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Cedar River Instream Flow Management

Cedar River Instream Flow Management. Balancing Certainty and Flexibility. Setting the Context: 5 LINKS--Headwaters to Sea. Cedar River Watershed HCP. Preserves and protects the upper 2/3 of the Cedar River basin

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Cedar River Instream Flow Management

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  1. Cedar River Instream Flow Management Balancing Certainty and Flexibility

  2. Setting the Context:5 LINKS--Headwaters to Sea

  3. Cedar River Watershed HCP • Preserves and protects the upper 2/3 of the Cedar River basin • Fish passage facilities to restore access for chinook, coho and steelhead into over 17 miles of habitat • Innovative sockeye hatchery supplementation program • Capital improvements throughout the Lake Washington Basin • Improved instream flow management program • Broad-based monitoring and research program

  4. Stream Flow Management:Protecting Instream Resources • Seattle’s water storage and diversion activities have a substantial effect on stream flows in the lower Cedar River • Stream flow is a key component of the aquatic/riparian ecosystem that supports salmon and many other species • Social values and species protection priorities change over time • The applied science of stream flow management is complex, relatively new, and continues to evolve

  5. Geographic Overview • Storage reservoir receives run-off from the upper 43% of the basin • Approx. 20% of average annual flow diverted at the Landsburg Diversion Dam 5

  6. Complex Array of Objectives • Protect all life stages of salmon • Provide sufficient flows to Lake Washington and the Ballard Locks • Minimize impacts to lake dependent species in Chester Morse Reservoir • Promote natural biophysical processes that shape and maintain the aquatic/riparian ecosystem

  7. Cedar River Salmon Life Stages

  8. Complex Array of Objectives • Protect all life stages of salmon • Provide sufficient flows to Lake Washington and the Ballard Locks • Minimize impacts to lake dependent species in Chester Morse Reservoir • Promote natural biophysical processes that shape and maintain the aquatic/riparian ecosystem

  9. The HCP Flow Tool Box • Capital improvements to help protect fish • Detailed mngmt. prescriptions that protect the river and maintain municipal water supply capacity • Limitations on diversions to ensure flexibility to adapt and improve flow management • Continued monitoring and research • Commitment to apply research results • Collaborative oversight

  10. Capital Improvements • SCL’s Cedar Falls hydropower facilities improved to protect fish and flows • Fish passage and water efficiency improvements at the Ballard Locks • Habitat protection/restoration in the lower river downstream of Seattle’s ownership boundary

  11. Prescriptions for real-time management • Guaranteed flows • Minimums below which flows are not allowed to drop • Supplemental flows provided according to hydrologic conditions and biological need • Downramping requirementstomoderate rates of stream flow reduction • Reduce the risk of fish stranding and, • More closely emulate patterns of natural flow recession

  12. Guaranteed Flow Regime

  13. 2000 Compliance Graph

  14. Preserving Flexibility: Cedar River Hierarchy of River Flows

  15. Monitoring and Research-- Supplemental Biological Studies Dedicated funding to investigate up to 19 prioritized study questions addressing the effects of stream flow on: • Chinook and sockeye spawning and incubation • Steelhead spawning and incubation • Chinook early life history • Water temperature • Natural ecological processes that shape and maintain riparian and in-channel habitat

  16. Commitment to Apply Results

  17. Oversight Cedar River Instream Flow Commission Representatives from: • National Marine Fisheries Service • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service • Muckleshoot Indian Tribe • Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife • Washington Department of Ecology • King County • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers • Seattle City Light • Seattle Public Utilities

  18. Does the Tool Box promote the right mix of certainty and flexibility? • Capital improvements to help protect fish • Detailed mngmt. prescriptions that protect the river and maintain municipal water supply capacity • Limitations on diversions to ensure flexibility to adapt and improve flow management • Continued monitoring and research • Commitment to apply research results • Collaborative oversight

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