Twenty years ago Salmon and Steelhead runs on the North Fork Nehalem were stopped by an electric weir at the hatchery. Wild fish passage for both up and down stream migrants were minimal. Naturally reproduced runs were virtually decimated. Much has changed since then. No longer is the weir used to divert hatchery fish into the hatchery.
Wild fish migrate freely.
With voluntary improvements in Forest practices by McCraken Logging, Boise Cascade and Longview Fiber, upstream habitat on the North. Fork has produced results. This device located at a falls upstream from the ODFW hatchery, has proven that healthy numbers of naturally produced salmonids are indeed migrating downstream in healthy numbers. The smolts are drawn into a cone like net which empties them into a trap where they are counted and examined for species and fin clips before release back into the river. By statistical means, the percentage of fish entering the screwtrap to the total downstream migrants is calculated, as a screw trap may only capture a small percentage of the total downstream migration.