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Protected Areas
From the inception of this program, the Council has supported the
concept of protecting some streams and wildlife habitats from
hydroelectric development where the Council believes such development
would have major negative impacts that could not be reversed. Beginning in
1983, the Council directed extensive studies of existing habitat and has
analyzed alternative means of protection.
In 1988, the Council concluded that:
- the studies had identified fish and wildlife resources of critical
importance to the region
- mitigation techniques cannot assure that all adverse impacts of
hydroelectric development on these fish and wildlife populations will
be mitigated
- even small hydroelectric projects may have unacceptable individual
and cumulative impacts on these resources; and
- protecting these resources and habitats from hydroelectric
development is consistent with an adequate, efficient, economical, and
reliable power supply. The Council, relying on these studies,
designated certain river reaches in the basin as "protected
areas", where the Council believes hydroelectric development
would have unacceptable risks of loss to fish and wildlife species of
concern, their productive capacity or their habitat.
See more information in Appendix
B of the 2000 F&W Program, and in Section
12 of the 1995 Program. |
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Does the Council discourage hydropower?
No. The Council is commissioned to balance fish and wildlife needs
with energy needs, and has developed the Fish
and Wildlife Program and Energy
Plan to reflect this balance. Hydropower is a vital clean energy
source, which the Council supports while still protecting critical
habitat for fish and wildlife.
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To view maps and data for protected areas, try
Streamnet's
interactive mapper. Draw boxes to zoom in to specific streams,
then create printable maps or click streams for full detail.
miles of protected streams - click to enlarge |
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