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 click photo to enlarge |
Before the building of the Grand Coulee (1941) and Chief Joseph (1955) dams, the country in north central Washington State was an open and lonely country. Relatively primitive and isolated in many places, its human demands consisted mainly of limited ranching, historical and cultural Indian use, and modest recreation. But its diverse habitat sustained a rich variety of wildlife. With the construction and operation of the dams, over 88,000 acres of wildlife habitat bordering the Columbia River and its tributaries were essentially destroyed forever.
While these losses can never be fully recovered, the Colville Confederated Tribes? Wildlife Mitigation Program works to protect and maintain some of the few remaining portions of grassland, shrub-steppe, mixed range, riparian, and conifer forest/savanna habitat that are still in fair-to-good condition. Their goal is to preserve an area large enough to protect larger wildlife species, with additional surrounding land to act as a buffer and provide connection to other habitat.
 mule deer - click to enlarge |
Development of the hydrosystem changed approximately 151 miles of the free-flowing Columbia River to an 80,000 surface-acre lake for Grand Coulee Dam, and 51 miles of the river into a regulated reservoir for Chief Joseph Dam. The area lost to some anadromous fish species represents approximately 10 percent of the spawning areas for steelhead, Chinook, coho, sockeye, and chum salmon in the Columbia River Basin. The loss of salmon runs to the upper Columbia River following construction of Grand Coulee and Chief Joseph dams was devastating to the Colville Tribes. In addition, the reservoirs flooded critical, low elevation habitat for deer and many other wildlife species vital to the tribes? livelihood.
In 1990, the Council recommended funding the mitigation program as part of its fish and wildlife program. The Bonneville Power Administration directs a portion of its electricity revenues toward the Council's fish and wildlife program to mitigate the losses from hydropower development. Since then, the land acquired by the tribes has grown to include four separate ranches and several separate parcels of land. All the lands?approximately 25,501 acres?are similar in habitat type to those inundated by the dams. The tribes are currently working to acquire an additional 18,360 acres in an easement on the west side of the Colville Reservation. The lands are managed to protect, restore, and enhance the critical winter habitat for big game, sharp-tailed grouse, and other wildlife.
?We began with modest acquisitions of land and we've grown to manage over 42,000 acres of land,? says Matt Berger, project manager. ?Our goal is to continue to acquire suitable lands to mitigate hydropower impacts for the preservation of the tribes? and region's wildlife resources.?