THE OUTDOORS PAGE : Outdoor Notes : U.S. Army to Give Nature a Little Help

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has agreed to spill $2 million worth of hydroelectric generating water at Dworshak Dam near Boise, Ida., this week to help flush newly hatched steelhead and salmon to the Pacific Ocean.

However, fewer than 5% of the young fish are expected to survive. Usually, 5% to 10% survive.

Michelle DeHart, spokeswoman for the Fish Passage Center in Portland, Ore., said that because flows were so low, fish have stopped moving through the Lower Granite reservoir.

So the center asked the corps to double the flow. That takes potential electric power from the Bonneville Power Administration, but Jim Fodera, hydraulic engineer at the corps’ Reservoir Control Center in Portland, said, “We feel strongly that there’s a definite biological need.”

The American River Festival at Placerville Saturday and Sunday will feature 50 rafters, kayakers and canoeists competing in a 7-mile race, a slalom race and a display of freestyle tricks.

Entry fees are $10 to $30. There is no admission charge.

Briefly

Raahauge’s Shooting Sports Fair, which for the first time will include a public sporting clays tournament, will open Friday and run through Sunday at Raahauge’s Pheasant Hunting Club in Norco. . . . The Department of Fish and Game has issued a reminder that there is a mussel quarantine in effect through Oct. 31 along the entire California coastline. The quarantine goes into effect every year about this time in an effort to protect people from ingesting shellfish tainted with toxic organisms found in the ocean during warm summer months.