Read about it. Nice idea, but it reminds me a lot of what they try to do on the Wynoochee (with VERY limited, if any, success). The N. Fork's habitat is better upstream of Cushman than what's above Wynoochee Dam, but there's not a lot of it before fish run into what look to be impassable falls. Are they planning to blast those falls to make them passable, as they did with the falls below the dams?

Either way, the article I read was from last year, and it said they might be ready to start the program this year. That means smolts may have been planted this year, but it does not mean adult salmon will be returning to the collection facilities for at least two years. These are also hatchery programs, so how is there any ESA concern here? All the native runs in the N. Fork are extinct (according to the article I read... not me).

Doesn't seem to fit the mold of the other lake closures. That's my point. I don't fish Cushman often at all, but lost opportunity is lost opportunity, and I don't think it should happen without legitimate, immediate justification.