The Bureau of Reclamation and Washington State Department of Ecology, in collaboration with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, will conduct a public scoping meeting for the Cle Elum Dam Fish Passage Facilities and Fish Reintroduction Project Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on April 30, in Ellensburg, Washington. An open house will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., and the scoping meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. Ecology is joint lead with Reclamation in the preparation of an EIS that will satisfy the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act and the Washington State Environmental Policy Act. Reclamation is evaluating construction of downstream juvenile fish passage and upstream adult fish passage alternatives at Cle Elum Dam. The dam, built in 1933, does not include fish passage facilities. The downstream passage facilities would allow juvenile fish to pass through a multilevel gated intake structure located above the spillway inlet channel and a conduit through the right abutment of the dam. The proposed upstream fish passage would consist of a trap-and-haul facility. Concurrently, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), in collaboration with Yakama Nation, is evaluating implementation of a proposed fish reintroduction project to restore populations above the Cle Elum Dam. The reintroduction project would involve the use of hatchery supplementation techniques to restore fish above the dam.
Additional information about these EIS alternatives can be found at: http://www.usbr.gov/pn/programs/ucao_misc/fishpassage/index.html. The scoping meeting will give the public the opportunity to identify issues and concerns associated with the alternatives proposed for the project and to identify other potential alternatives that could be considered in the EIS. The scoping meeting will be held at the Hal Holmes Center, 209 N. Ruby Street, Ellensburg, Washington. The meeting facilities are physically accessible to people with disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation for the hearing impaired or other special assistance needs should be submitted to David Kaumheimer, at (509)-575-5848, extension 232, by April 20, 2009. A Notice of Intent to Prepare an EIS was published in the Federal Register on April 8, 2009. In addition to comments received at the scoping meetings, written comments will be accepted through May 8, 2009. Please submit comments to David Kaumheimer, Bureau of Reclamation, Environmental Program Manager, 1917 Marsh Road, Yakima WA 98901-2058; fishpassage@pn.usbr.gov. For additional information or questions, please call (509) 575-5848, ext. 612.
| 