Juvenile salmon get helicopter parenting

Utility uses tagged fish to check migration systems’ efficiency

Christine Pratt
Wenatchee World

WENATCHEE – See any helicopters dipping baskets into the Columbia River below Rock Island Dam lately? It’s not what you may be thinking.

The Grant County Public Utility District is using a helicopter to release tagged juvenile salmon into the river to track their movements through Wanapum and Priest Rapids dams.

The two dams are both south of the Interstate 90 bridge at Vantage. The Wanapum Dam reservoir backs up to the Chelan County Public Utility District’s Rock Island Dam.

The helicopter should be in the vicinity of Rock Island Dam, possibly the Tarpiscan area, between 9:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. daily for the next two weeks to release the fish, Grant County PUD spokesman Chuck Allen said. Read more