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Notice for Saturday, February 22: MyAccount, Pay Boxes, and the IVR will be offline for planned maintenance Saturday, February 22 from 6 to 9 p.m. If you need to make a payment during this time, you can place a check or money order in one of the drop box locations at our offices at 3682 S 35th Street in Tacoma. The drive-up box is in the parking lot directly across the street from the main entrance. Walk-up drop boxes are available at the front and west entrances of the building.

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Community & Environment > Fish, Wildlife & Environment > Nisqually River Project > Nisqually Fish Programs

Nisqually Fish Programs

To help protect native fish populations, enhance salmon habitat and provide fishing and other recreation, the Nisqually River Project oversees the following fish programs.

Kokanee Fishery

Since 1999, Tacoma Power has stocked Alder Lake, located behind Alder Dam, with up to 500,000 kokanee every spring to provide fishing opportunities. Kokanee, which are landlocked sockeye salmon, live in the lake for two to three years before spawning in nearby streams. The lake also has thriving populations of largemouth and smallmouth bass, black crappie and yellow perch. See our kokanee fishing brochure to learn more about fishing at Alder Lake.

Salmon Habitat Improvement

We release water from LaGrande Dam into the Nisqually River to enhance fish habitat downstream of the dam. These released flows are higher than naturally occurring flows in the summer and fall. This helps create more spawning habitat for Chinook and coho salmon and allows fish to distribute more broadly throughout the river.

In addition, we fund the Nisqually Indian Tribe’s Clear Creek Hatchery, which produces about four million Chinook smolts and one million coho smolts each year. As a result, about 12,000 adult Chinook and up to 4,000 adult coho return to the hatchery annually.

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