Thanks for the interest everyone!
I will attempt to answer everyone's question the best that I can. I will go down the line with Wild Chrome first. Fish ladders are the number one issue for me.

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Sinker & Eric
Yes, they have built fish ladders at dams as high as Mayfield Dam. Riffe lake, well that's another story. There are other unproven options like the "Swell concept" that could work for the "Really Big One" (Riffe Lake). Other options could be the combination of fish ladders with trap and hauling abilities. Another option would be a small ladder at the base of Riffe for capturing adults and then use a continuous "tram" to transport the adults over into Riffe lake. That was the concept that they originally used at Mayfield Dam and the records showed that it worked fairly well. Mayfield Dam fish ladder is a no-brainer!

The estimated cost for a fish ladder at Mayfield is: $9,900.000, annual O&M was estimated to be: $297,000 a year. The estimated cost for a fish ladder at Riffe is: $22,400,000, annual M&O was $672,000 a year. The Swell option was the largest at: $150,000,000. The Mossyrock (Riffe) Trap and Haul was the lowest at: $4,500,000 Tram cost were also consider, but I do not have those figures.

Land Tuna

They did do some limited testing at Cowlitz falls on that method. It did show that many of the smolts were attracted by the current. My best guess is that Tacoma is considering that as part of a package that they my be force to do under the heavy gun of NMFS & USF&WS ongoing consultation. Both NMFS & USF&WS firmly believe that successful down stream passage is more important then the up stream passage issues are. We differ big time on that one!

Anyway, Tacoma agreed in the settlement agreement to put $15,000,000 into a trust fund to fund fish passage when required to so. So the money is certainly there right now to do the Mayfield fish ladder and the Truck & Haul at Riffe.

The big thing that is holding up the building of the fish ladders now is the terms and triggers that our agencies agreed to when they signed the Settlement Agreement. I hope this helps everyone understand what is happing concerning the fish ladders on the Cowlitz.

P.S, Thanks Land Tuna for your words of support!

Cowlitzfisherman
Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook????