A Hands on Approach to Anadromous Reintroduction in Oregon's Deschutes River

For over 40 years, anadromous fish have been disconnected from their historic range in the Deschutes River Basin.  With the relicensing of the Pelton Round Butte Hydroelectric Project (PRB), a comprehensive fish passage program is now being implemented. The program is centered upon the construction of the Selective Water Withdrawal (SWW) and associated Fish Passage Facility. The main functions of SWW are to modify water currents in the lake to direct the downstream migrating smolts, and to maintain water quality standards downstream of the project.

 In addition, a Reintroduction Plan was developed by the Oregon Deparment of Fish and Wildlife and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs to help guide fish managers through the complex reintroduction effort. It was determined that a successful effort to restore anadromous fish in areas above PRB will depend upon four key components: (1) effective fish passage at PRB, (2) fish management, (3) habitat conservation, and (4) a well conceived adaptive management program.  

 The Reintroduction Plan discusses species and stocks to be reintroduced to areas above PRB, and provides general guidance on methods, release locations, numbers, timing, and adjustments in hatchery supplementation as populations become re-established.  The goal of reintroduction is to restore self-sustaining and harvestable populations of native summer steelhead, Chinook salmon, and sockeye salmon in the Deschutes River and its tributaries upstream from PRB, and to reconnect native resident fish populations that are currently fragmented by PRB. 

 Uncertainties regarding reintroduction continue to exist and will only become resolved as the program outlined in the Reintroduction Plan moves forward.  In particular, the concerns regarding the ability to effectively collect and pass juvenile fish downstream through the hydro project and potential risks of introducing new diseases to resident fish populations.  Due to these concerns, managers are selectively outplanting summer steelhead and spring Chinook salmon fry into the basin above PRB, until the ability to reestablish self-sustaining populations of anadromous species above PRB is proven.

 To initiate the reintroduction effort, ODFW and stakeholders have been outplanting over a million spring Chinook salmon and summer steelhead fry into the tributaries above the PRB. Since the completion of the SWW in December of 2009, tens of thousands of migrating spring Chinook, summer steelhead, and “sockeye” smolts have been collected and passed downstream providing them the first opportunity to complete an anadromous life cycle in decades.