Managing the Columbia River Instream Flows, Water Withdrawals, and Salmon Survival (2004) / Chapter Skim
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2 Development and Changes in the Columbia River Basin
2 Development and Changes in the Columbia River Basin
Pages 27-41
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From page 27... ...
, an arid and semiarid Columbia Plateau and other interior areas, and a more humid lower Columbia River valley. This breadth of physical regions is expressed in the ba sin's diversity of biomes, which include deserts, forests, shrub land, and riparian ecosystems.
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From page 28... ...
The basin's complex physical character and the changes induced by nine teenth- and twentieth-century agricultural, forestry, and indus trial activities provide the context for considering more detailed aspects of changes to the Columbia River hydrological regime and its interactions with the life histories of Columbia River sal monids. SETTLEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE COLUMBIA BASIN Most inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest live in the Port land-Seattle urban corridor west of the Cascade Mountains (Port land lies within the Columbia River basin; Seattle does not)
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From page 29... ...
European settlement in the region, and associated uses in resources and changes in the landscape, varied in timing and intensity across the Columbia River basin. This progression can generally be classified as follows: initial European settlement Celilo Falls prior to the construction of The Dalles Dam.
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From page 30... ...
Above Crusatte's river (Wind River) the low grounds are about three-quarters of a mile wide, rising gradually to the hills, with the rich soil covered with grass, fern, and other small undergrowth; but below the country rises with a steep ascent, and soon the mountains approach the river with steep rugged sides, covered with a very thick growth of pine, cedar, cottonwood, and oak.
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From page 31... ...
Improvements in soil arability and in streamside timber that correlated with increasing elevation were emphasized: "On the immediate banks of the Columbia the country is not promising; but going back a little distance the grazing is very luxuriant and excellent, and the soil rich, particu larly in the river valleys" (Cooper, 1860)
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From page 32... ...
An active British and American fur trade, with furs being transported from the region to the mouth of the Columbia River, continued until midcentury. The decline of beavers and beaver dams reduced water storage in the uplands and reduced the environmental heterogeneity encountered by salmon.
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From page 33... ...
In the summers, cattle and sheep in large numbers were driven into headwater stream valleys. There were also large numbers of sheep in the John Day River basin near Shaniko, Oregon.
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From page 34... ...
border and southward to Pasco, Washington. Crops raised on project lands include grains, alfalfa, hay, beans, fruit, sugar beets, potatoes, and sweet corn (ibid.; Chapter 3 discusses the Columbia Basin Project and its hydrological features in greater detail)
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From page 35... ...
Timber harvesting and road construction in the upper Grand Ronde River basin have increased since the 1950s. Similarly, timber harvest is a dominant land use in the Blue Mountains (Ochoco, Umatilla, and Malheur national forests)
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From page 36... ...
As a previous National Research Council committee that reviewed Columbia River salmon management stated, "As long as human populations and economic activities continue to increase, so will the challenge of successfully solving the salmon problem" (NRC, 1996)
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From page 37... ...
. The early 1930s were a period of technological optimism, with a strong faith in the ability of multipurpose river basin de velopment to deliver substantial social and economic benefits.
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From page 38... ...
BPA marketed power produced from the Hanford Gen erating Plant, which was part of the Washington Public Power Supply System. The BPA has also been an important participant within the processes of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council (known until 2003 as the Northwest Power Planning Council, or NWPPC)
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From page 39... ...
, agriculture and ranching, large-scale timber harvesting, water diversions, and mainstem dams and reservoirs. The basin's economy has his torically depended heavily on the Columbia River, first through the harvest of salmon, and then later through the construction of dams and related infrastructure to promote irrigated agriculture and hydroelectric power development, to provide flood control, and to support navigation.
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From page 40... ...
The human population in the interior Columbia Basin in the United States is about 5 million and projected to grow by 0.3 to 1.6 percent per year. Human population growth has implications for salmon survival, not only because of urbanization's direct ef fects on land use and hydrology (e.g., changing of timing of run off patterns, decreasing of surface waters percolating to ground water)
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From page 41... ...
Development and Changes in the Columbia River Basin 41 lumbia River basin hydrology as well as other important hydro logical changes wrought by decades of human activities in the region.
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