Humpy,

I think the only thing Tacoma is opening up is its checkbook. I hear there are more than 150 miles of mainstem and tributaries upstream of the dams that could rear salmon and steelhead.

The agencies say getting the adults upstream is the easy part. Tacoma has traps and trucks at the hatchery, and they will build a new ladder at Mayfield Dam. The important part is that Tacoma will be spending millions on downstream passage. Getting smolts down to the lower river is the key to the restoration. It was the inability to pass the smolts that caused Tacoma and the agencies to abandon natural production from the upper river in the first place. The new agreement is pretty strong in its passage requirements. The laws that protect fish are stronger now than when Tacoma got its first license 50 years ago.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.