For decades, a series of small dams have severely reduced and in some cases eliminated the number of adult salmonid fish migrating to quality spawning habitat in the upper reaches of Mill Creek, a tributary of the Walla Walla River. This project will remove/modify these structures and replace them with two pool and chute fishways.   The Walla Walla Conservation District and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation have taken the lead on this project and have worked over the last two years with the NOAA, the USFWS, Walla Walla County, the WDFW, and others in the development of a project design that will best meet the needs of native fish in this stream.  The project design was paid for with a combination of Pacific Coastal Salmon Funding and Salmon Recovery Funding dollars. Project construction and implementation will be paid for by the BPA, (250k), the Walla Walla Watershed Alliance (50k), and the Snake River Recovery Board (130k approximately).

Native summer steelhead which are listed as “Threatened” under the Federal Endangered Species Act, are of particular concern in Mill Creek.  The number of returning adults to this system is critically low and nearing extinction. Radio telemetry studies conducted in recent years by the CTUIR on summer steelhead have documented adults migrating to but never above the proposed project site (Brian Mahoney, personal communication). And, adult summer steelhead have been observed trying to negotiate this site for at least 20 years with no visible success (Jed Volkman, CTUIR).