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[Noahs Arc]

Give Jakes a call, they're the ones who do it on the Vedder.

[cammer]

Thanks Noah

[Fish or cut bait.]

Do you read your posts before hit send?
Can't argue with some of the content but a lot seems to be inflammatory, often heard, diatribe with nothing to back it up.
You're passionate.
I get it.
But there's a little more to an ecosystem than allowing fishing.

[Fish or cut bait.]

Sorry, my last post post was directed at some colour and bold post.

[cammer]

The chehalis is not the same ecosystem it was when it went by the hatchery. It is worse for chum for sure as the biologist I've talked too said the black heads are suffering due to increased flow velocity in the new channel being less meandering, the size of gravel in the new channel is much too.large for proper redds,,,,otherwise it's a new River channel whose meandering hasn't had time to become a reality. I studied fluvial geomorphology at Sfu

[CohoJake]

The chehalis is not the same ecosystem it was when it went by the hatchery. It is worse for chum for sure as the biologist I've talked too said the black heads are suffering due to increased flow velocity in the new channel being less meandering, the size of gravel in the new channel is much too.large for proper redds,,,,otherwise it's a new River channel whose meandering hasn't had time to become a reality. I studied fluvial geomorphology at Sfu

I'll never forget the sight (and smell) of the bathtub ring of dead chums when the river dropped.  It made you pray that the day didn't warm up past freezing, that's when they really started to smell.

[Fish or cut bait.]

Good for you.
I've noticed that people/humans f up a  NATURE that was performimg fine before people started to think they could control it.
Fight for habitat....

[cammer]

The Chehalis hatchery was build in 1982 I believe,   when the river first left the hatchery,   it was moved back in the next summer during a period called the fisheries window...basically now.. then that didn't work again after a huge rain and the dfo tried again but by that time the current river had scoured too deep to meet the grade of the channel dug,   u can see this in the pics. The current channel that's dry would have to be again lowered deeper to achieve grade which would equal BIG $$$$. I believe that a deflection dam would allow the natural scouring to occur to eventually settle into a constant state towards the hatchery. Of course as a fisherman on a fishing site I'm very concerned about having opportunity to fish to supply my passion with an.outlet, if this is a bad thing. Oh F***ing well lol

[Fisherama]

Interesting topic Cammer.  I've thought about this diversion a number of times in the past and although what you propose can be engineered, I think it would end up be significantly more work and $$ than one might imagine.  For a long-term solution, the riprap used for the diversion would likely be much larger than what is currently placed along the left bank by the FN facility; this is because of the curvature of the diversion berm and that river flows would almost be directly impinging on it.  Some sort of impermeable feature may also have to be constructed along the downstream side of the berm to prevent river flows from trickling through the riprap.  Depending on how robust the structure needs to be, the riprap may also need to be keyed into the river bed to counteract scour and undermining of the berm.  All constructable...

What I think would be the biggest hurdle would be the regulatory requirements for a diversion of this magnitude.  Even small diversions typically require salvage of any fish in the portion of the river that will be isolated.  Imagine salvaging any resident and migratory fishing along a reach of river that's over 2 km.  You mentioned that the river was diverted once in the 80s.  I'm not familiar with what was done at that time with regards to the size of diversion and environmental requirements, but suspect that it wouldn't fly now a days.  Though I may be missing something and would be interested to hear what others think on the subject.

One other thing is that the avulsion point of the river is on the fan of the river.  From a geomorphological perspective, this is the reach of the river that would tend to experience net aggradation of sediment over time, which would be the main driver for avulsions here in the past.  By constructing a berm at that location, a large portion of the fan would be cut off leading to increase aggradation elsewhere and potentially unpredictable behaviour of the river in the future.  I admit that I'm not aware of all of the issues facing the hatchery at this time, though I'm generally in favor of letting the river migrate naturally and modifying the hatchery channel to suit.  If flows along the hatchery channel are an issue, perhaps designing an intake system to increase flows into the channel a feasible solution?  not sure what's in place now, and that would be costly as well but more predictable.  Thanks again for starting this topic. 

[cammer]

Hey Fisherama, as far as I know the river was only moved in late 90s after a massive winter storm caused the river to cut off its meander and head straight vs curve to right.   In my picture you can see old channel in.pink dots which means the pic was taken in 1990s, the blue is an approximation of current course.  Use Google Earth for current channel location... if you are familiar with the vedder the river runs straight down from Wilson Road and then was diverted by a deflection dam at a very sharp angle to prevent flooding to the reservation. This deflection has endured many years and many many many high water events. So it's plausible and do-able,   problem is the band has already protected it's land with a multi million dollar dyke system however us fisherman aren't important enough even after years and years of declining fisheries in this river it's been left to nature.Im.not getting any younger so I feel it's time to get it back to fish able conditions of the 80 s and 90s especially with ever increasing threats to sportfishermans opportunity

[Fish or cut bait.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ednXhLcwZz0

http://peter-mulroy.squarespace.com/how-do-rivers-change-over-time/

Here's a good one for kids:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/riversandcoasts/rivers/change_river/pg_25.shtml

And though I don't think we should introduce wolves to the river in question this is a good video:

https://youtu.be/mCkZ0p-OY4o

[hammer]

Cammer,
I think your time estimate is quite close. It was the late 90's or early 2000's when the log jam and gravel deposit at the bottom end of the Bible camp run blew out. It was basically a natural deflection structure that diverted the majority of the flow to the Conference Run and then to the hatchery hole and the long, straight run below it. This directed significant flow and fish to come up the Pretty's side and through the hatchery hole. I have about 28 years of personal catch records on the Chehalis and the numbers of steelhead and other fish have certainly declined. Numbers of wild fish have really declined as well. So, though improving brood stock capture and bringing  back fishable flows to the hatchery side would certainly improve things, there is an unfortunate decline that has nothing to do with the present river course. That said, I think directing flow would be a great place to start and would certainly improve brood capture and accessibility.i would love to see it happen.

[cammer]

I'm thinking your correct about overall numbers.   I'm on brood stock program for the Chehalis and man its getting really really bad for winter runs, summer runs I haven't really followed as close but know they have declined as well. When river went by hatchery, there was a large netted fish pen.in the hatchery outlet channel which allowed sport fisherman to place wild fish in pen. Lucky anglers would get a hat for that too...lol.. if the hatchery channel is moved then the hatchery again will have a pen out at confluence to allow brood captures along with the benefits of staging/slowing fish down before they enter canyon

[fishgod]

During the time period you speak of late 90's - if you stood on the bridge and looked downstream the deepest part of the river hugged the left bank and stayed against the dike.

That large flood event deposited a wack load of gravel at the top end of the dike and last I looked at it was causing the river to push back toward the campground side before going back into its "original" path against the dike

I know it seems counterintuitive, but if a rip-rap dike were built along the campground side angling into the side channel leading to the hatchery - it wouldn't be long before the river started to dig (deepen) along that side with a little help.

Because the river is now so flat below the bridge, several well placed loader scoops near the campground riffle/ gravel deposit should cause the necessary diversion.

It's possibly experimental, but think of all the rip-rap placed along the vedder - the river doesn't rebound off the rip-rap at right angles - it channels and deepens and eventually angles away at 15-20 degrees - to get the river in the position to enter the side channel a dike would have to be started much closer to the bridge than the current one

What about a concrete abutment below the bridge to divide the river - if you narrow the river, speed it up it will dig a channel, might be less expensive than a massive dike

I hope I gave you some food for thought- I too remember those glory days!

[Silex-user]

I have not fished the Chehalis river for over 12 years. It used to be awesome river for coho and summer and winter steelheads. I remember back in early 90's the winter steelheads and would stack up like logs around hatchery channel in April. The coho were thick as fleas too. My favorite run was gravel bar across from the Bible Camp. Used to able to drive there and fished behind my pickup tailgate. Had some awesome 30 plus coho days.



Silex user