The Columbia River Research Laboratory 

The U.S. Geological Survey’s Columbia River 

Research Laboratory (CRRL) was established in 

1978 at Cook, Washington, in the Columbia River 

Gorge east of Portland, Oregon. 

The CRRL, as part of the Western Fisheries

Research Center, conducts research on fishery 

issues in the Columbia River Basin. Our mission is

to: 

“Serve the public by providing scientific information 

to support the stewardship of our Nation’s fish and

aquatic resources...by conducting objective, relevant 

research”. 

Location of the 

Columbia River 

Research Laboratory 

(yellow circle) 

American Tribes, the Bureau of 

Reclamation, the U.S Fish 

and Wildlife Service, northwest 

states, and others. 

Major areas of expertise of 

CRRL staff include fishery 

biology, large river ecology, 

physiological ecology, behavior 

of fish, and modeling. 

Pacific salmon are the subject of 

many of our studies, but other 

projects examine native species 

such as white sturgeon (Acipenser 

transmontanus), bull trout 

(Salvelinus confluentus), 

steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss), 

Pacific lamprey (Lampetra 

tridentate), northern pikeminnow 

(Ptychocheilus oregonensis), and 

also exotic invasive species such 

as the American shad (Alosa 

sapidissima). Data are used to 

estimate, for example, movements 

of juvenile salmon in the 

Columbia River, responses of fish 

to temperature stress, abundances 

and water managers of the 

Basin. Customers and 

collaborators include the U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers, 

Bonneville Power 

Administration, Native 

Resources include about 90 

federal employees working at 

the laboratory year-round, with 

80 contract or federal 

employees on a seasonal basis. 

The CRRL operates a fleet of 

over 30 research vessels up to 

30 feet in length, and has wet 

and dry laboratory space. 

Research activities are 

focused on providing unbiased 

results and advice to the fishery 

Left, Bonneville Dam, Columbia River; upper, 

a white sturgeon; and right, sampling blood

from a Pacific lamprey 

U.S. Department of the Interior Fact Sheet 2006-3070 

U.S. Geological Survey August 11, 2005 
Left, tracking radio-tagged juvenile salmon

below a Columbia River dam; and below, 

an adult steelhead. 

weirs, are made using 

sophisticated radio telemetry, 

hydroacoustic, and water velocity 

profiling technologies. 

A geographic information 

system (GIS) is used to 

process much of the data we 

collect. Mapping techniques are 

used to perform analyses that 

make large spatial data sets more 

useful to resource managers. 

of juvenile white sturgeon, and 

rates of predation on salmon. 

Models are developed to 

analyze habitat use by fish, 

responses of salmon to varying 

flow in rivers, and bioenergetics 

of fish. 

Movements and survival 

of juvenile salmon are 

examined by CRRL staff during 

their seaward migration using 

state-of-the-art models and 

telemetry. Evaluations of 

prototype fish passage devices 

at dams, such as surface bypass 

systems and removable spillway 

Research products of the 

CRRL range from technical 

assistance to significant

scientific papers published in 

peer reviewed journals. 

Scientific and technical staffs 

participate as members of review 

committees, design work groups 

for dam passage, watershed 

councils, and endangered species 

recovery teams. 

To learn more about CRRL studies, visit the following websites: 

http://wfrc.usgs.gov/research/fish_behavior.htm

http://wfrc.usgs.gov/research/aquatic.htm

http://wfrc.usgs.gov/mapservices.htm

. 

For additional information, please 

contact:

Alec Maule, Acting Laboratory Director 

U.S. Geological Survey

Western Fisheries Research Center 

Columbia River Research Laboratory

5501A Cook-Underwood Road, 

Cook, WA 98605

Phone: (509) 538-2299 ext. 236

Above, a Landsat 7 satellite image of Columbia River reservoirs was used

for a Bonneville Reservoir community dynamics project. First, the study

area was mapped, next the thermal band of Landset 7 was used to show

basic surface temperatures of the reservoir. Right, tracking radio-tagged 

fish in a Columbia River tributary to determine their movement patterns.