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#702530 - 09/06/11 07:46 PM White Salmon R. questions
Eric Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 03/08/99
Posts: 3513
From WDFW news release......


WDFW NEWS RELEASE
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091
http://wdfw.wa.gov/

September 6, 2011

Contact: John Weinheimer, (360) 906-6746

Fishing on White Salmon River to close
one day for cleanup before dam removal

OLYMPIA - The lower portion of the White Salmon River will be closed to fishing for 12 hours Sept. 17 to allow an interagency clean-up team to remove derelict boats, camping gear and other debris before Condit Dam is breached in late October.

The fishing closure, announced by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), will be in effect from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 17. The affected area extends 3.3 miles from the Highway 14 Bridge to the powerhouse at the dam.

The river mouth downstream of the Highway 14 Bridge will remain open.

John Weinheimer, a WDFW fish biologist, said the clean-up effort is designed to prevent abandoned boats and debris from being swept into the Columbia River when the 125-foot dam is breached to improve passage for wild steelhead, salmon and bull trout.

"Large debris could impair fish habitat in the lower White Salmon River and present a challenge to navigation in the Columbia," Weinheimer said. "We’re pleased to be a partner in this clean-up effort."

Other partners include the Underwood Conservation District, Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group, Friends of the White Salmon River, Yakama Nation Fisheries, SOLV, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Klickitat County Solid Waste, USGS Columbia River Research Laboratory, Allied Waste, the Washington Department of Transportation, Klickitat County Sheriff’s Dept. and the Skamania County Sheriff’s Dept. dive team.

Volunteers interested in assisting with the cleanup can contact the Underwood Conservation District at 509-493-1936, or email ucd@gorge.net .

Adrianne Zuckerman, Watershed Resource Technician at the Conservation District, said approximately 15 boats - some submerged or partially submerged - have been identified for removal. All have been marked with a tag notifying owners of their options.

"Dive teams are helping remove the derelict boats from underwater," she said. "But we also need volunteers to help move boats out of the water and onto shore and clean up debris at popular fishing areas."

Condit Dam, a 97-year-old structure owned by PacifiCorp, is scheduled to be breached Oct. 26, emptying the 92-acre reservoir behind it in six hours. That is expected to open up 14 miles of habitat for chinook salmon and 33 miles of habitat for steelhead. The free-flowing river also is expected to protect critical bull trout habitat and benefit bears and other wildlife that feed on salmon.

WDFW is currently working with PacifiCorp, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Yakama Tribe to collect returning salmon in large seine nets and truck them up above the dam, where they will be released into the upper river to spawn.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



My question is has there been a trucking program in place around the dam in decades past? Is there even a native stock left? Are they expecting random fish from the Columbia to come in and re-colonize?

I don't know the river well, if at all, but Condit's not very far up from the mouth is it? Are there recoverable native stock using that short section successfully spawning that will then be free to scoot upriver?

Just curious as much as anything. Love to see this be successful.





Edited by Eric (09/06/11 07:47 PM)

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#702559 - 09/06/11 09:21 PM Re: White Salmon R. questions [Re: Eric]
Salmo g. Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 03/08/99
Posts: 13521
No trucking program in the past as there is no downstream juvenile fishway other than through the turbines that were just shut down a few weeks ago. Hard to say if there is a native stock left. Many hatchery fish and dip ins from the Columbia (3 miles). Dip ins, residuals from hatchery stocking, and nearby Carson Chinook are expected to colonize the river.

Sg

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#702575 - 09/06/11 10:45 PM Re: White Salmon R. questions [Re: Salmo g.]
Eric Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 03/08/99
Posts: 3513
Thanks for the info. That's kinda what I suspected. Sounds like the dam will come down rather abruptly. Hope it works!

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#702584 - 09/06/11 11:28 PM Re: White Salmon R. questions [Re: Eric]
DrifterWA Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 04/25/00
Posts: 5074
Loc: East of Aberdeen, West of Mont...
Another "Dam down"........only good can come from a removal. That will be 3 down and probably a no on the Chehalis 2 dams.......damn things are going well!!!!!!


Edited by DrifterWA (09/06/11 11:29 PM)
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#702625 - 09/07/11 03:11 AM Re: White Salmon R. questions [Re: DrifterWA]
mikey b Offline
Returning Adult

Registered: 12/24/07
Posts: 420
does this mean there going to take all those old boats people lying on the banks?

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#702974 - 09/08/11 03:08 PM Re: White Salmon R. questions [Re: mikey b]
SideDrifterGear Offline
Juvenile at Sea

Registered: 01/03/11
Posts: 133
Loc: Sisters, Oregon
Is this breaching going to be a "KA-Boom!" thing?
I wanna watch.

Dollars to doughnuts there will be some idiot on a surfboard trying to ride the wave.

TeeDub
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SideDrifter.com
http://sales.sidedrifter.com
SideDrifterGear@gmail.com

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#703027 - 09/08/11 07:31 PM Re: White Salmon R. questions [Re: SideDrifterGear]
Salmo g. Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 03/08/99
Posts: 13521
Yeah, I think they're gonna' explode it. Should be good if you can find a site with a good view.

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#703059 - 09/08/11 09:00 PM Re: White Salmon R. questions [Re: Salmo g.]
Brewer Offline
2112

Registered: 01/11/07
Posts: 4996
Loc: in the mass production zone
I work with a guy who lives on the lake. he told me tuesday that the draw down has been going on. he now has a dock over a mud flat. the lake is so low now that the river is cutting a channel through the silt bed. he said much of the lake in his area was rather shallow. the river will eventually cut it's way back to the original steep rock canyon walls.
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#703063 - 09/08/11 09:08 PM Re: White Salmon R. questions [Re: Brewer]
SBD Offline
clown flocker

Registered: 10/19/09
Posts: 3743
Loc: Water
I'm guessing crabbing is going to suck in the lower river this fall.
_________________________


There's a sucker born every minute



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#703065 - 09/08/11 09:16 PM Re: White Salmon R. questions [Re: SBD]
Salmo g. Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 03/08/99
Posts: 13521
Effects of removing Condit aren't likely to be detectable downstream where the crabs live. Most sediment will settle out in the Bonneville pool. Some suspended fines will make their way downriver, diluted by the enormity of the rest of the Columbia River.

Sg

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#703071 - 09/08/11 09:33 PM Re: White Salmon R. questions [Re: Salmo g.]
SBD Offline
clown flocker

Registered: 10/19/09
Posts: 3743
Loc: Water
Right I was thinking this river is right below Bonneville instead of above, but rain flooding and heavy dredging all have a noticible effect on the late fall crab. Don't think it kills them just pushes them out and around the corners onto Peacock Spit or Clatsop Beach.
_________________________


There's a sucker born every minute



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#703116 - 09/09/11 01:24 AM Re: White Salmon R. questions [Re: SBD]
Slab Offline
Juvenile at Sea

Registered: 01/03/06
Posts: 242
Loc: Wa
The Big White would be prime Summer Steelhead Habitat.
Lying between the Wind and Klickitat Rivers, which both have native Summers, it seems a logical step would be to get some native stocks spawning in there rather sooner than later.

I know this will probobly never happen but both rivers have fish ladders on falls where they count Summers, they also know about what percentage jump the falls. The Wind has had intense study, some rehabiltation and more importantly ceased hatchery production in 1997. They could capture adults, transfer then to the Big White. I would think they could find a side channel somewhere with enough cover for the adults to spend a couple months ensuring they dont just swim back out.

I do realize the natives taken out of either river is not good but if you look at the Wind it sees an average year of about 600 spawners, in 88 and 03 they saw over a thousand. Pick a year when adult numbers are up or at least average move some Nativers over give it a little kick start with logic instead of hatchey fish.

The Gorge is an awsome place and I have fond memories fishin in sneakers and swimming after fish or to fish in the most wicked gorge I have ever been in. This site has some great pics of the area. http://www.daysontheriver.com/rivertrips/wind2.htm

Why not do the same on the Elwa, the Sol Duc has a healty wild steelhead poulation. Hatchery fish are not the answer.

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#703366 - 09/10/11 10:53 AM Re: White Salmon R. questions [Re: Slab]
topwater Offline
Returning Adult

Registered: 06/28/00
Posts: 452
Loc: Rocky Mountain High
Originally Posted By: Slab
I do realize the natives taken out of either river is not good but if you look at the Wind it sees an average year of about 600 spawners, in 88 and 03 they saw over a thousand. Pick a year when adult numbers are up or at least average move some Nativers over give it a little kick start with logic instead of hatchey fish...

Why not do the same on the Elwa, the Sol Duc has a healty wild steelhead poulation. Hatchery fish are not the answer.


there is genetic material in the resident rainbow population above the dam. recent studies have shown up to 40% of the genetics in steelhead populations comes from resident rainbows, so the genetics for steelhead are still there. the same is true in the elwha river.

as for using stock from out of basin, it is nice that at least on the white salmon they will let nature run its course. it will be nice to see what wild fish can or cannot do in the absence of hatchery fish and also to see how a run of fish repopulates from resident fish / strays without the influence of humans.

we get a great opportunity to see this in the white salmon and the elwha's summer runs. it is nice to see that the science will be driving at least one dam removal project and that we will likely learn more about recolonization from the white salmon than the elwha.

we humans sure can be an impatient species.

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