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August 29, 2007

TNT: Backup of salmon highlights river management dispute

From the Tacoma News Tribune:

The presence of huge numbers of pinks has renewed a protracted dispute among the agencies and interests who control the river’s flow and the fish that inhabit it.

“They’ve got a fixed amount of energy and they’re just wasting it beating themselves against the dam,” said fish biologist Russ Ladley, the Puyallup Tribe’s resource protection manager.

He and other tribal biologists predict a massive salmon die-off if something isn’t done to allow the pinks to migrate upriver.

...

The Corps trucks 250 fish at a time to a spot about five miles above its flood-control structure, the Mud Mountain Dam outside of Enumclaw. From there, fish head towards spawning grounds in Huckleberry Creek, the Greenwater and Clearwater rivers and the White’s upper reaches, Smith said.

Ladley and Smith said the Corps has failed the fish.

“They knew months ago they would have a low flow and the trap is not working very effectively,” Smith said.

Posted by eoconnell at August 29, 2007 2:56 PM