DESCRIPTION
The fish passage barrier on Asotin Creek call the Headgate Dam is located on Asotin County Land and has been atributed with the extripation of Spring Chinook in the dainage. In 2009 the Asoting count Concervation District recieve SRFB funding from the Snake River Salmon Recovery Boar to work with stakeholders in the county to determine the prefered alternatives for providing fish passage at the structure. Through efforts of the District the County and the SRSRB a number of public meetings were held to identify a perfered solution. In 2012 the ACCD recieved another SRFB grant to work with WDFW to finalize a roughened channel design and to follow through with construction. It is anticipated the project would be implemented in 2014.
The proposed Headgate Dam Assessment Project will develop a final design to provide fish passage over the dam. The Headgate Dam is a defunct water diversion which provided water to the Clarkston Heights. The dam is located in the Headgate County Park and is considered a priority historical feature, though it has not been registered as a historical site. The dam once was a complete barrier to fish migrations and was attributed with the extirpation of spring Chinook in Asotin Creek. The dam was outfitted with fish passage efforts on at least three occasions. A fish ladder was built while the dam was in operation but was reported to not function without high maintenance. The dam was notched, which provided passage to adult steelhead and weirs were placed below the dam to create and maintain a big pool. Despite all these efforts, a drop of between 1 and 1.5 meters remains, producing a barrier to juvenile salmonids and other small fish.
This project will present prepared design alternatives to stake holders in a public meeting, and move the selected alternative forward to final design. Project construction will be proposed in some future grant cycle.
