HISTORY
The Willamette River basin historically supported large numbers of fish. When the Corps built its 13 dams from the 1940s through the 1960s, most were designed without facilities to aid fish in their migration up and down the tributaries. The Marion Forks Hatchery and Minto Adult Fish Collection Facility were originally constructed to help mitigate for the natural spawning and rearing habitat blocked or inundated by the construction of Detroit and Big Cliff dams. Minto was originally designed to collect broodstock for the hatchery. Now it is also used for collecting adult spring Chinook for transporting and placing, or outplanting, upstream of Detroit Dam and in the Little North Fork Santiam River for natural spawning. It also serves as a holding and acclimation site for juvenile summer steelhead and spring Chinook prior to their release and supports the movement of hatchery summer steelhead downstream for anglers.
MINTO TODAY
Both salmon and steelhead now are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The Corps, Bonneville Power Administration and the Bureau of Reclamation are required under the 2008 Willamette Project biological opinions to make improvements to hatcheries and their associated trapping facilities to minimize impacts to fish during handling and improve their ability to sort wild ESA-listed fish from the non-listed fish of hatchery origin.
The Minto facility is four miles downstream of the Big Cliff reregulating dam and seven miles downstream of Detroit Dam on the north bank of the North Santiam River. The site is located on the boundary between Marion and Linn counties, and on the south side of State Highway 22.
REBUILDING MINTO
A rebuilt facility will provide a new fish collection system that meets federal criteria for upstream fish passage and for facilities collecting ESA-listed fish. The Corps is using criteria specific to Chinook salmon, winter steelhead and summer steelhead in designing the fish ladder, pre-sort pool, holding/acclimation ponds and a sorting and spawning facility. The design will allow other fish species such as lamprey and bull trout to enter and negotiate the facility during their passage. It will provide a safe working environment for the operators as the aging original facility has become unsafe. The new facility also will include a water intake and pump structure, barrier dam, abatement pond and supporting structures such as a concrete camp host pad.
CONSTRUCTION SCHEDULE
To meet requirements in the biological opinions, this new facility must be operational by March 2013. Construction is planned from January 2011 through December 2012. We will add construction details, including any traffic impacts, to our Web page when details are available.
ACCESS TO THE PUBLIC
Due to safety hazards, the facility is currently closed to the public and will remain closed during construction. When complete, visitors can make an appointment with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to tour the rebuilt facility.