Tuesday April 28, 2026
Eugene Weekly —
Right now, native fish can make their way past the Trail Bridge Dam on the McKenzie River in two ways: Chinook salmon are trapped and hauled in a truck, and bull trout are caught by anglers and moved upstream.
Conservationists call this method ineffective, and the Eugene Water and Electric Board is seeking to extend the implementation of a new permanent trap-and-haul fish passage system to the 2030s. In December 2025, EWEB filed a notice to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the agency tasked with overseeing non-federal hydroelectric projects, informing it that EWEB is seeking approval to change its license to operate the Trail Bridge Dam, part of the Carmen-Smith Hydroelectric Project on the McKenzie River.
On April 22, conservation nonprofits Cascadia Wildlands, the Native Fish Society and the Willamette Riverkeeper, filed a petition with FERC, asking it to require EWEB to conduct a cost analysis on alternatives to EWEB’s proposed trap-and-haul method of fish passage, which the conservationists call ineffective. They’re also asking FERC to require EWEB to make immediate changes to its current temporary trap-and-haul fish passage system.