Yakamas reintroduce salmon in Yakima River Basin headwaters

TUCQUALA LAKE, Wash. —
As staff members of the Yakama Nation Fisheries Program emptied nets full of young coho salmon into Tucquala Lake, they undid effects of over a century of dams barring migratory fish from the Yakima River Basin's headwaters.

The tribal-sponsored experiment is returning around 300,000 coho salmon this week in an effort to re-establish self-sustaining fish runs in the basin's upper reaches, starting in the waters above Lake Cle Elum in the central Cascades.

Dams have kept fish from the headwaters for over 100 years, beginning with crude crib dams built for irrigation and later with five dams on lakes feeding the Yakima River. None of the five dams have fish passages.

Fish returning to spawn will be captured below Cle Elum Dam and trucked around it.

"This is both culturally and spiritually important to the nation," said Dave Fast, senior
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