Fish Operations and Counts

Adult male Chinook passing through the Landsburg fish ladder on the way to spawning in the Cedar River

To address fish passage at Landsburg Dam, modifications were made to provide safe passage for fish moving downstream and upstream. For fish moving downstream a new spill gate was installed to allow fish to pass over the spill gate instead of under the gate. A fish screen was added to the drinking water diversion to safely collect fish moving downstream and pass them back to the river downstream of the dam.

For upstream fish passage a fish ladder was constructed. The fish ladder is unique in that it allows us to divert fish to a sorting area, when sockeye are moving up river. This allows us to sort out the sockeye and take them to the hatchery, or return them to the river below the dam. The sorting facility also allows us to make very accurate counts of all fish when we are sorting fish, and allows us to collect information about the fish (e.g. size, gender), to tag fish, read tags, and collect genetic samples. After the fish are sorted, all of the fish (other than sockeye) are released above Landsburg Dam. When we are not sorting fish (sorting mode), fish are allowed to freely travel through the fish ladder (passive mode) and into the Cedar River above Landsburg Dam. When we are operating the fish ladder in passive mode we use a fish camera to count fish.

Current Fish Passage Counts (pdf)

• Weekly Fish Passage Counts
• Current Sorting Mode Counts All Species

Annual Fish Passage Reports (pdf)

• 2004
• 2005
• 2006
• 2007
• 2008
• 2009

Fish passage counts from 2003 through 2009

Recolonization Studies (pdf)

• Cedar River Habitat Inventory and Salmonid Stock Assessment
• Community and ecosystem attributes of the Cedar River watershed above Landsburg Diversion before arrival of Pacific salmon
• Community and ecosystem attributes of the Cedar River watershed above Landsburg Diversion after arrival of Pacific salmon
• Recolonization of the Cedar River above Landsburg by anadromous fish: ecological patterns and effects
• Chinook Salmon Spawning Locations
• Selection on breeding date and body size in colonizing coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch
• Movements of adult coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) during colonization of newly accessible habitat
• Changes in fish communities following recolonization of the Cedar River, WA, USA by Pacific salmon after 103 years of local extirpation

Landsburg Fish Ladder Contact

Paul Faulds
Seattle Public Utilities
Phone: (206) 615-0021
Email: paul.faulds@seattle.gov