Passage to allow salmon back into Okanagan Lake opening next week

For the past century salmon have had a nearly impossible time getting into Okanagan Lake, but that’s going to change next week.

The Okanagan Nation Alliance worked with the Penticton Indian Band, the City of Penticton, the provincial and federal governments to build a passage for salmon to get around the Okanagan Lake Dam.

Steelhead, rainbow trout, sockeye, chinook and kokanee are going to be able to go into Okanagan Lake and 13 tributaries once again.

The dam bypass has an adjustable barrier to prevent invasive species from getting into the waterway.

The salmon passage is officially opening at an event at 10 a.m. Monday, Aug. 18.

Over the past 20 years, the Okanagan Nation Alliance has completed a 12-year sockeye reintroduction program for Skaha Lake. Through the program there were 50 habitat restorations and fish passage projects including spawning beds, reconnecting the river with oxbows and side channels and modifying the McIntyre Dam and Skaha Dam.

Last year, hundreds of thousands of sockeye salmon returned to Skaha Lake and Osoyoos Lake thanks to similar conservation efforts to help them up the river into the lakes.

The funding for the latest bypass at Okanagan Lake Dam came from the Habitat Conservation Plan. TD Friends of the Environment Foundation is going to be planting indigenous species and there are going to be educational signs erected this fall.