The very low escapement for coho and steelhead in the North Fork Toutle River in recent years indicates that the current practice of collecting adult of these species and steelhead at the Fish Collection Facility (FCF) and hauling by truck and releasing up-river above the Sediment Retention System (SRS) may be ineffective for seeding considerable amounts of good spawning habitat up-river.

This project will determine: 1) passage success through the Sediment Retention System spillway and subsequent up-river migration in the North Fork Toutle and 2) collection efficiency of the Fish Collection Facility. This would provide the information needed to either improve the collection facility or alter the spillway (or both) to allow better adult passage.

The ISRP rates this proposal as fundable. The proposal is well done, addresses a very high priority recommendation in the Lower Columbia River Fish Recovery Board Subbasin Plan, and appears to address a critical need for recovery of these two focal species in this subbasin.

Other comments:

This proposal needs to define what is meant by "quantitatively measure the migratory performance of adult coho and steelhead in relation to the FCF and SRS" and describe how passage success would be measured (e.g. percent passed, time to pass, fallbacks, etc.) and potential long-term outcomes of this passage in aiding recovery of these two species.