DESCRIPTION
The Starbuck Dam was built in the late 1800's on the lower Tucannon River, as a mill dam and was later changed to a power generating dam for the town of starbuck in 1907. The dam was no longer used for power generation following the development of the Bonneville Power Administration. The Dam was a barrier in that it created both a drop and dewatered the tail race downstream to the power house at flow <200 cffs. Complete passage was not accomplished until a WDFW constructed fishway was built in 1992.
Fish passage in the Tucannon River is the highest priority
for salmonid recovery in the Snake River Salmon Recovery Plan (2005 & 2011).
The Starbuck Dam was built in the late 1800's as a grist mill and irrigation
diversion. In 1907, power generation was
added to the use of the dam site no fish ladder was part of structure but fish
were able to pass at higher flows by jumping the dam apron. The primary passage problem was caused by the
dewatering of the tail race from the dam and the power house at flows below 200
cfs. Several efforts to build fishways
at the site were unsuccessful up to 1992 when WDFW built a structure which provided
full passage. The new structure was
damaged in the 1996-1997 flood destroying the fish ladder which was replaced in
1997.
