Dam removal meeting

With removal of 97-year old Condit Dam set to begin next fall, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife will hold a public meeting Aug. 31 in Underewood to discuss the future of sport fishing on the White Salmon River. The informational meeting is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. at the Underwood Community Center in east Skamania County, off the Cook-Underwood Road.

Removing the dam will eliminate a major barrier to salmon and steelhead migration on the White Salmon, creating new opportunities to restore wild stocks listed for protection under the Endangered Species Act. That’s a good thing. Unfortunately, it will also mean, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service, the end of summer and winter steelhead stocking in the river, since the feds will insist on “natural colonization.”

State has stocked the river annually with 20,000 summer steelhead and 20,000 winter fish yearly over the past several years.

A management plan for the river will be available for public review next spring, according to NMFS senior biologist Rich Turner.

For more information call state biologist John Weinheimer at 360-906-6746.