Letter to Editor | History reveals no trout returned after Grant’s dam rebuilt 2004

||| FROM RUSSEL BARSH for KWIAHT |||

I was part of the team that surveyed this stream for fish and potential fish habitat, under contract to the Army Corps of Engineers, in 2004. At that time, we did bring two adult Coastal Cutthroat to hand at the plunge pool below the first downstream culvert. In our report to USACE, we noted that trout access to hundreds of feet of historical stream habitat along LaPorte Road was blocked by road culverts and the Grants’ dam; and proposed working with landowners to reconnect more of the stream and increase the chances for survival of the trout we had found there. Not long after our report, the dam was rebuilt, and summer instream flows decreased significantly. No trout were subsequently observed in the stream. We received no response from landowners or the county when we reported the loss of this trout run.

As a result of the unexpected loss of the Bayhead Cutthroat stock, they were not available for inclusion in a 2016 genetic analysis of Coastal Cutthroat from Orcas and San Juan Islands by Maureen Small at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, which identified two other genetically unique native trout stocks in San Juan County. It is therefore possible, but unlikely, that the Bayhead trout were descendants of fish planted by local anglers, who are known to have planted Coho in Orcas streams; or by the state, which planted Coastal Cutthroat in Moran State Park despite the existence of a native stock there.

From a biological conservation perspective, the county should focus on its two native trout populations, which are unique and irreplaceable. The county lost its opportunity to save a third, likely native stock in the Bayhead stream when it failed to protect instream flow a decade ago. Removing barriers to passage now will not bring back the Bayhead Cutthroat population. That is not to say that reconnecting Bayhead with fish-friendly culverts would be without value; a restored stream could be stocked with native trout from another island stream, or left for natural colonization by other salmon and trout. But our surviving native island salmonids should be prioritized.

I am surprised that the county did not consult my lab about its plans for Bayhead, and I am disappointed by the county’s apparent failure to work with the islanders most impacted by this project. In my opinion, effective conservation is almost always built from the ground up.