(Washington, D.C.) – Citing a “pattern of disregard,” Montana’s senior U.S. Senator Max Baucus today demanded a high-level investigation into Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) management of the Bighorn River and Yellowtail Dam.

In a firmly worded letter to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for Department of the Interior, Baucus laid out case after case of major blunders by the Bureau, including two recent incidents that severely damaged fish numbers in the Bighorn River. The OIG is an independent, investigative arm of the federal government.

“It is clear that better coordination on the entire length of the system would have prevented many of the impacts of these damaging events. I would like your office to conduct an investigation into the overall management of the Bighorn River System, specifically investigating the operation of the Yellowtail Dam in coordination with all the dams on the river,” Baucus wrote to Mary Kendall, the acting OIG for the Department of Interior.

Baucus warned further bungled operations could permanently damage the river.

“The Bighorn is a prize for Montana; and for inept bureaucrats to put it at risk is unacceptable at best and downright reckless at worst,” Baucus said. “Montanans demand answers for these continual failings and we are going to get them. We cannot afford another big mistake.”

Baucus has been a stalwart ally of the Bighorn River, continually fighting to make sure it’s protected. He has been an outspoken critic of the BOR’s management of Yellowtail Dam and has led the charge to increase flows in the river.

According to the Department of the Interior, The Office of the Inspector General is designed to “promote excellence, integrity and accountability in the programs, operations, and management of the Department of the Interior.”

Full Letter pasted below:

Mary Kendall
Acting Inspector General
U.S. Department of the Interior
Office of Inspector General
1849 C Street, N.W.
Mail Stop 4428
Washington, D.C. 20240

Dear Ms. Kendall,

I write today to call your attention to an urgent situation on the Bighorn River and Yellowtail Dam. A pattern of disregard is becoming apparent in the management of this river in the context of the greater Bighorn River System and is adversely affecting a world class fishery. Below I will relate a number of occurrences that show mismanagement by the Bureau of Reclamation in 2008 and 2009. I request that you investigate these several instances as well as the overall management of Yellowtail Dam and its effect on the downstream fishery.

The Bighorn River is considered to be one of the world’s best trout fishing streams. It is a very valuable recreational and fishing resource for Montanans and tourists. 70,000 to 90,000 angler days are spent annually on the river. Fishing on the Bighorn contributes $30 million dollars per year to the local economy, much of that going to family businesses in one of the poorest counties in the United States.

Flow in the Bighorn River is dependent on how much water the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) releases from the Yellowtail Dam.  According to wildlife biologists, the lowest flow to maintain healthy spawning and rearing habitat for the Bighorn River trout fishery is 2,500 cubic feet per second (cfs). In past years, during times of drought, Reclamation has allowed the flow of water from the Yellowtail Dam to drop as low as 1,000 cfs in order to protect lake levels for boating in Wyoming.  These reductions in flow from the dam have resulted in dramatically lower fish numbers in the Bighorn River.  Optimal flow conditions for rainbow and brown trout would be 3,500 cfs or higher. This would spread out anglers on the river and provide usable side channels, which surveys by Reclamation show are disappearing.

Disruptive water events continuously plague the Bighorn River. In Spring 2008, Reclamation stated a flow reduction was necessary to provide lake recreation at the southern end of the lake for Memorial Day, justifying a reduction in below-minimum flows to the river. Citing low April in-flows, mid-May releases were dropped to 1,500 cfs. Fisheries biologists say this reduction in flows severely hindered spawning trout, only to be inundated a few weeks later due to inadequate storage available in the lake – a jump from 1,750 cfs to 10,000cfs. Reclamation conveyed that 2008 had been a very difficult year for water management, but in hindsight, they would not have changed their decisions, noting that actual fall 2007 decisions were very close to the modified approach.

In 2009 the incident of mismanagement escalates. The year began with above average snow pack and Bighorn Lake sitting at levels higher than any period on record. Flows to the river were expected to be exceptional when runoff began. With normal precipitation adding to the snowmelt, evacuation of the reservoir led to dangerously high releases to the river, as adequate storage was unavailable. Flooding in the river due to this event caused thousands of dollars in damage and record high lake levels moved beached materials causing blockages of boat launches, closed boating on the north end of the lake due to hazards, and flooded campgrounds that remained closed until mid- to late summer. The economy in Big Horn County suffered as fishing trips were canceled, citing concerns over the high water.

The summer held no respite for the beaten fishery - at approximately 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 29, 2009 the automated Yellowtail Afterbay Gate Control System experienced a malfunction due to a power surge which resulted in releases to the Bighorn River dropping from 4,000 cfs to approximately 1,500 cfs for a brief period.  According to Reclamation, alarms that are built into the new system alerted staff at Yellowtail Dam who responded to the situation, and releases from the Afterbay were restored back to the previous rate of 4,000 cfs by around 1:15 pm. As this incident demonstrates, automation systems can unfortunately be vulnerable and it points out the need for additional failsafe mechanisms in their control system.

Reclamation has stated it is taking steps to ensure a similar malfunction does not occur. What steps will be taken are uncertain at this time, and the likely impact to the fishery resource remains unknown. Reports from outfitters on the river at the time of the drop recount boats docked high and dry in the middle of the river, rainbow and brown trout fry lying dead or flopping in riverbed gravel, and both clients and outfitters scrambling to return fry to the water.  But the real question here is why was this incident allowed to happen in the first place?

Incredibly, this year still held one more major blunder for Reclamation. On Saturday, October 17th, in preparation for a routine measurement of seepage and accretions, Reclamation started a gradual reduction in flows to the Bighorn River in order to nearly empty the Afterbay. Reclamation worked closely with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks to create a reduction schedule that would least impact the fishery. On the morning of Tuesday, October 20th, when flows should have been at 2,000 cfs, river advocates were shocked to see flows in excess of 3,700 cfs and rising. The flows eventually peaked that afternoon at over 4,400 cfs and then quickly dropped to 700 cfs. The gradual reduction that was necessary to protect an already overstressed fishery due to poor management throughout the year was completely bungled. The scheduled testing continued as the fisheries biologist determined that damage had already been done to the fishery when the rising releases were suddenly reversed.

Without some oversight into the reasons behind these issues, the outlook for this fishery is grave. Annual events of this magnitude show that management for the entire system over lake levels must be put into effect; Yellowtail and all of the dams on the Bighorn River should be managed together as one system. Reclamation management practices continue to favor lake levels over releases; regular intra-agency meetings, conference calls and quarterly public issue group conferences have succeeded only in benefiting the south end of the lake and Horseshoe Bend, a boat input that is quickly being buried under 0.8-1.1 feet of sediment per year. All parties made compromises to deal with limited water resources during the drought years of 2001-2007. However, the river should not suffer in good to above average water years as was the case in 2008 and 2009. After the mishaps of the last two years, there must be a commitment to maintaining a stream flow of at least 2,500 cfs into the Bighorn River, regardless of drought status in the area.  The Bighorn River trout fishery is a national treasure that could be lost if stream flows are not maintained at or above this level.

It is clear that better coordination on the entire length of the system would have prevented many of the impacts of these damaging events. I would like your office to conduct an investigation into the overall management of the Bighorn River System, specifically investigating the operation of the Yellowtail Dam in coordination with all the dams on the river. I would like you to examine each of the specific incidents above – from the obvious mishaps in dam failure and seepage testing to the overall practice that appears to favor lake levels over river flows. I would like to know the technical reasons behind the failures in July and October 2009, how failures can be prevented in the future, impacts to the downstream fishery, and what the Department of the Interior will do to assess and mitigate those impacts.

With best regards, I am
Sincerely,
                                                                                               
Max Baucus