Your PUD PUD News Line
3/28/2006
Public can learn more about HCPs Tuesday, Wednesday
Meetings today and tomorrow will let the public ask questions and hear about progress made in implementing the Mid-Columbia Habitat Conservation Plans begun in 2004. Today’s meeting is from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Twisp Community Center and again from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday’s meeting will be from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Confluence Technology Center. The events are sponsored by the participants in the HCPs which includes Chelan and Douglas County PUDs.
Directions to the Twisp meeting are available at www.twispinfo.com and to the Wenatchee meeting at www.ncwctc.com.
The meetings are hosted by Chelan and Douglas County PUDs and the HCP Committees with members who represent the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, Colville Confederated Tribes and the Yakama Nation.
Click here to see the agenda.
Application OK’d for Monitor water system grant
PUD commissioners have authorized staff to apply for a $2 million state grant to help finance a possible new water system for Monitor. The application to the Community Economic Revitalization Board is for money from its Job Development Fund.
Two businesses have indicated that a new water system would help them keep jobs in Monitor, said Ron Slabaugh, PUD engineer.
The application deadline is April 3.
Predator control program to continue
Fishing for northern pikeminnow to reduce the predators that threaten young migrating salmon and steelhead will continue this summer, PUD commissioners decided Monday.
Commissioners have approved a $263,375 contract with a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for pikeminnow fishing in the Rocky Reach and Rock Island reservoirs. Last summer the USDA fishermen caught 39,818 pikeminnow in the two reservoirs, said Steve Hemstrom, PUD fisheries biologist. The PUD has contracted with the federal agency for pikeminnow control since 1994.
A separate program that uses long-line fishing to catch pikeminnow in deeper water during the winter removed another 20,000 large pikeminnow last year and is in progress again this year.
The PUD also supports the annual East Wenatchee Rotary Pikeminnow Derby, which had a catch of nearly 4,000 more pikeminnow in just two days in 2005.
Hemstrom said predator control is an important tool for meeting the PUD’s Habitat Conservation Plan goal of no net impact on young migrating fish.
General manager search
Chelan County PUD commissioners continue executive session meetings to narrow down the list of general manager candidates. The board hopes to hire a new general manager by mid-April.
Lake Chelan level
Yearly differences in mountain snowpack, spring rainfall and temperature can result in varying Lake Chelan levels.
Deep snow has resulted in a mid-March forecast for spring runoff into the lake of 112 percent of normal. That has also resulted in the spring lake level being lower than last year as it is drawn down to make room for the runoff to come, explained Scott Buehn, power resource engineer. Today’s lake level was 1,083.6 feet above sea level. It can go no lower than 1,079.
Since 1960, the minimum lake level has dropped below 1,085 feet in 55 percent of the years; but only 35 percent of the years since 1990.
Lake levels will change slightly when the new Lake Chelan Hydro Project license is approved by federal regulators, although maximum and minimum levels will be the same. The first priority will be to maintain minimum flows in the Chelan River for fish and to protect against high river flows that could cause erosion and hurt fish habitat.
The result will be slightly higher spring lake levels during normal runoff and slightly lower levels during the fall.
Stay in touch with your PUD
We’ve made it easier to get important information about the PUD on one page. Go to our Web site, www.chelanpud.org, and click on the PUD logo at the top of the page to visit On the Record. This page also includes more information on the search for a new general manager.
Residents of Chelan County can now find out in seconds if they are in a fiber-optic build zone. Click on the map to access the PUD’s fiber-optics mapping feature.