They are rebuilding the power station and the channel above the falls. They have track hoes digging in the river channel and silting it up. So much silt at times that visability is less than 6 inches. All happening at summer low flows. I have floated the river for 12 years with mask and snorkle checking out the fishing holes,picking up tackle and generally checking out the health of the river. I float from just above Plumb to the take out at Neal rd. about 5 miles all the time I am in the water looking arounsd only using using the raft to pick up lures and garbage I find. On a normal float I see 10 to 20 steelhead , lots of trout, whitefish, Chub, Suckers,sculpin, Crawdad, Perriwinkles, clams etc. This year I have yet to see a live crawdad and have only seen two steelhead in two floats. Most of the sculpin I see are dead. There is a huge freshwater clam bed near Plumb that is half its normal size this year compared to the past 12 years. I floated a short section Sat with a neighbor who is an environemental consultant that is pretty level headed about the balance of use issues. During his short inspection he said it appeared to him that the silt has really affected the system. These are just my casual observations and while I am well informed of how a river ecosystem works I am no expert. I just seems to me that because of the hatchery on the system that they have given up on protecting or even restoring the river. Unless of course you are a private homeowner looking for a building permit within 5 miles of the river.