Smalma,

Tacoma's steelhead mitigation obligation remains the same in their new license as it was in their original license, 12,000 adult steelhead per year, measured on a rolling 5 year average. WDFW has increased the proportion of late winter run steelhead reared and released at the hatchery to help with the recovery of a native wild run component in the upper river above the dams. Tacoma is still on the hook for full mitigation of project impacts to steelhead, but the emphasis is being shifted to include the recovery of wild steelhead being naturally produced in the uper river basin.

Grandpa,

We are seeing some wild steelhead return to the Cowlitz as a result of the restoration program. No one I know of expects huge results anytime soon. Compared to hatchery returns, I don't expect that level of wild run ever. However, the few hundred returning now will increase to a few thousand when the downstream fish passage facilities are improved. But there will always be hatchery steelhead in the Cowlitz, as natural production is unlikely to ever reach pre-dam levels with the dams still in place. Nonetheless, Tacoma is on the hook to return the pre-dam equivalent of an average of 12,000 steelhead a year.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.