Condit Dam-White Salmon River

[WhiteSalmon]

I live in White Salmon in the middle of the Condit Dam removal debate. I have had old timers in the area tell me, and have read letters to the editor and local news stories from the local paper, that there is a natural falls under the reservoir behind the dam that migratory fish could not negotiate. Therefore, there was never a natural run of steelhead or salmon in the White Salmon. Can anyone verify this, or does it fall in the catagory of a "sea story"? Be interesting to know for sure.

[BUGLEMAN]

Once the construction of the dam was complete, here was a run of salmon that bashed thier heads against the dam till it became extinct.

[rob allen]

If this "old timer" wasn't sitting on the banks of the river 24/7/365 he has no cluse what made or didn't make it over whatever falls might be there. I have found that the "old timer" types would groosly underestimate what a salmon/steelhead could or couldn't do.

I am not saying he is wrong because i don't know it's just I have listened to "old timers" stories before and found them often to be inaccurate. Umm especially in rural communities with an axe to grind like fighting to save "their" Dam.

[o-mykiss]

Well, you would hope that the authorities would check into that, which I am pretty sure they would. There are ways of mapping the bottom of lakes and resovoirs, such as sonar. I don't think they would be pushing to remove the dam if it wouldn't open up additional spawning and rearing habitat. Just my opinion.

[seasel]

There are steelhead and salmon that presently spawn in the White Salmon. When the dam is taken out, they will continue to do so. Once the dam is out, they will have more spawning area to access. How much more? We'll find out.

Will the removal of the dam enhance or hinder the anadromous fisheries at the mouth, the first riffle, and up into the canyon? Will everything silt in? Will everything be sandblasted out with the first big flood? Will it help or will it be a detriment to the resident rainbows, whitefish, cutthroat, bull trout, sculpin, stickleback, peamouth, crayfish, and other species that make a year-round home there? We'll find out.

Will there be more or fewer caddis flies and larvae, more or fewer mosquito larvae for smolts and resident juveniles to eat? We'll find out.

Anyone who says he knows exactly what the impact of removal will be is a fool.

The only thing we know is that it will be closer to its natural state, the state that fish and other species have adapted to over millenia.

Hopefully, this wil be good for the fish. We'll find out.

[Grass Hopper]

Well its easy to see you guys have never been to the dam! If you go to the dam and go hiking below it you will notice it is placed on the top of a falls at least 35ft tall. Probably more, but I didnt take the time to measure it. The Old Timer is right. TOO BIG! But I would like to take advantage of a new section of white-water that taking out the dam would open up!

[freespool]

They do have portable fish ladders that can be installed to help the fish over,thus opening up a vast area for spawning.

[o-mykiss]

You won't catch me running 35 ft falls in any white water device.

[Grass Hopper]

Sorry. No portable fish ladder the White salmon has been federally named a wild and scenic river which means no introduction of new species. Thus no more fish ladders or hatcheries in the new section. The upper white salmon has at least 8 falls between 8 and 28 feet. All have been fun in rafts!
SMILES