Cascade Water Alliance Prepares for Spring Recreation with Barrier Dam, Fish Screen Repairs

While works on the Barrier Dam in Buckley and replaces fish screens in the water, Lake Tapps residents should expect to see lake levels drop approximately two feet over the next few weeks.

In a press release, Cascade stated that they will work with the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), state and federal fishery agencies and the Muckleshoot and Puyallup tribes to repair the Barrier Dam. The flashboard sections were washed out during the winter and must be replaced before the spring upstream fish migration. The dam is critical to the operation of USACE fish trap and haul.

This year, the Coho, Chinook, Steelhead and Bull trout are expected to continue their yearly migration and Cascade is expecting the resurgence of pink salmon, in numbers ‘expected to match or succeed’ over 500,000.

Following the dam repair, Cascade will open the headgates and divert water into the flume for the first time since August of last year. They will remove sediment and repair and refurbish the fish screens. The screens will be tested at high diversion rates, depending on available White River flows, which will result in a rapid increase in Lake Tapps levels.

Beginning in late March, lake levels will rise quickly; Cascade estimates the water will rise four to five feet by early to mid-April. Full recreational levels are expected on or before April 15.