The Lewis River Hydroelectric Projects - PacifiCorp

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Cougar Park—Interpretive Sign #1 (Natural History) Location: Size: Title: Main Content: Cougar Park TBD Red Salmon, Rich Resource If you visit the mouth of Cougar Creek during the early fall, you may come across a scene that wouldn’t be out of place along the coast of British Columbia or Alaska: in the shadows of tall evergreens, brick-red salmon with green heads push against the current, doggedly working their way upstream. Some pause in shallow riffles, scooping out bowlshaped depressions known as “redds” with their tails. Bald eagles perch streamside, watching the spawning fish with calculating eyes, and occasionally pouncing to drag a fish ashore and feast. Overhead, gulls wheel and cry, and descend to snatch scraps. Cutthroat trout shadow the red fish, darting in and eating wayward eggs. It’s spawning season for kokanee—a landlocked race of red salmon (Onchorhynchus nerka). Unlike their ocean-going cousins (sockeye), kokanee spend their whole lives in fresh water. They hatch in streams at lakeside, and the tiny larvae spend their first winter buried in gravel, living off of the nutrients stored in their yolk sacs. In early spring, the small fish leave the streams to swim the waters of the lake. There they spend about three (possibly up to seven) years feeding on plankton before returning to their home streams to spawn. Kokanee are distributed throughout the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, and in northern Asia. Lewis River kokanee, however, are not native to this river. They were introduced in the late 1950s and early 1960s, from lakes in British Columbia. Kokanee occur in all Merwin and Yale reservoirs—partly because of stocking programs and partly because fish “leak” downstream through Yale Dam into Merwin. But the only truly self-sustaining population occurs here in Yale Reservoir, where the fish find appropriate habitat for spawning in the surrounding creeks. Caption: Sidebar: Photo of bull trout In addition to providing spawning habitat for kokanee, Cougar Creek is also one of the few streams in the Lewis River watershed that supports spawning bull trout (Salvelinus conflentus). These large, trout-like char rely on extremely cold water and suitable gravels to spawn successfully. Bull trout are listed as a threatened species. Cougar Creek and the surrounding forest lands are protected by the Cougar Conservation Covenant, the result of PacifiCorp’s agreement to purchase 800 acres of Weyerhaeuser lands around this rich stream system and protect them in perpetuity. The covenant includes a 500-foot buffer Appendix 1: panel profiles Lewis River Draft I&E Plan page 39
zone around the creek to maintain the integrity of the riparian corridor, and protects virtually the entire Cougar drainage. Even if the land should be transferred from PacifiCorp to another entity, the conservation easement would remain. Images: Illustrations of kokanee, including life cycle. Illustration of kokanee spawning, showing other animals benefiting (eagles, gulls, cutthroat, etc). Illustration or photo of bull trout. Appendix 1: panel profiles Lewis River Draft I&E Plan page 40
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The Lewis River Hydroelectric Projects - PacifiCorp

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