McNary Dam Fish Ladder
N 45° 55.703 W 119° 17.829
11T E 321898 N 5088655
McNary Dam. There are two fish ladders for salmon and steelhead passage, one on each shore of the dam. There are migratory fish viewing windows at McNary Dam fish ladder and Smolt Bypass Center.
Waymark Code: WM11DYC
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 10/05/2019
Views: 7
Juvenile fish can make it down past the dam through a couple of different routes, either diving into the spillway, chancing through the generator turbines or screened into a bypass channel that loops all the way around over the Oregon shore and back into the river on the opposite side.
The channel, which is essentially a long winding pipe, was re-routed in 2011 to dump fish a half-mile into the middle of the river, providing better protection from predators. Construction cost between $11 million and $13 million, and includes several transponder, or PIT, tag readers to monitor fish throughout their life cycle.
The majority of fish, however, will pass through the dam's spillway. Spill operations began April 10 at McNary Dam, as more juveniles begin making their long journey toward the Pacific.
Crews at McNary put in weirs at two of the spillway gates in 2007 to allow for passage closer to the surface of the water, where certain species of fish are more likely to approach. Those cost roughly $3.5-$5 million each, said Ann Setter, fish biologist with the Army Corps of Engineers' Walla Walla District.
River/Waterway: Columbia River
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Visit Instructions:
Please share a self-made picture of the Fish Ladder and tell us something about it. Did you see any fishes? You do not have to be in the picture, neither does your GPSr.