by Kirk Kirkland
Last week fishermen in their boats appeared at dawn around the Browns Point lighthouse as the August salmon run began. By 10 am there were 50 boats fishing off of Point Defiance Park.
As of August 21, this year, 132 hatchery Chinook salmon ran the gauntlet of fishermen and found their way from Alaska to the Chamber Creek Estuary. For the first time in 25 years, the Department of Fish and Wildlife released Chinook salmon upstream to spawn in Chambers Creek.
Here they can finish their lives using the gravel and freshwater which is fed by Flett, Leach, and Clover creeks. “The last time this happened was in August 1999, 25 years ago!” said Al Schmauder. “This is truly a historic and wonderful event for both fish and people in the watershed.”
The watershed includes American, Steilacoom, and Spanaway lakes, plus parts of South Tacoma, JBLM, Parkland and Spanaway, an area of 150 square miles and 450,000 people.
Schmauder reported this policy change was made by the four co-managers of the Chambers Bay fishery. They are the Puyallup, Nisqually and Squaxin tribes and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW).
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To measure the success of this policy WDFW will count each salmon sent upstream. In addition, Schmauder sent an alert to all his “friends of the salmon,” asking them to report on salmon sightings upstream in the Chambers Canyon running between Lakewood and University Place.
“Tell me where you saw salmon, how many, and their activity plus send photos.”” he asked. Al will gather the data and prepare a report for everyone.
A good place to look for salmon is from the bridge over Chambers Creek at Kobayashi Park, managed by the City of University Place. Last year 1,039 Chinook returned to the estuary and it could exceed that number this year.
Tom Galdabini has lived upstream from Kobayashi Park for more than 50 years adjacent to Fleet Creek near the junction of Chambers Creek. “I have noted with sadness the decline and disappearance of Chinook, coho, and recently chum salmon here. Less restrictive WDFW control and removal of the dam to form a healthier estuary are crucial to restoring, at least partially, natural fish migration in a vital watershed.”
For decades Schmauder, and Galdibini have been preparing for the free passage of salmon and other fish in Chambers Creek and advocating for removing the dam. Each year, since 2012, Schmauder gathered his volunteers and employees from the Puyallup Tribe to repair a restored fish ladder beside the dam.
After replacing timbers in the ladder this year, the crew left hoping that the co-managers would agree to his latest proposal to allow the Chinook to pass through the repaired ladder. However, WDFW wants to count the fish and collect other data, so they will keep “Al’s” restored ladder closed during the Chinook run so all fish will pass through a single ladder operated by WDFW.
Schmauder has spent a lifetime improving fish passage, stream flow and habitat from Lake Steilacoom upstream to Spanaway Lake and Frederickson. He has led teams of volunteers to apply for County funds to successfully preserve eight open space areas totaling over 50 acres.
He was also involved in getting six fish ladders built in Clover Creek and one on Joint Base Lewis McChord. He was President of the Clover Creek Council for 34 years and recently President of the Chambers-Clover Watershed Council for 20 years. He currently is the Water Steward for the Watershed.
Status of the Dam: Despite strong citizen and County officials support for removing the dam, Sean Goldsmith (County project manager), reported it may be 2028 or later before anything happens.
After a study, the County engineers concluded the upstream, narrow bridge must be replaced before dam removal can start. However, the two projects can be engineered, permitted, and conducted together. So when the new bridge is opened, the dam should also be gone. Estimated costs are $58 million of which about $5 million is for the dam.
Although the dam removal is a priority project for the Pierce County Executive, Acquiring the funding will be difficult, due to Federal withdrawal of grants and other high priority bridges such as the condemned bridge to Mt Rainier National Park, which has closed entry to part of the park.
“Special thanks to the co-manager representatives from the Tribes and WDFW,” said Al Schmauder. “All of you and many volunteers have contributed to this historic event. Please: Take a bow, pat yourself on the back. We did it!”