Since the thread has gone slightly off track, I'll chime in regarding Lake Cushman. There are now and have always been Chinook in Lake Cushman. Genetically they don't look like any Chinook anywhere, so some of us think they are the product of long inbreeding of native stock, plus George Adams (Green River hatchery origin) stock that Frank Haw had stocked there for a number of years. Most of them are land-locked because of the lack of downstream fish passage for nearly 80 years and the poor survival rate for those that make the trip down the turbine penstocks.

Anadromous re-introduction is in the works at Lake Cushman. A floating surface collector (FSC) similar to the ones in the Baker River system has been installed and is currently in a testing phase. Few salmon have been stocked in Cushman as of yet, but a small number of marked coho smolts have been stocked for tests. The Cushman hatcheries are ready to come on line and will provide a mix of native steelhead and coho for re-introduction above the dams. Spring Chinook and sockeye are being imported from the Skagit and Baker systems respectively due to the extirpation of native runs of those species.

Oh, and bull trout do migrate upstream of Staircase Rapids. Time will tell if any salmon or steelhead will do so.

Sg