EPHRATA – The Grant County PUD is still working on reaching fish passage survival targets for steelhead, a goal that’s part of the PUD’s license.

Hitting it will save the utility money, possibly a lot of money.

Curt Dotson, PUD project specialist, gave an update to commissioners at a recent meeting. Dotson said the PUD is required to pay into a salmon recovery project fund when it doesn’t hit the target, and the amount depends on how far the utility misses the target.

The PUD was paying between $1 million and about $1.25 million from 2006 to 2010, when the targets were being established, he said. In 2011, when a target was established, the PUD had to pay almost $4 million.

The bill for 2014 and 2015 was about $2 million, and 2016 is forecast to be about the same, Dotson said. Utility district officials are required to study and set juvenile fish passage targets for yearling chinook, steelhead and sockeye, he said. Once a target has been established and the PUD has met it for three years, a new study is required every five years.

The PUD has hit its targets for yearling chinook and sockeye, Dotson said. But “steelhead is our problem child.”

Commissioner Tom Flint asked if the 2015 studies showed any impact from lowering the water behind Wanapum Dam in 2014. (The reservoir level was lowered when a crack was discovered in a spillway pillar in February 2014, and stayed below normal until early 2015.)

Dotson said there was no evidence the drawdown had impacted fish runs. Natural resources director Jeff Grizzel said there was evidence the 2015 drought did have an impact, with low Columbia River flows and warmer water temperatures than normal.

The studies have shown that predators, specifically terns, have the biggest impact on steelhead numbers, Dotson said. Terns are picky eaters and almost exclusively prefer steelhead, according to the data.

Terns took up residence at Goose Island in Potholes Reservoir, and at Crescent Island near Tri-Cities. Both sites are administered by federal agencies, not the PUD, but the agencies worked on ways to force the terns to move, and it worked. “The bad news is they went somewhere and they didn’t go far enough,” Dotson said.

The birds moved to a spot near John Day Dam and islands in Banks Lake and Lake Lenore. When tern populations reach certain levels, federal and state agencies are required to take measures to move them on, Dotson said.