Pierce County dam blocks salmon passage. Watch a crew of volunteers help fish move along
A dull roar of water rushed over the Chambers Creek Dam at low tide Tuesday morning as small groups of fishermen in galoshes waded into the green-brown estuary, hoping to hook salmon. Further upstream a work crew examined the bones of an aging fish ladder adjacent to the dam, tearing out blackberry bushes and rotting wooden beams in need of replacement.
Once a year, volunteers, with the help of the Puyallup Tribe, repair a series of wood chambers alongside the Chambers Creek Dam to help guide salmon up and over it to spawn before their eventual return to the ocean.
The dam, located between Steilacoom and University Place along Chambers Creek Road West, has blocked fish passage since it was constructed over a century ago in 1915. Although there are plans underway to remove the dam and restore the estuary, that might not happen for another six to eight years. More than $60 million needs to be secured to first replace the existing bridge on Chambers Creek Road because the existing bridge can’t withstand the hydraulic conditions once the dam is removed.
Tuesday’s repair work cost volunteers about $100 in timber, said Al Schmauder, the self-described “king pin” of the fish-ladder project. Schmauder recently stepped down as longtime president and founder of the Clover Creek Council and serves as a member and water steward of the Chambers-Clover Creek Watershed Council.
“If we don’t do it, it doesn’t happen,” he said. “[The fish] need help, and people need to help them. We have the time and we have the knowledge, so let’s do it.”
The timber is cut so it fits together and then welded to channels on the side to stay. When the team initially restored the fish ladder in 2012, it took about $1,500 of materials, not including labor, Schmauder said.
“We want this dam gone, and until it’s completely removed, we have to facilitate fish passage. There’s 90 square miles upstream in the Chambers Creek watershed that is dependent upon fish passage at this very point,” said Russ Ladley, the fisheries director for the Puyallup Tribe. “There’s been a lot of money going into habitat restoration, fish passage, stream enhancement, but when there’s a project like this involving a dam blocking all that, it’s all for naught until the fish are able to get there.”
This story was originally published September 18, 2024 at 5:30 AM.
