11-08-2010, 02:00 PM
OOPS!!
AHSAHKA, Idaho — An unknown number of federally protected wild steelhead have died after becoming trapped when a hydroelectric generator at Dworshak Dam was drained for routine maintenance.
Officials tell the Lewiston Tribune that most of the estimated 1,000 steelhead lost on Wednesday and Thursday were hatchery fish.
Wild steelhead are listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.
Workers with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Dworshak National Fish Hatchery and the Clearwater Hatchery operated by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game saved some 500 steelhead and returned them to the North Fork of the Clearwater River.
Officials say the dead fish were given to local food banks and the Idaho Correctional Institution in Orofino.
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AHSAHKA, Idaho — An unknown number of federally protected wild steelhead have died after becoming trapped when a hydroelectric generator at Dworshak Dam was drained for routine maintenance.
Officials tell the Lewiston Tribune that most of the estimated 1,000 steelhead lost on Wednesday and Thursday were hatchery fish.
Wild steelhead are listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.
Workers with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Dworshak National Fish Hatchery and the Clearwater Hatchery operated by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game saved some 500 steelhead and returned them to the North Fork of the Clearwater River.
Officials say the dead fish were given to local food banks and the Idaho Correctional Institution in Orofino.
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. [bob