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Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Full Channel Fish Ladder

Design-Build Project — 2008 ACEC of Idaho Engineering Excellence Award, First Place

The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) were pursuing evaluation of structural alternatives for alleviating a salmonid passage barrier located at approximately river mile 3 on West Fork Birch Creek in Umatilla County, Oregon. The overall purpose of the project was to arrive at a final design and construction of a full channel fishway which would eliminate an existing passage impediment for summer steelhead and trout.

A diversion dam with an inadequate fish ladder posed a block and a delay for ascending adults that were attempting to reach spawning areas in the headwaters of West Fork Birch Creek. The existing concrete dam was approximately 30-feet-wide and created a vertical drop of approximately six feet. The CTUIR conducted an engineering study to determine the recommended alternative for improving fish passage conditions at the Hoeft Diversion. This study recommended, with agency concurrence, a full channel fishway capable of passing both upstream and downstream migrants. The fishway was designed to operate from less than 1 cfs to over 500 cfs during runoff events with no more than a 0.5 foot drop between the jump pools from the existing dam face to the downstream end of the structure.

McMillen, LLC served as the overall project manager responsible for management and administration from the project inception to startup. We were responsible for the project execution including budget and schedule control, quality control and assurance, design oversight, field construction and startup. We also provided the design manager for the preparation of the plans and specifications, coordination with the CTUIR staff as well as the regulatory agencies. As the design manager, we lead the design team in preparing the design package. McMillen was responsible for the execution of all construction activities. This required day-to-day execution of the construction work including scheduling, management of labor support, coordination with vendors, and communication with CTUIR staff.

"I would rank McMillen, LLC among some of the best consultant firms the CTUIR have worked with. McMillen listened and remained positive, which really stands out for being a team player and makes us desire to work with them in the future. Thanks for making this project a joy! This project will be featured in the Confederated Tribes Umatilla Journal newspaper and we will be hosting several tours because it turned out so great!"