Installation of a fish ladder on a 112-year-old diversion dam on Canyon Creek, one of the largest tributaries of the Dungeness River, is nearly complete.

The project spearheaded by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife improved the dam by renovating it to meet fish passage standards while still allowing it to act as an auxiliary water source for the Dungeness River Fish Hatchery.

Crews with Tapani Underground Inc., a Battle Ground-based construction company, are doing the finishing touches to the newly implemented fish ladder.

Given a limited work window reflective of the creek’s low-flow season, construction began in June and crews had to be out of the water by the end of October. Although the project remains underway, the construction crew was able to meet the October goal and estimates project completion by late December.

Since 1903, the Canyon Creek diversion dam has blocked both resident and anadromous fish species from accessing about 2 miles of ideal habitat.

The project area located upstream on Canyon Creek near Dungeness River mile 10.8 is designated as “Essential Fish Habitat” for various life stages of four species of Pacific salmon, according to the Biological Assessment prepared for the project. Features of essential habitat for the life stages (spawning, rearing and migration) include, but aren’t limited to, adequate substrate composition, water quality and quantity, depth and velocity, channel gradient and stability, food, cover and habitat complexity.

Hatchery officials expect coho salmon and steelhead to primarily benefit from the fish ladder, but possibly bull trout, too — a “threatened” species under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Efforts to modernize the intake on Canyon Creek have been in motion since the mid-1990s, but it wasn’t until 2012 that WDFW officials were able to allocate funds from the Jobs Now bill for the approximately $2 million project.

Reach Alana Linderoth at alinderoth@sequimgazette.com.