Meeting Date	Mailing Address
Tuesday at 11:45	P.O. Box 346
Community Building	Milton-Freewater, OR 97862
5th and Ward Streets
Milton-Freewater, OR 97862

2008-09 President: Bob Jones	2009-2010 President Elect: Larry Widner
President Elect: Larry Widner
Secretary: Chris Wallace-Burlingame
Treasurer: Chris Wallace-Burlingame
Past President: Pat McConn

21-24 June 2009: Rotary International Convention, Birmingham, England

21-23 May 2010: Rotary District 5100 Conference, The Resort at the Mountain, Welches, OR.

20-23 June 2010: Rotary International Convention, Montreal, Canada (tenative)

09 June 2009

The ladies from Integrity Rebekah Lodge #175 prepared and served the lunch for the members and guests at this week's lunchtime meeting. There were no visiting Rotarians this week.

Honorary Rotarians Bob Coblens, Richard Meier, Pete Peery, and John Thunell  joined us for lunch.

Dr. Marilyn McBride introduced her guest, Stacey Warne, the Dean of Students at Grove School.

Program chairman, Bob Bower, introduced Chris Marks, Water Rights Policy Analyst and Rick George, Dept. of Natural Resources Environmental Planning/Rights Protection Program Manager for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) presenting on joint project between the CTUIR and the United States Army Corps of Engineers (Walla Walla) called the Walla Walla River Basin Ecosystem Restoration Feasibility study. The focus of this study is to restore stream flows in the Walla Walla River in order to enhance salmon recovery efforts while keeping irrigated agriculture whole in the Walla Walla watershed. Chris gave us a short update on the progress of the project and some of the factors complicating the issues. The study is sponsored by the Confederated Tribe of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is leading the study’s technical process and designs.

The Treaty of 1855 between the United States and Confederated Umatilla Tribes, negotiated near Walla Walla, Washington, reserved to the Tribes, the right to fish in all usual and accustomed fishing sites, which includes the Walla Walla River. That treaty right includes a legal water right to protect the fishery.  Subsequent non-Indian land development and agricultural water use have significantly reduced native fish populations and eliminated the salmon population in the basin since 1925. The study will propose a comprehensive solution to the situation but there are no easy answers. Several projects over the years have restored parts of the river, the eco-system along the banks, and improved the natural flow of water but there are still many issues to resolve. The most critical need, necessary for salmon recovery, is for more stream flows in the river during the June to October period. Salmon have been reintroduced by the Tribes to the Walla Walla River and adult spring Chinook returns to the Nursery Bridge Fish Ladder have shown significant improvements over the last 5 years. This limited recovery success is completely dependent upon the cooperation of the irrigation districts in Oregon and Washington who have negotiated agreements to bypass summer flows with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries. Service.

Two Stand alone proposals came out of the Corps of Engineers’ study.
1. Storage: Develop a Pine Creek Reservoir at a construction cost of approximately $371 million, with an annual maintenance cost of around $653,000.
2. Exchange: Construct a pipeline from the Columbia River to provide water directly to the irrigation districts which in turn would leave Walla Walla River water in-stream. This would result in nearly natural, restored stream flows in the river. The cost of this proposal would be about $292 million, with an annual maintenance cost of around $3.1 million.

The Tribes’ Board of Trustees have selected the Columbia River Exchange as the preferred alternative. It would bring “new” water into the Walla Walla River Basin. It provides a more consistent source of water to meet salmon recovery target flows and provides more flexibility to restore flows on tributaries. It meets the flow restoration goals and supplies irrigation water needs while avoiding competition for other uses of Walla Walla Basin’s water supply.

The draft of the Feasibility Report and the Environmental Impact Statement is due by December 2009. Congressional Authorization could be received by late 2010.
The Pre-Construction, Engineering, and Design phase would begin in late 2010. Construction would begin in the 2013-14 time frame with completion estimated for about 2018.
 
For more information, contact Rick George, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla at 541-966-2351

E-Mail to: robby@valint.net

Last modified: 10 June 2009

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