Swift Reservoir fish collector to be moved Friday

COUGAR — Swift Reservoir’s $60-million fish collection facility is scheduled be moved to its permanent home near the south side of Swift Dam on Friday.

The floating facility is about 170-feet-long and 60-feet-wide. It will have the capacity to pump approximately 600 cubic feet per second to attract young salmon and steelhead, plus adult steelhead.

The fish will be sorted and transported to the lower North Fork of the Lewis River downstream of Merwin Dam.

Tom Gauntt, a PacifiCorp spokesman, said the facility has been under construction at Swift Forest Camp since early 2011.

The reservoir is about 10 miles long. Gauntt said the moving of the facility will start at dawn and the massive structure is expected to go only 1 to 3 knots per hour.

A 500-foot safety zone will be enforced around the facility.

PacifiCorp and Cowlitz PUD are reintroducing salmon and steelhead upstream of Swift Dam as part of their 50-year federal licenses to operate four hydroelectric facilities.