Water Released From Dam To Help Chinook Flows From Dworshak Create Artificial Flood In Clearwater

Releases from Dworshak Dam have created an artificial flood in the Clearwater River that is expected to last until early September.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released 22,000 cubic feet of water from the reservoir last week to help flush young chinook down the Snake and Columbia rivers.

The surge of water has pushed the Clearwater into the willows along its banks and dropped water temperatures dramatically.

The cold water released from the dam also is intended to cool lower reservoirs on the Snake River to encourage more adult steelhead to migrate upstream to Idaho waters.

Early season steelhead fishermen have been catching a few steelhead near the Clearwater River’s confluence with the Snake.

Two early run steelhead climbed Dworshak National Fish Hatchery’s fish ladder in recent weeks while it was operating to attract spring chinook salmon into its holding ponds.

Plans call for the corps to release 21,000 cubic feet per second from Dworshak until the end of next week, said Cathy Hlebechuk at the Reservoir Control Center in Portland.

She said Dworshak was 31 feet below full on Monday and has been dropping about 2-1/2 feet per day.

The flow will drop to 14,000 cfs Saturday and will continue at that level until the reservoir drops to 80 feet below full, Hlebechuk said. That’s expected to take until Sept. 8.

The drastic change in river flows has steelhead anglers perturbed. The Fish and Game Department earlier suggested releasing less water in early September and spreading it over a longer time to create better fishing conditions.

The catch and release season on most of the Clearwater begins Oct. 15. Below Memorial Bridge at Lewiston, the season begins Sept. 1, as it does on the Snake and Salmon rivers.

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