U. S. Army Corps of Engineers awards Design Contract for Albeni Falls Dam Fish Passage Facility

OLDTOWN, Idaho – U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Seattle District officials awarded a $12, 580,830 contract Sept. 2, for the full design of a fish passage facility at Albeni Falls Dam.

The fish passage facility will work to restore the currently diminished bull trout population and the upstream bull trout population, as well as the upstream bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout trapped between Albeni Falls Dam and Box Canyon Dam, by re-establishing upstream fish movement after 75 years of being blocked.

The future facility will also reopen habitat with access to over 750 miles of mainstem, tributary and critical lakeshore habitat for foraging, spawning and overwintering — essential to bull trout life history and survival. “Without a fish passage facility at Albeni Falls Dam, the downstream bull trout population will never recover, and the upstream bull trout populations that get trapped below the dam will continue to face increased mortality,” said Albeni Falls Dam Fish Biologist Andrew Huddleston.

“While survival rates of fish passing downstream through the dam are high, any bull trout that moves downstream through the dam, will continue to have a small chance of survival due to the lack of sustainable cooler water climate and restricted upstream access to their native spawning streams in Lake Pend Oreille,” Huddleston said.

The fish passage facility will be a trap and haul facility consisting of an entrance structure, attraction pool and a presort pool leading to a fish lock. From the fish lock, bull trout will be transferred to the sorting facility where they will be hauled upriver by truck for release. Westslope cutthroat trout will be released via flume directly above the dam.

When Albeni Falls Dam was built in 1951, it blocked fish from swimming upstream of the Pend Oreille River, but they could still swim downstream on their own. Shortly after construction was completed in 1955, bull trout numbers in the river drastically and abruptly declined from a once healthy population to the point where individual fish captured or encountered were considered noteworthy.

Bull trout are native and were listed in 1998 under the Endangered Species Act. The fish passage facility project at Albeni Falls Dam will increase overall genetic diversity and resilience within regional bull trout populations, as well as provide access to over 125 square miles of abundant food sources and cold-water habitat in Lake Pend Oreille.

Design launch begins in early October 2026 and will take approximately two years to reach a fully finalized, shovel-ready package, with construction solicitation to follow in a subsequent phase.

Once the design is finalized, USACE will prepare for construction authorization.

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