Fish Collector Aims To Advance State of the Art for High Dams

A fish-collection system nearing completion in Washington state's northern Cascade range is being hailed as the first of a new generation of facilities for fish passage around dams. The "floating surface collector" being installed at Puget Sound Energy's (PSE) Upper Baker Dam on the Baker River near Concrete, WA, is the first fish passage with design criteria based on what are the best design attributes for the fish, rather than on least cost, says Steve Fransen, fish biologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Lacey, WA. Upper Baker Dam, 312 ft high, is a concrete gravity dam with a 1,200-ft crest length, constructed in 1959. Now operating under a one-year license extension, PSE is building the $50-million state-of-the-art passage as its primary plan for improving migration under the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission settlement agreement.