The Upper Deschutes Basin anadromous fish reintroduction program targets three species: sockeye salmon, summer steelhead, and spring chinook salmon. We are now in the early stages of the 2024 spring chinook run and while they remain well below target, the early counts of adult spring chinook are good compared to past runs. I have been tracking this but not writing about it as the season will extend for many more months and we don’t know how it will end. Unfortunately from my perspective, Central Oregon Daily News recently ran a segment on the early returns which prompted Native Fish Society to post a heated rebuttable. I think CO Daily News and NFS did not do a good job discussing the issue. So, while I was hoping to write about this months from now, here’s what I think is a more a balanced discussion.

Recently, NFS has taken the position that anadromous fish reintroduction is failing, will never work, and the solution is to remove the dams. I am sympathetic with this. The best solution to restoring the Deschutes River is to remove all the dams, including the three that comprise the Pelton Round Butte hydroelectric facility. As much as I would like to see that, it is not going to happen in my lifetime, which I hope lasts for decades more. Not only does the project have a long term license from the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission, the Confederate Tribes of Warm Springs would not support dam removal. They will soon be owners of the project which will provide them with an important revenue source.

NFS is also correct that reintroduction has not come close to meeting targets for adult anadromous fish returns for any of the three species. It is not unreasonable to say that reintroduction has failed so far.

NFS goes a step too far, however, stating that reintroduction will never work. Reintroduction is a work in progress and progress is being made. Smolt only releases versus smolt and fry releases in the Upper Basin, smolt acclimation ponds, night time smolt and water releases, a directing curtain at the Selective Water Withdrawal tower, etc., are all part of the continuing adaptive management efforts which are showing results.

Perhaps the most important change is the release of excess hatchery chinook broodstock into Lake Billy Chinook. This is the reason for the good returns so far this year but was never mentioned in the Central Oregon Daily News story. Paradoxically, it is also strongly criticized by NFS.

Chinook are raised until smolt stage in the Round Butte Fish Hatchery. They are then planted in the Upper Basin with the hope that they would imprint on the water of the tributary in which they were released, swim out to the Fish Capture Facility on top of the Selective Water Withdrawal tower, and then be trucked to the Lower Deschutes where they would be released. Any adults that return two years later will be captured in the Pelton Fish Trap, trucked to Lake Billy Chinook, and released.

For the past two years, excess Round Butte Hatchery brood stock have also been released into Lake Billy Chinook. These are fish that were raised in the hatchery, released directly into the Lower Deschutes, and returned as adults. In good return years, more adults return to the hatchery than is needed for fry production and the excess fish are mostly killed and discarded. Now, those fish are being released into LBC where they can find the tributary of their choice and naturally spawn. They successfully did that two years ago and we are now seeing good returns from those naturally spawned and reared fish.

NFS criticizes this practice for the potential of introducing disease from the lower river into the Upper Basin.* To be polite, this is a canard. Any returning adult fish, regardless of whether it was released in the Upper Basin as a smolt, or directly into the Lower Deschutes, will have the potential of having disease that can be transported up river. The same would be true if the dams are removed. The potential for disease movement via fish throughout a river system is always present, even in natural environments.

Hatchery raised smolts released into the Upper Basin are the exact same fish as those released directly from the hatchery. The exact same genetic material. The exact same potential for disease transmission.

Releasing excess broodstock into LBC should increase the potential for successful anadromous fish reintroduction. The spring chinook returns this year from naturally spawning fish seem to be a strong indicator of this. Perhaps that is why NFS objects to the practice.

*NFS also claims that moving hatchery reared adults into the Upper Basin will increase the chance of their breeding with native redbands. Chinook do not spawn with trout. Steelhead and trout may spawn with each other, but, again, whether the steelhead are released directly into the lower river or released into the Upper Basin makes no difference. Interbreeding is certainly an argument for stopping all releases of steelhead into the Upper Basin, but that discussion is not on the table.