Originally, WDG operated on a Mother Station concept where Chambers Creek provided all the eggs/fry for western WA. There were a variety of problems with the concept. Eggs were taken and incubated in warm water; selecting for fish capable of living in such water. Same for rearing; warmer water to enhance production of yearling smolts. This made the resultant adults ill adapted to spawning, incubating, and rearing in naturally cold temperature regimes. As a consequence, they performed poorly in the wild.

Then, I believe that there were issues with Chambers Creek itself. Copper was used in Steilacoom Lake to control algae. Cu has an interesting effect on anadromous fish. It kills fish after entry into saltwater; I think that the algae treatments resulted in loss of otherwise healthy looking smolts which resulted in such poor returns that the system could not provide the eggs and they needed to scramble for local returns of CC fish.

The problem with any hatchery program for steelhead in wild fish. Wild fish used to, and should, be returning in December and January in some numbers. This would conflict with an early return of hatchery fish destined for harvest unless fisheries were mark selective. My personal opinion is that we can have a strong fishery on hatchery fish if and only if one is willing to write off the wild fish. So, a river with a dam that blocks the majority of the rearing area would be an option. Or, a system like the Lyre that is short.