WAHLE and CHANEY: ESTABLISHMENT OF NONINDIGENOUS RUNS OF SALMON 



Shipperd Falls Fishway 



Shipperd Falls is a series of falls ranging from 3 

 to 15 ft high with a collective total vertical drop of 

 44.8 ft. The falls are located 3.7 mi upstream from 

 the Wind River's confluence with the Columbia 

 River. Small numbers of steelhead reportedly 

 were able to negotiate the falls during periods of 

 high river flow during spring runoff (Bryant 

 1949). However, the falls apparently presented an 

 impassable barrier to chinook salmon at all flows. 

 No spring chinook salmon spawning habitat exists 

 in the Wind River drainage below Shipperd Falls. 



Construction of a fishway began in 1953 and was 

 completed in 1956. A barrier dam was constructed 

 across the stream to increase the height of the 

 lowermost vertical drop of the falls to block 

 upstream migrants and lead them to the fishway 

 entrance. The fishway is of single slot vertical 

 baffle design, commonly employed where integral 

 pool regulation is not possible. Forty-five 9-ft long, 

 6-ft wide pools were constructed on a 1:9 slope 

 providing l-ft vertical rise from pool to pool. Total 

 length of the fishway including entrance and exit 

 facilities is about 454 ft with a vertical rise from 

 downstream entrance to upstream exit of 44.8 ft. 

 When complete the fishway provided fish passage 

 at all stream flows (Figures 2, 3). 



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Figure 2. — Shipperd Falls and fishway. 



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