Publication Summary

This Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) examines the environmental consequences of alternatives to construct fish passage facilities at Cle Elum Dam, Washington, and to reintroduce fish to the area above the dam. The purpose of the project is to restore connectivity, biodiversity, and natural production of anadromous salmonids. A No Action Alternative, two action alternatives for fish passage, and one alternative for fish reintroduction were evaluated.

The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) and the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) have prepared this Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on the Cle Elum Dam Fish Passage Facilities and Fish Reintroduction Project (FP/FR Project). This document is a joint National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) EIS and meets the requirements of both. Ecology is the SEPA lead agency for the proposal.

Reclamation is evaluating the construction of fish passage facilities at Cle Elum Dam for the FP/FR Project. In conjunction with the fish passage facilities, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), in collaboration with Yakama Nation, is evaluating a project to reintroduce fish populations above the dam. Cle Elum Dam did not include fish passage facilities when constructed in 1933; consequently, passage to upstream habitat for fish species was blocked. The proposed project includes downstream juvenile fish passage and upstream adult fish passage facilities. The reintroduction project could involve the use of both low-scale efforts, such as the transportation and release of adults for natural spawning, and intensive supplementation techniques, such as hatchery production, to restore fish above the dam.