REDACTED Justification - Cole M. Rivers Hatchery 20C0028.pdf

Control Number: NWP-20-009

3.1. Summer Steelhead -Rogue River Mitigation. ODFW will produce 220,000 (48,889 pounds) smelts and release into the Rogue River.

3.2. Winter Steelhead -Rogue River Mitigation. ODFW will produce 172,000 (38,400 pounds) smelts and release into the Rogue River.

3.3. Winter Steelhead -Applegate River Mitigation. ODFW will produce 165,040 (28,400 pounds) smelts and release into the Applegate River.

3.4. Spring Chinook-Rogue River Program. ODFW will produce 1,825,100 (178,623 pounds) smelts and release into the Rogue River.

3.5. Coho -Rogue River Program. ODFW will produce 75,000 (7,500 pounds) smelts and release into the Rogue River.

3.6. Rainbow Trout -Rogue and Applegate River Programs. ODFW will produce 224,635 (63,317 pounds) trout and release into the Rogue and Applegate Rivers.

3.7. The Contractor will embed a coded wire tag and remove the adipose fin (fin-clip) from 25,000 of the juvenile coho salmon to be released. The contractor will remove the adipose fin from the remainder of the coho salmon juveniles released. The Contractor will embed a coded wire tag and remove the adipose fin from 180,000 of the juvenile spring Chinook salmon to be released. The Contractor will remove the adipose fin from the remainder of the spring Chinook juveniles released. The Contractor will remove the adipose fin from all steelhead juveniles released. In total, the number of juvenile fish to be fin-clipped or tagged is approximately 2.5 million. The contractor will utilize equipment that provides a fin-clipping rate of at least 99% and coded wire tag retention rate of at least 97% while maintaining a mortality rate of less than 1 % for the tagging groups.

4. AUTHORITY CITED:

Pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 2304(c)(1), as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1 and DFARS 206.302-1, only one responsible source and no other type of services will satisfy agency requirements.

5. REASON FOR AUTHORITY CITED:

5.1. Background:

5.1.1. Authorization and the Requirement to Mitigate

In the Flood Control Act of 1962, Congress authorized the construction of the William L. Jess and Applegate dams. The accompanying 1962 report of the Secretary of War, House Document No. 566 (H.D. 566) features a hatchery for the Rogue River project. The USACE's Design Memorandum No. 4 (1966) expanded upon H.D. 566, further discussing the establishment of a hatchery with "production capabilities adequate to sustain displaced segments of the respective [salmon and steelhead] runs in affected streams." The subsequent USACE Design Memorandum No. 8 (1967) specifies a single hatchery system that "meets all the artificial propagation obligations for anadromous and resident fisheries" for all dams in the basin. In sum, the USACE is required by the Flood Control Act of 1962 to produce and release new artificial fish to mitigate for the ill-effects that dams in the basin have on natural fish in the area.

The USACE finished construction of the hatchery in 1973, which was named after local fish biologist Cole M. Rivers. Starting in 1974, USACE began providing funding