River ladder aids salmon's uphill battle

A new fish ladder on the Puyallup River in Washington will help chinook and other salmon travel to their spawn waters

By Environmental News Network staff

In an effort to bring back spawning salmon to the upper reaches of the Puyallup River in Washington, a $1 million, 290-foot-long concrete fish ladder is being built 41 miles upriver from Commencement Bay.

The ladder, a joint project between the Puyallup Indian tribe and Puget Sound Energy, will not only allow fish to bypass Electron Dam but also open up 30 river miles of fish habitat.

"This is one of the most impressive restoration projects seen in the Northwest," said Puget Sound Energy spokesman Roger Thompson.

Earlier this week the ladder was opened for a test run, and several hundred coho (silver) salmon that had gathered below a diversion dam quickly migrated upriver via the ladder. Project crew member Jim Bierce described the river before the opening of the fishway as "black with fish, just like Alaska rivers."

The ladder comprises a series of "steps,” or small retaining walls, within the concrete canal. The salmon jump up over each step and ultimately over the steep incline of the hydropower project's dam.

"It was a way to work with the tribe to restore a greater number of fish in that river system," Thompson said. "And it's the least work-intensive method. Instead of catching the fish and then hauling them by truck over land, the fish move themselves up and over the dam to the habitat beyond."

The partnership between the Puyallup tribe and PSE dates back three years. After the tribe filed suit in 1995, a settlement was reached by 1997 in which PSE agreed to construct the fish ladder, establish an in-stream flow, construct acclimation ponds and create smolt traps.

The tribe dug three stream-fed rearing ponds upriver from the dam and seeded them with 300,000 chinook and coho smolts each spring. Adult salmon from local hatcheries were also introduced. The juveniles made their way out to sea and are just now returning to the waters where they were released.

"We are seeing both coho and chinook coming," said Russ Ladley, resource protection manager for the Puyallup tribe. "It's the first return of the three-year-olds. But you really have to wait for four years to know it's working."

The adults also bred, but it will be another four years before their young come back.

The new fish ladder is 41 miles up the Puyallup River from Commencement Bay in Puget

To enhance the chance for successful spawning, a trap was added to the end of a 10-mile wooden flume. The dam's water diversion system, considered an engineering wonder when it was built in 1904, is made up of shallow dikes that move water 50 feet up and down the river bed. With the flume, the fish are contained instead of swimming to certain death in the power turbines.

"Yeah, it's a success," said Ladley.

The lines of responsibility in the joint venture are clearly defined. The tribe is in charge of salmon restoration. PSE pays for it, to the tune of $2 million.

The ladder, ponds and trap-and-haul cost about $2 million. PSE also pays the tribe $175,000 annually to maintain the fish runs. Add to that $250,000 to $1 million in revenue lost every year because the plant has agreed to reduce diversion water flow in spawning season, which runs from June to November.

"Is it worth it? Ultimately that's a question the public has to determine," said Thompson. "I don't think there's anyone in the Northwest who doesn't want to save the salmon. As a public utility, we take our environmental stewardship very seriously."

Ladley estimates it will take 10 to 15 years before biologists know for certain that the run is seeding the habitat.

"We also hope to have wild steelhead from the Puyallup's tributaries," Ladly said. "But we're not going to do anything. We're hoping their natural instincts will move them up the ladder to exploit the newly created habitat."

Copyright 2000, Environmental News Network, All Rights Reserved

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