With water resources becoming scarcer every year, studying the negotiation processes that leads to the treaties that govern the distribution of water rights across national boundaries is more important than ever. Sub-state units sometimes play an important role in the negotiation of such treaties and thus it is important to better understand how specific types of regional, transborder sub-state units operate both within the context of their respective federal systems and in relation to each other. Exploring the case study of the Columbia River Treaty—governing the area known as the upper Columbia River Basin— and the Water Policy Working Group of the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region (PNWER), this thesis uses documentary sources and original qualitative interviews to examine the roles of sub-state governments and federalism on the original Columbia River Treaty negotiations, as well as the effect the historical legacy of the Treaty negotiations has left on constituent diplomacy today. Examining constituent diplomacy through a micro rather than macro lens, the thesis also explores the role of constituent diplomacy within PNWER with respect to the upcoming Columbia River Treaty negotiations and the impact that PNWER’s governance model has on the effectiveness and functionality of constituent diplomacy. The thesis demonstrates that sub-state governments, specifically the B.C. government, played a vital role in original Treaty negotiations, and suggests that the past Treaty negotiations are relevant to constituent diplomacy today because of modern-day and future Treaty negotiations and ongoing Treaty implementation. Drawing on documentary evidence and original interview data, this thesis details current PNWER governance structures and practices and then moves to argue that the structure, functions and dynamics of the Canadian and American federal systems can impact the effectiveness and functionality of constituent diplomacy.

The Army Corps of Engineers promised in 1939 that it would provide six fishing sites totaling 400 acres for Indian fishermen to replace 40 sites that would be flooded by the pool behind Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River. The agreement with the Warm Springs, Yakima and Umatilla tribes and Columbia River Indians also included construction of living quarters, boat launches, drying sheds and sanitary facilities. Only five sites were ever acquired and drying sheds and sanitary facilities were built on only two. This paper traces the delays through war, congressional appropriations, negotiations over sites, law suits, construction of new dams, disagreements between federal agencies and the tribes and between tribes, and slow moving federal agency processes. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers broke ground in late 1995 on the first of 31 sites totaling 3 3 5 acres that will finally fulfill the commitment to the tribes in 2002. The tracing is done in the early years almost entirely through government correspondence and documents. In later years, the major sources are newspaper articles and government documents, including court files. The paper does not find a single cause for the extraordinary delay in fulfilling promises. Rather, it concludes that a number of events, attitudes and people had a part in creating delays at different times during the six decades. World War II caused the first major delay. Later causes included disagreements about locations, lack of appropriations, disputes over what facilities were to be included and slow government procedures.

Water waves generated by wind and ships; ebb tidal currents; water level fluctuations; and dredging impact sediment transport in shallow water of the lower Columbia River. Observations were made over a one-year period after sand dredged from the navigation channel was placed at three study sites in the Puget Island region, 46°15'N 123°25'W, Oregon and Washington. Sediment composition is fine to medium grained, low density dacitic volcanics with small percentages of pumice, heavy minerals, and basalt.

The Columbia River is the largest fluvially dominated estuary in the Pacific Northwest, yet the Holocene transgressive fill of this system has not previously been studied. Nearly 1500 industry borehole and water well records in the lower Columbia River basin (LCRB) were analyzed. These records document the sedimentary infilling of the lower 120 miles of the drowned river valley that occurred during the Holocene marine transgression (10-0 ka) . Of particular importance is a key stratigraphic marker horizon of volcanic tephra that has been identified throughout the LCRB. INAA was used to determine the geochemical composition of the target tephra layer. The tephra geochemistry was then compared to geochemical data from potential Cascade source volcanos to determine whether the tephra layers are geochemically related, and the possible age and source of the tephra. The geochemical comparisons indicate that the suspect tephra horizon was derived from the climax eruption of Mount Mazama approximately 6845 years ago. Cross-sections have been constructed that record the lateral and longitudinal depositional development of the river basin. Sediment grain size distribution data have also been compiled and shows that grain size distribution does not change with respect to subsurface elevation within the LCRB. The results indicate that the LCRB has been dominated by fine sand deposition throughout the Holocene period, and silt and clay sized fractions were bypassed through the system to be deposited offshore. A total volume of 74.6 km3 of sediment has accumulated in the basin since the time of the catastrophic floods 12,700 years ago. Sediment volume analysis was used to predict past fluvial sediment supply rates and sediment retention. The volume of sediment deposition from early to late Holocene time has decreased by a factor of 2.4. Sedimentation rates in the basin are estimated from a basin isopach of the Holocene fill and from an extrapolated sediment sea-level curve. Basin sedimentation rates ranged from 12. 6 mm/yr-1 for the early Holocene to 2. 5 mm/yr-1 for the late Holocene period. This factor of 5 decrease in the sedimentation rate also indicates that the Columbia River bypassed much of its fine grained fraction through to the marine environment during the mid-late Holocene.

Levels of ⁶⁵Zn in water, sediments, plants, and animals in Alder Slough, a small ecosystem in the Columbia River Estuary, were determined periodically during a one year period. Concentrations of total Zn in organisms were also measured to permit computation of specific activities (μCi⁶⁵Zn/g total Zn). Temporal fluctuations in the activities of ⁶⁵Zn and the concentrations of total Zn occurred in all components of the ecosystem. Activities of ⁶⁵Zn and concentrations of total Zn varied among individual fish from the study area. Pooled estimates of population standard deviations of these values in all samples of two fish species taken during the year amounted to about 20% of their grand means. Usually, individuals with high ⁶⁵Zn activities also proved to have high total Zn concentrations, hence specific activities were less variable than either ⁶⁵Zn or total Zn. The nuclear reactors at Hanford, Washington, the source of most of the ⁶⁵Zn in the Columbia River, were shut down for approximately 45 days during this study. This event presented the opportunity to investigate the response of various components of the ecosystem to reduced ⁶⁵Zn input. The rates of ⁶⁵Zn specific activity decline in several organisms were measured following reactor shutdown. The time required for specific activity of an organism to be reduced by one-half under the conditions prevailing is termed "ecological half-life". The "ecological half-life" differs from the biological half-life of an organism because: 1. it is defined in terms of specific activity 2. it reflects the continued addition of radioactivity to the organism from its food web and water. "Ecological half-lives" vary with the trophic levels of the organisms and with changes in prevailing ecological conditions. / Graduation date: 1968

Variable electrical generation (VG) sources such as wind farms are an increasing percentage of total electrical generation in the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) balancing area and are starting to impact the ability of the regional balancing authority to control the electric grid. Wind farms are not dispatchable and challenge historical electric grid control methods. Successful integration of VG at high penetration levels of wind needs to address increased overall system variability and the rapid power ramp rates caused by wind. One of the new control paradigms needed is accurate wind speed prediction which directly relates to wind farm power output. With an accurate wind speed forecast other generation sources can be dispatched as needed to ensure grid stability. This work uses BPA metrology station (MS) data to make predictions for short-term wind speed where short-term is defined as a one hour prediction horizon. It is shown that, using the available metrology station data and several different prediction methodologies, only small improvements in short-term wind speed prediction can be achieved with the available data for the algorithms analyzed. / Graduation date: 2013

Graduation date: 1982

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2007. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 272-296). Also available online in Scholars' Bank; and in ProQuest, free to University of Oregon users.

Political and institutional leaders in the Pacific Northwest have struggled over how best to manage Columbia River Basin development and the implications of that development since the early 1900s. Their efforts present a seeming paradox: whereas prominent political and institutional leaders believed some form of regional governance system was necessary, those same leaders refused to establish systems with the decision-making authority necessary to resolve the issues that led them to create the systems in the first place. This study examines the historical record at the institutional level to determine why. This study found twenty-six governance systems proposed since 1933 of which eleven were enacted. Prior to then, a private market oriented system dominated, assisted by supportive federal agencies with jurisdictional authority over individual resource domains. Since 1934, the Basin has experienced an unbroken succession of one governance system or another, at times with multiple systems operating in parallel. This study categorized each system under one of four governance models, distinguished by the locus of decision-making. Transitions from one system to another came about through evolutionary processes or the emergence of circumstances that allowed for dramatic shifts between models. Evolutionary change within models resulted in collapse due to internal structural weaknesses or shifts to improved systems through mutual agreement. Dramatic change between models occurred when a "critical situation" appeared that called existing governance systems into question and allowed new systems to rise in their place. Four such critical situations occurred between 1929 and 1999. These were the onset of the Depression, the end of World War II, the hydro-thermal crisis of the mid 1970s, and the first ESA listings of salmon in 1991. This study concluded that the conflicting interests of powerful institutions only partially explain the Basin's governance paradox. Differing worldviews and senses of institutional culture, identity, and values aggravated the conflict over competing interests by shaping the perspectives each party held over the goals and motivations of the others. This study recommends further research to determine how institutional values translate into individual level decision-making. It offers a theoretical framework under which such research might proceed.

This study presents a preliminary compilation of 1) archaeological sites or geographic locations in the lower Columbia River valley where mobile prehistoric zoomorphic and anthropomorphic stone sculptures have been found, 2) a descriptive listing of the sculptures found at each of these sites or locations, and 3) insofar as possible an evaluation of the significance of these sculptures in the culture history for the area. Such an evaluation is based primarily on evidence derived from archaeological, ethnographic and historic contexts wherever they can be ascertained. However, the evaluation is also based upon a general analysis of the inherent design characteristics of the carvings.