“Hey You, Get Your Hands Off Me!” an Overview of Portland General Electric's New "Hands-Free" Adult Fish Sorting Facility Located at North Fork Dam on the Clackamas River Near Estacada, or

In May of 2013 the existing Buckley style adult fish trap, circa 1957, located on the North Fork dam adult fish ladder on the Clackamas River was decommissioned and the new North Fork Adult Fish Sorting Facility was put into service.  The “hands free” adult fish sorting facility was designed to visually sort hatchery from ESA listed wild fish and facilitate volitional passage of wild fish upstream, thereby eliminating the need to physically sort all upstream migrating adult fish. The facility utilizes a false weir to elicit passage into a flume system and two observation tanks to visually determine fish species/origin.  Once origin is determined, the operator depresses the corresponding species/origin button evacuating the fish/water into a flume system routing fish to either one of three holding tanks for loading onto a liberation truck or the North Fork adult fish ladder to continue their migration upstream.

The facility plays a pivotal role in meeting the FERC license goal of safe, timely, and effective upstream passage and maintaining the wild fish sanctuary in the Clackamas River upstream of North Fork Dam.