The Corps of Engineers built the Minto Fish Collection Facility on the north bank of the North Santiam River, four miles downstream of Big Cliff Dam and seven miles downstream of Detroit Dam. Operation began 2013.

The original facility collected adult fish and released juvenile fish in cooperation with the hatchery program at Marion Forks Hatchery to compensate for habitat blocked by construction and operation of Detroit and Big Cliff dams. Now, the facility continues to support the hatchery program and also safely traps and hauls adult fish upstream of Detroit Dam via transport trucks, where they are released to spawn naturally.

This project was required under the 2008 Willamette Project Biological Opinions produced by the National Marine Fisheries Service and U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and is part of our ongoing efforts to restore Upper Willamette River spring Chinook salmon listed under the Endangered Species Act.