PP,

It'd be a rough row to hoe to remove Wynoochee Dam. Actually, there is only a small amount of anadromous fish habitat upstream of the dam, not that it should be written off by any means. There is a plan in the works with the Army Corps of Engineers and Tacoma (the new dam owner, having bought it from the Corps (us) for about $0.10 on the dollar - It's nice to own a congressman) to add a new fish screen and smolt and kelt bypass, a couple rearing ponds down at the trap, and some improvements at the adult fish trap.

Meanwhile, the existing smolt passage passes fish, but not with acceptable efficiency. Enough wild smolts make it down to maintain the coho and steelhead runs, but probably not the chinook, altho that's just a guess.

Frankly, everybody I knew who was working on this project retired, got transferred, assigned to other work, etc. My guess is that the ball got dropped, and with no one prodding either the Corps or Tacoma with a sharp stick, it's too easy to forget about getting on with the job.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.