Wenaha River Chinook Spawning Survey Sept 2022

ODFW Wallowa District fish staff and the Nez Perce Tribe’s Research Division staff conduct annual Chinook spawning ground surveys on the Wenaha River in the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness.
In addition to surveying for redds, staff collect data on Chinook carcasses and document signs of beaver in many stretches of the river and tributaries such as Butte Creek to the Washington border. The surveys help to determine the number of wild spring Chinook in the system and to understand the number of hatchery fish straying into the watershed.
This was the second year that the survey team used inflatable kayaks to navigate the river. The Wenaha River Trail’s condition is impassable in many sections of the wilderness and kayaking is the safest and best approach for surveying during the two-week time period.
The Wenaha River supports a wild spring Chinook population that has never been supplemented. Spawning fish swim about 600 miles from the Pacific Ocean to the Wild and Scenic section of the Wenaha River. Steelhead, bull trout, white fish, and other small fish such as sculpin can be found as well.
Video by ODFW

[@brandonculley8390]

Lots of blocked habits above Hells Canyon Dam. As a listed species i wish we were doing mire to out fish back in blocked habitats

[@nonewherelistens1906]

It's the dams. Everything else is dancing around the edges.

[@bluzriver]

You use a cwt wand (3:25). Hatchery fish are present on the Wenaha? If so, what percent?