My brother works for BPA, Not knowing "exactly" what he does there....i explained to him what i had read and made sure i added the word "experiment" in there about the spillage of water. This is what he in short wrote to me.

I'm involved with the transmission control systems
(that also monitors streamflows btw). Its not an "Experiment". Safe to say that BPA and other entities try
like the dickens to balance fish, power, tribal issues, recreation,... Down below are some recent news
releases. Things are rather positive for fishys these days, depends are who you are though. Many in the public see only one thing that BPA, the Corp of engineers, or "Dam" folk may do, and do not see the overall picture of what is going on between B.C and Astoria. Believe me, its very complicated, but I sure
was thankful the Corp knew what they were doing during the flood.

The main BPA site www.bpa.gov has plenty of stuff out there related to fish, streamflows,
and what not. try this one http://www.efw.bpa.gov. Ask them for the hard science that
says fish are impacted one way or another. Its a debate that will go on for a long time...

One of the news releases that caught my eye was this one.... seems that they hold back flows in certain pools of the Columbia to help in the spawning process. Read below....

Fish operations continue on the Columbia River
Operations at most of the major storage dams on the Columbia River system and several of the other major projects are still being influenced specifically for fish. The operations are to benefit spawning for the next generation. Fall and winter fish operations call for holding streamflows steady for weeks and months at a time in specific river reaches. Natural streamflows vary widely, so maintaining steady streamflows means manipulating water releases from reservoirs upstream. The operations help burbot spawning below Libby Dam in Montana, kokanee salmon in Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho, chinook at Vernita Bar on the Columbia in Washington and chum below Bonneville Dam near Portland. It's not just BPA that tends to fish needs year around. Idaho Power Company is holding water discharges from Brownlee Dam steady for Snake River chinook operations. Grant County PUD further smoothes out mid-Columbia flows from Priest Rapids Dam for the sake of the Vernita Bar redds.


And this release, in question to water being spilled "over" dams, It may not be new to all of us but what they call the "corner collector" is expected to increase the safe passage of juvenile fish to upwards of 50 percent.

"Corner collector" gives fish smooth ride

A new ice and trash chute, rebuilt and renamed the "corner collector," is expected to increase the number of juvenile fish passing safely through Bonneville Dam by 50 to 60 percent. The corner collector gives young fish a new surface flow bypass route - basically a tremendous water slide - with a 40-foot waterfall, a 2,800-foot slide down the channel, and a 30-foot drop into a newly built plunge pool. Unlike the old ice and trash chute, which used to dump the fish right below the dam, the corner collector conveys the fish a half mile downstream well below the area where northern pikeminnow and hungry sea lions tend to lurk. The trash chute has been redesigned. The new structure cost $48 million.

I guess i still have alot of research to do on the subject but It appears that they are doing their part.

Louis