For 77 years, a 313-foot-high concrete plug has stopped the migration of salmon and steelhead in the North Fork of the Lewis River. That will change under a set of new hydroelectric operating licenses issued by federal energy regulators.

The old licenses expired in 2006, and the utilities had been operating on year-by-year renewals since then.

Oceangoing salmon, blocked from the upper North Fork since the construction of Merwin Dam in 1931, will repopulate the pristine habitat courtesy of a sort of fish busway service. PacifiCorp, as part of a new set of 50-year operating licenses, will load thousands of spring chinook, coho and steelhead into trucks and haul them around Merwin, Yale and Swift reservoirs.

“If the goal is to get the fish where they need to go, it’s been something that’s been used a lot – and it works,” PacifiCorp spokesman Tom Gauntt said.
In the case of the North Fork of the Lewis, at least, it beats the alternative.

The three dams, plus a 3-mile-long power canal operated by Cowlitz County Public Utility District, collectively generate 580 megawatts of electricity — enough to energize all of Clark County. Removing them was out of the question.

The set of licenses, issued June 26 by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, culminates a process that began in 1995. Environmental groups, community representatives and state agencies negotiated with PacifiCorp for a new license, eventually reaching a settlement agreement forwarded to FERC in 2004.

Rather than tearing out the dams, state fishery managers advocated a trap-and-haul program to reconnect salmon with 117 miles of prime habitat above Swift Reservoir.

If the initial trap-and-haul system works well, the utility has agreed to drop off salmon at tributaries flowing into Yale Reservoir and Lake Merwin. That would add another 53 miles of habitat in streams such as Siouxon and Speelyai creeks.

PacifiCorp anticipates spending $400 million over 50 years to meet the terms of the operating licenses for Merwin, Yale and Swift dams. Cowlitz PUD will spend $38 million. Much of that spending will be related to the trap-and-haul program, including fish collection corrals for adult salmon returning to Merwin as well as ocean-bound juveniles in Swift Reservoir.

State fishery managers figure PacifiCorp can afford it.

“Because of the revenue that can be generated out of the Lewis system, they can justify making an investment,” said Guy Norman, regional director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in Vancouver,

The licenses effectively grant the federal government’s permission to maintain the Lewis as a series of stillwater reservoirs rather than a free-flowing river. In return, PacifiCorp and Cowlitz PUD agreed to underwrite protection, mitigation and enhancement measures covering fish, wildlife, recreation, cultural resources and flood management.

“That investment is in keeping with the company’s commitment to being a good steward of the natural resources affected by our projects,” Pat Reiten, president of Pacific Power, said in a prepared statement. “Importantly, these licenses allow us to retain significant benefits for our customers in the form of cost-effective electricity.”

PacifiCorp, based in Portland, is a subsidiary of MidAmerican Energy, controlled by billionaire financier Warren Buffett, It operates as Pacific Power in Oregon, Washington and California.

Similar trap-and-haul programs are already in effect around dams on the Cowlitz River, and federal dam managers have been barging juvenile salmon and steelhead on the Snake and Columbia rivers for two decades. Oceangoing fish are likely to return to many Northwest rivers, as utilities struggle to relicense hundreds of expiring federal licenses.

“It does seem to be catching on,” Norman said.