Cowlitz River Fish Passage Nixed

Ever since humans began blocking the free-flowing waters of the Cowlitz River in the name of electricity, the innate ability of salmon to migrate from their headwaters to the ocean and back again to spawn has shifted from a natural phenomenon to marvel over, to a man-made problem in need of a solution.

That shift began in the middle of the last century when wild salmon stocks were abundant and hulking “June Hogs” truly earned their name. For decades, hopes persisted that as time went on technologies would be developed that would allow salmon to navigate upriver according to their own free will. It’s a natural behavior that prior to the three dams on the Cowlitz River was simply considered an integral component of being a salmon. 

However, today, the ability to head up or down river in search of saltwater or fertile redds as they see fit is now 

known by another name — volitional fish passage.

For years Tacoma Power, which owns and operates the first two dams encountered by returning salmon on the Cowlitz, maintained publicly that they were committed to developing and implementing technologies that would allow salmon to freely bypass their monolithic river obstructions. However, on Jan. 4 of this year at a Fisheries Technical Committee meeting, Tacoma Power announced that they have given up efforts to find a fix for at least one part of the problem.

A summary from that FTC meeting noted that Florian Leischner of Tacoma Power “was happy to report that NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) has approved the Plan to Abandon Volitional Upstream Fish Passage.”

That change means that any salmon or steelhead in the upper river watershed will have to continue to be pulled out of the river, then trucked around, and above, the dams. According to the Coastal Conservation Association, the abandonment of efforts to provide volitional upstream passage options also means that Tacoma Power is now required to stock an extra 121,500 pounds of hatchery salmon and, or, steelhead smolts in the river each year in order to compensate for losses to the natural run.

The CCA says that according to their interpretation of the dam mitigation agreement that allows Tacoma Power to plug up the river, once volitional fish passage was abandoned smolt production must increase from 650,000 pounds per year to 771,500 pounds.

In March the CCA wrote a letter to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, which operates the Cowlitz salmon and trout hatcheries on behalf of Tacoma Power, in order to alert the agency to the shifting scenario on the river. That letter included a call for increased smolt production, as well as a recommendation to begin tagging out-migrating Chinook at the Mayfield Dam trap, and a change in practice that would allow for an earlier timed return of the winter steelhead run.

According to Jack Tipping of the CCA, the suggestions in that letter have been met with varying degrees of resistance during subsequent dialogues with WDFW and Tacoma Power. 

“I would say that they are considering it, with the exception that Tacoma Power doesn’t feel obligated to provide the extra poundage,” said Tipping, who worked for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife as a biologist for 23 years in Cowlitz Basin and retired in 2005. 

Perhaps Tipping’s most notable achievement during his tenure was the introduction of the ungainly tiger musky fish to local man-made waterways like Mayfield and Merwin lakes in order to boost big fish angling opportunities.

During aface-to-face meeting with Tacoma Power in mid-March, the power company insisted they have a different interpretation of the agreement, and believes it does not require any additional smolt releases, Tipping said. He said he is committed to making sure Tacoma Power remains on the line for their commitments and noted that the CCA is in the process of hiring legal counsel in order to help prove their point.

“There’s no other players in the Cowlitz Basin,” said Tipping in reference to Tacoma Power’s responsibility for the river system’s fisheries.

Multiple emails and phone calls from The Chronicle to Tacoma Power seeking comment have gone unanswered over the past several weeks.

“When they made the settlement agreement that’s what the big thinkers had in mind at that time,” said Tipping in reference to instruments like fish ladders that could help fish make their way up and around Mayfield, and then even Mossyrock dam.

Tipping noted that at the time the mitigation agreements were signed there was considerable hope that advanced technologies could be developed in time, but added, “If that technology is not improved by ’this date’ then this plan kicks in.”

In their letter to Joe Stohr, acting director of WDFW, the CCA wrote, in part:

“We are writing this letter to seek the (WDFW’s) engagement on three specific proposals to restore fishing opportunity on the Cowlitz River. As you may know, members of our Lewis County chapter have attended numerous Ad Hoc Committee meetings and have met with WDFW and Tacoma Power staff numerous times in recent years to discuss these and other Cowlitz River fisheries issues. Unfortunately, many anglers are increasingly frustrated by the general lack of progress maintaining and enhancing fisheries.”

Tipping explained that the CCA was methodical in drafting their requests, and even went so far as to partner with NMFS biologists in order to curate a science-based plan.

”With the Endangered Species Act we wanted to make sure that the poundage increase would not create a problem with recovery efforts of wild fish,” explained Tipping. “So we talked about spring Chinook as a candidate species because the habitat for spring Chinook is up above Riffe Lake and the number of fish in that area can be controlled above the salmon hatchery.”

In addition to releasing more fish, the CCA’s second proposal is to begin tagging out-migrating Chinook at Mayfield, Tipping says that the effort would provide essential data for understanding mortality rates for juvenile salmon and the breeding success of wild fish trucked up above Mayfield Dam.

“We want the fish tagged so that we can determine how many of those fish returning to the salmon hatchery are truly originating in the Tilton River,” explained Tipping.

In their letter to the WDFW, the CCA wrote, “It is our belief that only a small portion of wild adult fall Chinook returning to the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery are of Tilton river origin.”

The CCA says that by gathering more extensive data, the WDFW would be able to make more accurate calculations about how many native Tilton River stock are actually making it back from the ocean. The group claims that sort of information would allow the WDFW to more efficiently allocate resources by turning more returning fish into valuable broodstock or additional sportfishing opportunities. 

“Everybody can catch Cowlitz fall wild chinook except people on the Cowlitz River,” lamented Tipping, who explained that the fish are legal to keep in the ocean and the Lower Columbia River but become off limits once they enter the Cowlitz River system.

Tipping added that since the WDFW began the practice of clipping the adipose fin of hatchery Chinook about five years ago, the tally of native origin fish in the river has been on the rise. “Prior to that Fish and Wildlife believed that most of those fish were hatchery fish when in fact there are an abundance of wild fall Chinook in there,” insisted Tipping.

The third proposal presented to WDFW and Tacoma Power by the CCA asks for an earlier timed release of winter steelhead stocks.

In decades past, the winter

steelhead run comprised the bulk of the salmonid returns to the river. Typically the early runs were composed of hatchery fish while the later run had a much larger wild component. According to Tipping, that timing was critical as it allowed juvenile smolts additional time to grow in advance of their arduous journey out to the ocean and back again, while simultaneously providing a buffer against the comingling of wild and hatchery stocks. However, in recent years those winter steelhead production efforts have decreased at the hatchery, including the popular Chambers Creek stock.

“We are requesting, now that all the Chambers Creek bloodline is gone, that the late winter steelhead on the Cowlitz be selected (at the hatchery) for early returning fish so that we can return that fishery component to the river,” explained Tipping. He says the winter steelhead fishery, which currently heats up from late February through early May, would be better for both fish and anglers if it was a longer run.

“We would like to see it spread out from Thanksgiving through May,” said Tipping. “Anglers really liked that fishery because there wasn’t a lot more (fishing opportunity) going on at that time.” 

According to Dale Scott, president of the Washington Coastal Conservation Association, as well as the local chapter in Centralia, the CCA has a laundry list of requests for the WDFW in their queue but they have so far chosen only to show their most thoroughly vetted ideas.

“We didn’t want to take something to Tacoma Power that would have big red flags so we took it to NOAA first,” explained Scott.

Long-term issues on the CCA radar include the 10-year Chinook salmon management plan for Puget Sound, the Willapa Harbor salmon policy, the Columbia River salmon policy, pinniped predation on salmonids in the Columbia and Willamette rivers, and increased public representation and transparency at the state fishing regulation setting forum known as North of Falcon.

“We took the three points where there was absolutely no conflict and we are working on the rest,” added Scott.

Scott says the CCA plans to remain in a continued dialogue with Tacoma Power and other fishery groups until a more equitable solution to the problems caused by Tacoma Power’s dams can be found.

“We’d like to put some pressure on Tacoma Power to hopefully go forward with some of the recommendations that we’ve made,” said Scott, who estimates the economic value of each salmon caught on the Cowlitz River to be between $500 and $1,000 per fish. “They are obligations  and the surrounding communities and counties are suffering economically because they are not living up to the settlement agreement.

As for other mitigation agreement issues that the CCA would like to see addressed in the near future, summer steelhead and satellite fishing ponds rank near the top of the list. Tipping noted that Tacoma Power also agreed to create a system of fishable ponds around East Lewis County at the turn of the century in order to help offset the loss of natural fishing opportunity caused by their dams.

“Where are the satellite ponds at? It’s now 18 years later and there’s no satellite ponds and that impacts our area recreational fishing,” said Tipping, who envisions the ponds as a safe place for anglers of all stripes, including those who are handicapped, to cast a line since trout stocking efforts have been discontinued at Yellow Jacket Creek, Skate Creek and the Tilton River. He noted that NMFS agreed that satelite ponds would make ideal locations for the controlled release of hatchery fish.

The CCA also believes that the summer steelhead recycling program on the Cowlitz River is not going far enough to support recreational fishing. Scott noted that the number of fish allowed for recycling is based off of an estimated “stray rate’ for hatchery steelhead who head up the wrong stream. He says that the current model uses a two percent stray rate rather than the commonly accepted figure of one percent. Scott said that the seemingly small difference caused the number of summer steelhead set for recycling to be reduced from 6,500 fish to just 3,300 fish.

“They’re just not comfortable with the data they’ve got,” said Scott in an effort to explain the WDFW’s decision to use the higher stray rate.

However, Tipping pointed out that, “This year we’re not going have to worry about that because this is the first year of the returners from the lost smolt stock.”

His comment was in reference to the half million smolts that came up missing at the Cowlitz Trout Hatchery in 2016.

Tipping added, “I was (working for Washington Fish and WIldlife) in the glory days of the Cowlitz and I’d like to see it returned to the glory days again.”