By Kirk Kirkland
The bad news is that the Chambers Creek Dam is not going to be removed until the bridge upstream is funded. With two county bridges closed and needing priority funding over the White River and the Carbon River, the Chambers Creek bridge is going to remain a low priority for the foreseeable future.
The good news is that the Pacific salmon no longer have to wait for the dam to be removed to begin to use the fish ladders and the upstream gravel bars.
In August, over 500 salmon used the WDFW fish ladder when the Tribal fish managers and staff of Department of Fish and Wildlife agreed to open the fish ladder on the west side of the dam.
The ladder ends in a white building that encloses a pool where fish can be counted before they are released upstream. In the last 25 years the fish ladder was closed about 1,000 were captured that were used for eggs for the hatchery program and other programs.
Low rainfall and low creek flow is preventing salmon from finding their way to Kobayashi Park where several creeks join together in the Chambers Creek canyon above the dam. ________________________________________________________________
Each week, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) releases an Escapement Report to estimate the numbers of fish returning to hatchery facilities and other sites within Washington.
In August 2025, the first release saw 132 fish swim upstream. But after two weeks of searching, our major creek watcher, Bob Radford reported the salmon had not reached the area around the Kobayashi Park in University Place where people can easily witness the fish return.
In the September WDFW staff report, it was stated that 532 fish were released and still no fish had been sighted. Kobayashi Park is where Chambers Creek gathers full force from the joining streams of Flett, Leach, and Clover creeks.
Since the first fish were released from the WDFW fish ladder complex, Bob Radford has hiked into the Chambers Creek canyon checking several sites where gravel is suitable and the creek is deep enough for the salmon to come upstream. He shared with me the graph that showed the water in creek has been low since the one rain event earlier in summer.
Bob has sent photos, and reports that as of September 17, there have been no fish above the dam.
You can learn more about restoration efforts at the Watershed Festival:
Clover Chambers Watershed Festival
October 11, at the
11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
at Clover Park Technical College’s
Natural Resources Laboratory and Research Park
Restoring creeks in the Chambers Watershed has had several phases starting in the 1990’s when fish ladders were added below Spanaway Lake and when the Clover Creek Refuge was purchased. This fifteen acre refuge had a pond where fish from the WDFW Hatchery program were used to raise salmon on the East side of McChord air field.
Closing the Chambers dam fish ladders 25 years ago and the spread of canary grass that choked the creek put an end to this project. The canary grass had been introduced to feed cows along streams.
Underpasses under county roads have also been replaced to help salmon passage. Now with salmon allowed above the dam, the county has changed. Previously the effort was to increase fish passage, now funding is going toward water quality . Now effort is to remove 6ppd, a chemical used in the manufacturing of tires that has killed salmon in streams in the Bellingham area.
In the past 3 years Pierce County scientists have found a way to filter 6ppd from storm water drains. This fall a county budget proposal is before the county council to replace up to 16 storm drains needed in the Parkland /Spanaway area. Cost here could be more than $20 million with funding coming from the Department of Ecology.
So with the opening of the fish ladder this year we will soon learn if the previous restoration efforts and the current improvements to storm drains will be enough for salmon to spawn and go back to sea.
“Seniors” from Idlewild Elementary School gather by Flett Creek in Candlewyck Glen to observe progress at a neighborhood project to incubate chum salmon in 2005.
This is “Salmon Country.” In years past people living along Flett Creek have been devoted to watershed observations and projects attentive to our native resource, said Bob Warfield. Now this year we are looking forward to fish returning to Kobayashi to spawn again in the wilderness sections of streams of Flett and Leach creeks.
Over 25 year ago creek volunteers worked with WDFW and local schools to learn about environmental stewardship, this included Clover Park Technology college, Stadium High School and Idlewild Elementary School in 2005.
Bob Warfield and other neighbors received young salmon from WDFW hatcheries which were released in a local pool, near Flett Creek, for them to be imprinted by the smells of these upper reaches of the creek. The hope was that they would return at the end of their growing period spent in Alaska and other Pacific Coast habitats.
Before Reed Canary Grass choked the upper reaches of Clover Creek in Parkland and Spanaway, members of the Clover Creek Council used the 15 acre Clover Creek Refuge to release salmon in a small pond to imprint the small fish with the East fork of Clover Creek.
The most Recent Escapement report shows an increase in salmon in the upper canyon of Chambers Creek. Right now the return is 60% higher than the August and with a total of 532 fish in the first three weeks. There is a good chance that we’ll exceed last year’s returns that were counted but not allowed over the dam.
Chinook salmon are the most important of the Salmon species as they are an essential part of the Southern Ocean Orca whale diet. There is an important connection between whales and Chinook. Both are endangered species and now we’ll find out if the restoration efforts in the last 25 years are enough for salmon to thrive in our watershed.