Spring Creek Dam Fish Passage and Habitat Design

The property was acquired by a new landowner in fall 2021. The previous landowner had been actively engaged in a fish passage and habitat restoration project and participated in a conceptual design process funded by the Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board. The PCSRF grant application was submitted with the expectation that project design would be advanced and/or implementation would occur in coordination with a willing landowner. Following COVID-19–related work and family transitions, the previous landowner sold the property and relocated out of state.



Since the change in ownership, Yakama Nation Fisheries staff have made multiple attempts over the past four years to establish a working relationship with the current landowner. Although initial discussions indicated potential willingness to consider alternative dam and stream configurations to provide fish passage, the landowner has ultimately declined to participate in the project. As a result, the project is currently on hold and will remain inactive until landowner participation is re-established or ownership of the property changes.

This project will address PCSRF priority one - factors limiting the productivity of Pacific anadromous salmonid populations. Providing fish passage and allowing fish to access this blocked habitat will provide approximately 1.25 miles of spawning and rearing habitat for anadromous species and approximately 3.0 miles for resident fish species. Reconnection will increase habitat diversity and complexity within the Lower White Salmon River Basin. Spring Creek presents a uniquely valuable habitat type that is not present elsewhere in the basin (a spring-fed system). Even under a drought declaration in 2015, this tributary was measured to be fully wetted with no locations of intermittency (per DNR stream type form). Habitat made accessible post-project will be the measurable outcome and benefit.