A new fish passage channel around a dam on the Okanogan/Okanagan system will raise hopes of even larger sockeye returns up the Columbia River to Northcentral Washington and southern British Columbia.
A ceremony on Monday saw water begin to flow through the fishway around Okanagan Dam in Penticton, about 45 miles north of Oroville, providing new access into 84-mile-long Okanogan Lake and 13 major tributaries.
Chinook, steelhead, kokanee and other species are also expected use the bypass to swim into waters they and sockeye haven’t really been able to for a reported 100 years. A fish ladder built in 2019 didn’t work out as hoped.
“This reconnection allows for staggered migration times, opening the door for salmon to return to their historic spawning grounds. This marks a major milestone in restoring salmon habitat and supporting the health of our ecosystems for generations to come,” states a press release from the Okanagan Nation Alliance, which represents eight different tribal communities, including the Colville Confederated Tribes.
ONA says they expect the natural-like fishway to eventually allow more than 2 million salmon and other fish to access Okanagan Lake. A Canadian news report stated that the channel was built with a way to keep “exotic” fish from being able to also use it.
Monday’s opening was attended by a couple hundred people. It may be several weeks before sockeye show up here due to warm waters in the transborder river that has the salmon mostly still hunkering in the cooler depths of the Upper Columbia’s Brewster Pool, though not many are expected to test the fishway in this first year.
But what this really does is help build on very successful sockeye reintroductions downstream in Skaha Lake as well as lots of habitat work that, combined, have fueled surging tribal and nontribal fisheries all the way to Portland, Vancouver and beyond.
Last year saw a record return of over three-quarters of a million sockeye to the big river’s mouth.
ONA said that fish passage partners include the Penticton Indian Band, City of Penticton, the province of BC and federal Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
Funding came from a habitat conservation plan and a subcommittee of the Priest Rapids Coordinating Committee, which itself is comprised of members representing the federal US government, WDFW, various Columbia Basin tribes and Grant County, Washington, PUD.
