Wednesday March 25, 2026
The Advocate —
Thanks to a $1 million federal investment, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife are preparing for critical engineering and design work at McKay Creek Reservoir Dam to improve fish passage.
The initial investment will go toward an alternative analysis to determine what fish passage options at the dam would be feasible, starting the process of hopefully reconnecting more than 100 miles of historic salmon and steelhead habitat. This would open up fish passage in that section of the McKay Creek for the first time in nearly 100 years.