Cle Elum Dam Interim Fish Passage Operation: Annual Report, 2007. Storage Dam Fish Passage Study, Yakima Project, Washington. Technical Series No. PN-YDFP-013

摘要

The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) is leading a cooperative investigation with the Yakama Nation (YN), state and Federal agencies, and others, to study the feasibility of providing fish passage at the five large storage dams of the Yakima Project. These dams Bumping, Kachess, Keechelus, Cle Elum, and Tieton were never equipped with fish passage facilities. Four of the five reservoirs were originally natural lakes (Rimrock Lake above Tieton Dam is the exception) and historically supported Native American fisheries for sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) and other anadromous and resident fish. Implementation of passage features at the dams has the potential to reintroduce sockeye salmon to the watershed; increase populations of upper Yakima basin steelhead (O. mykiss), coho salmon (O. kisutch), and Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha); restore life history and genetic diversity of salmon; and reconnect isolated populations of bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus). Bull trout and Mid-Columbia River steelhead (of which Yakima Basin steelhead are a sub-component) are listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The scope of the feasibility study is currently limited to the study of passage features at Cle Elum and Bumping dams. Successful implementation of fish passage at Cle Elum and Bumping dams could eventually lead to future detailed study of fish passage at Kachess, Keechelus, and Tieton dams.