Seattle City Light Biologists Ed Connor and Dave Pflug co-authored a research paper on Chinook Salmon in the Skagit River that was recently published by the scientific journal Transactions of the American Fisheries Society.
While snowpack levels in the watershed that collects Seattle’s drinking water is below normal at the start of 2015, snowpack levels in the watersheds that feed Seattle City Light’s hydroelectric dams are near normal. Even so, it’s early in the season and a lot can change before the end of winter.
Careful planning, quick thinking and coordination with the Army Corps of Engineers prevented major flooding and salmon egg losses on the Skagit River after a massive Thanksgiving week storm dumped nearly 11 inches of rain near City Light’s dams.
City Light has just improved its communications system with its dams and generation facilities on the Skagit and Cedar rivers, to make them more reliable and flexible.
City Light acquired two properties on the Skagit and Sauk Rivers for fish habitat preservation.
Many Chinook salmon eggs laid in the Skagit River system last fall faced grim prospects for survival amid challenging water conditions. But a coordinated effort by Seattle City Light working with state and federal resource agencies and tribes along with an exceptionally wet March and April gave more than 300,000 of them the chance to grow up.
Seattle City Light was awarded a $982,999 grant from the Washington Salmon Recovery Board to acquire 113 acres of high quality habitat for Chinook salmon, steelhead and bull trout in the Skagit River system.
Fish biologists, power marketers and hydro operators at the Skagit performed a carefully orchestrated dance between July 15 and 17 to prepare the Gorge Dam spill gates for an inspection, seal rehabilitation, and a new coat of paint.
Natural Resources and Environmental Planning field surveys carried out this spring showed that steelhead redd (or nest) counts in the 27 miles of river below City Light’s hydroelectric project are 20 percent higher than any other year since 1997.
Seattle City Light completed the final purchase of three properties totaling 32.5 acres of land to protect key spawning areas for Chinook salmon in the Skagit River.
