The Wells Hydroelectric Project, located on the Columbia River, has fish ladders at each end of the dam. Fish ladders allow adult fish to easily pass the dam in their upstream migration. From May 1st to November 15th Salmon and Steelhead are counted 24 hours a day on their journey through the Wells Dam fish ladders. These adult fish are headed to spawning areas and hatcheries in the Columbia, Methow, and Okanogan rivers. Once these fish have reached Wells Dam, they have migrated 515 miles from the mouth of the Columbia. Some of these fish will swim an additional 100 miles before they are ready to spawn. The Wells Project is the last dam on the Columbia River to provide fish passage.
We are about a week behind in our fish counts. The fish ladder windows are recorded and the tapes are read the following day. However, due to the enormous Sockeye run, the fish counting is going slower than normal. The fish are being counted seven days a week with fish counters working overtime, coming in early and relief counters coming in for after-hours shifts. Normal daily Sockeye counts are around 2,000 this time of year. From July 5th to July 11th, they have been averaging over 19,700 Sockeye per day!
We are sorry for this inconvenience and will continue to work hard to catch up.
