Some fish can get past Chiloquin dam



Dave Northrup
Chiloquin


    I would like to comment on the front page picture and article by Steve Kadel in the March 2 edition of the Herald and News. 

    I worked on the crew that replaced the fish ladder on the north side of the dam. This work was done in the mid-1960s as I recall and was funded by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. 

    It is my understanding that Fish and Wildlife owns the fish ladder to this day even though the Modoc Point irrigation system owns the dam. It is also my understanding that ownership of the dam was transferred to the district from the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1970. 

    The picture on the front page of the paper shows the dam and the two remaining original fish ladders. These ladders have been mainly nonfunctional for many years. The reporter for the paper did not show the newer and functioning fish ladder in the picture, much less even mention that there is a serviceable fish ladder in place. Upon completion of the new ladder in the 1960s, we turned the water into it and within minutes suckers entered the ladder and continued upstream. 

    I visited the dam March 1 and watched a crew from the U.S. Geological Service work in the ladder. Crews have been doing this periodically for several years for the purpose of counting, tagging and surveying use of the ladder. They told me the sucker is not running yet, but expect them in a week or two in the ladder. They did see three large trout in the ladder. 

    They also told me they have tracked suckers that they have tagged in the ladder as far upstream as the Sycan Marsh. I urge anyone interested, including H&N staff writer Steve Kadel, to visit the dam in the coming weeks and view suckers moving through the fish ladder. I believe the USGS crew is there Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 

    My point of all of this is that there is a functioning fish ladder in the dam and fish can and do travel upstream and downstream of the dam. The old original fish ladders look bad, but the dam itself is structurally sound. 


    There may be valid reasons for removing the dam, but using the argument that fish can’t get through or over it is not a valid point. 

 

 



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