as these, we've recently published Smith the "Ecological Risk Assessment of Large-Scale Hydropower on Braided Rivers in Alaska ." Risk assessments like this gauge how planned megaprojects could af- fect people and natural resources. In this case, we've specifically addressed how hydropower proposed for the Susitna would affect salmon. We know, for instance, that dams like the one currently proposed for the Susitna do more than block spawn- ing salmon on their upstream mi- gration. Even though relatively few salmon spawn and rear above the pro- posed dam site (records confirm some chinook salmon in these waters) it 's important to understand that a dam would change the 184 river miles downstream from the dam too. The Susitna River-with its mix of side channels, sloughs and deep pools -provides plenty of spawning habitat. Perhaps more important, the Susitna provides nurseries for developing sal- mon-eggs, alevins, fry and smolts. Before salmon can migrate to the sea, they need safe places to grow. The risk assessment tells us that building and operating a Susitna dam as proposed would mean some im- mediate changes for salmon . Sum- mer flows would fall below historical- ly recorded levels and 'could limit the ability of salmon to reach spawning grounds. Winter flows may reach vol- umes of up to five times higher than historic conditions . Some river sec- tions may no longer freeze, while ice may threaten salmon eggs and young fish by scouring the river bottom in other stretches. We also. know that many changes to the river wouldn't affect salmon immediately. But over time, changes to water quality, wa- ter temperature and the river's ability to naturally transport wood and sedi- ments will all impose risk on salmon. Hydropower will continue to have a place in a clean, carbon-neutral ener- gy portfolio for Alaska. But to be clear, the new era of low-impact hydropower doesn't look like the dams of the past. The proposed Susitna dam, as cur- rently designed, would be an outdated option. Let's think creatively, tap our ingenuity and work together to find Alaska's best hydropower solutions. Alaska's future generations are count- ing on us to do just that. Rand Hagenstein is Alaska state director for The Nature Conservancy. Corinne Smith is the organiza- tion's Mat-Su program director. The "Ecological Risk Assessment of Large-Scale Hydropower on Braided Rivers in Alaska" is available at http:/ jnature.ly/ SusltnaHydroERA •