Lower Snake River Dams Study

Columbia Riverkeeper has requested the services of the SEI to study the Snake River, a tributary of the Columbia River located in the US states of Washington, Idaho, and Oregon. The four dams on the lower Snake River (Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite) provide benefits for hydropower, irrigation and transportation, but significantly reduce the access of endangered salmon and steelhead to the mountainous cold-water habitat in the upper Snake River basin. Access to this cold-water habitat is critical to these species’ recovery. SEI’s task is to estimate the evaporation from the Lower Snake River reservoirs. Columbia Riverkeeper is interested in learning the evaporation under the historical climate as well as under future climate projections, to help provide background information regarding potential lower Snake River dam removal.