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Friends
of the Cowlitz was formed in 1988 by a group of concerned individuals
who had watched the runs of salmon and steelhead become smaller and smaller
each year after the hydroelectric dams were constructed by the City of
Tacoma.
At the time Friends of the Cowlitz was formed, it was decided that the
main goal of the organization would be to work to restore the runs of
anadromous fish (salmon, steelhead and cutthroat trout) to the Cowlitz
River and it’s tributaries. To accomplish this they would work to make
Tacoma live up to it’s obligations that had been agreed to the in 1967
mitigation agreement between Tacoma and the Washington Departments of
Fisheries and Game.
The goal of the restoration effort would be to see that an opportunity
to harvest these returning fish by sport fishermen was available each
and every year (for all species). As part of our over all goal, FOC also
decided to work to restore anadromous fish to the watershed above the
dams. This effort is ongoing at this time, with coho, spring chinook,
steelhead and cutthroat trout all being released into the watershed above
the dams. This has been possible because of FOC being able to work successfully
with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Lewis County PUD
and BPA.
We have worked hard to have a juvenile collection facility installed at
Cowlitz Falls Dam where the juvenile salmon and steelhead are captured
and then transported downstream by tank truck to the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery.
At the Salmon Hatchery they are placed in stress relief ponds for a couple
of days and then released into the Cowlitz River to continue their journey
to the ocean.
Among our other goals that have evolved over the years has been
our fish rearing projects. Our fish rearing started with a net pen in
an old gravel pit below Interstate Highway 5 that was known locally as
Wallace’s Pit. This endeavor was so successful with summer-run steelhead
that some of the guides actually left the area around the Trout Hatchery
to concentrate their efforts in the area out in front of our rearing facility.
This portion of the river was and is known as the Vader Pump House drift.
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