Anyone know the story of the Skookumchuck R. dam?
Why did it go in?
When did it go in?

Irrigation water? Are there turbines for electricity production?

As extracted from Wikipedia:

"The Skookumchuck River is a 45-mile (72 km) long river located in southwest Washington, USA. It is a tributary of the Chehalis River and thence to the Pacific Ocean. The Skookumchuck Dam was built in 1970, creating the Skookumchuck Reservoir. The dam provides water supply for the 1400-megawatt Centralia Steam Electric Plant and supplements flows for fish resources. The river begins with several tributaries in the Snoqualmie National Forest in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, and flows west past the town of Bucoda, Washington to its confluence with the Chehalis River near Centralia, Washington."

Why? As Larry said, for the steam plant. Steam plant? Yes. From 1970 until almost 2000 they mined coal from the old Tono mine and Hanaford valley coal deposits. Burned the coal to make steam to power the turbines to make electricity. It's not for irrigation. Some time before 2000 they stopped using the local coal, which was originally estimated to tap out after 30 years anyway, and began importing cleaner burning coal from Utah. Now they import it from either Montana or Wyoming as well. Since the facility is past its planned service life, it's time to shut down the major air polluter in western WA. But family wage jobs are at stake, so it continues, even though it would probably be cheaper to burn the coal in Utah or wherever it is mined and ship the electricity through the grid.

Sg

There is a mitagation agreement of 300,000 Coho to be released in the Chehalis above the Shookumchuck. If I recall correctly 100,000 go into Eight Creek off Elk Creek off the upper Chehalis & the balance to the Onalaska school for release into Carliyle Lake that dumps into the Newaukum.

The Centralia steam plant is scheduled to be converted over to natural gas within a few years because of the EPA restrictions.

Interesting stuff. Thanks for the facts and background.
I'm not a proponent of dams, but quite the contrary.

Ask Rivrguy about the "mitigation". If memory serves, the majority of salmon grown at the mitigation were (and maybe still are) brought back to Puget Sound instead of meeting the in-basin requirements.

Close but no cigar. The mitigation requires that the smolt be released above the Confederation of Chehalis Tribe reservation at Oakville. Short version is WDF&W did not comply & released the Skookumchuck Coho Mitigation at what is now Bingham Hatchery on the East Fork Satsop. In the 90's the guys in the upper basin figured it out all hell broke loose with Friends of the Chehalis leading the charge and were preparing to seek legal relief ( sue em ) when WDF&W Deputy Director Peck worked out the compromise on the three release sights outlined above.



CM is correct as there is a lot more to this issue that is not commonly known . The production CM references is not part of the mitigation but normal hatchery production and yes it goes to Puget Sound.

Can you expand on where and what #'s go to Puget Sound?

The number of Coho yearlings transferred is 1,520,000 and they go to the South Sound Net Pens. Here is the 2013 brood doc link.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01447/coastal_2013_final.pdf

It looks like the data for the Skookumchuck Hatchery is to be found on pages 158 through 167 and includes brood years 2012, 2013 and 2014.

From what I can see there is a total of 100K coho of Skookumchuck stock (2012 brood year) to be released in the Skookumchuck R. in 2014. Lots of data so if I missed something.....

The information for 2012 brood year coho going to South Sound is found on page 161. Those fish are shown as being Skykomish R. stock with 810K going to South Sound net pens and 710K going to Squaxin Island pens.

Looking at all of that info certainly has given me a greater appreciaton for the work Rivrguy et al have accomplished!

Thanks Riverguy, I had no idea this was going on, should really help fisheries in the straits and Puget sound. Assume this has been going on for some time now.

I think the intent of those south sound net pen releases is to keep those fish there in the south sound...? I seem to recall that being the case.

Mid- and northern-Puget Sound don't need much in the way of hatchery coho to provide awesome fishing for the ocean, Straits, San Juans, or Puget Sound...the natural production is thru the roof on most of the streams up here and the 1.5 million smolts released in the South Sound wouldn't add much to the fisheries up this way.

Fish on...

Todd

Seems they would be available to catch if they swim by you thus adding to all fisheries and ending up in south sound.

That's the point I was making...I think they are raised in pens and kept long enough hoping that they won't migrate out of South Sound...not sure if that's still their intent, or how well it works, but I seem to remember that they were hoping for that to happen.

Fish on...

Todd

The last time I looked they don't residualize much and the survival is pretty bad. Survival started going downhill in the late 90's like other yearling migrants from south Sound (Chinook yearlings and steelhead). One year I recall the biomass of the return to south Sound was about a tenth of the biomass that was released from the pens. Not the way hatchery programs are supposed to work.

The point Rivrguy raises is that not that coho are raised in SS pens to provide coho for both sports ands Squaxins but that they are raised in a non-Puget Sound watershed, at the expense of enhancing local stocks.

Those fish should be raised (freshwater portion) in South Sound so that they can comply Co-Managers fish rearing policies.

By "at the expense of enhancing local stocks" do you mean:

1. Because hatchery capacity is at max (at Skookumchuck Hatchery or other Chehalis Basin hatchery) and these fish displace opportunity for rearing local stock?

OR

2. As a result of funding constraints Sky fish are being raised for P.S. release in lieu of raising fish for the Skookumchuck?

OR

3. Some other meaning?

As Rivrguy suggested, the mitigaton requirements were (and maybe still are) not being met.

The hatchery obviously has a capacity to provide fish for the basin it is in. I think the locals would like to have their local facilities provide them with fish.

The state has policies it needs to follow.

Carcassman, I'm pretty sure that the transfer from Skookumchuck directly to the salt water pens is consistent with the co-managers disease policy. Transfer from Skookumchuck to a freshwater facility in south Sound would require an exemption from the policy. Even if that were not the case, exemptions to the policy have been routinely approved since the day the policy was signed.

Transfers from fresh to salt are not a problem fresh to fresh ... are if they are surface water. WDF&W used two stocks in the net pens / Skook for years but had to change when the new policy came along. Seems like the stocks they were bringing in were reared on surface water.