Experience • Engineering

Buffalo Dam Fish Passage

  • Client Fall River Electric

  • Location Buffalo River, west of Yellowstone National Park

  • Services Design

Project Highlights

  • Designed and constructed a 270-foot-long concrete fish passage utilizing weirs orifices to make the elevation change (12 feet) over 54 steps.

  • Designed and constructed a new screened penstock intake with three-millimeter openings.

  • Abated leakage through the existing dam using sheet pile driving along the river bottom, providing flow to the fish ladder.

  • Designed to meet goals of the project: Allowing the utility to continue operation of the hydro facility at historic production levels while providing adequate water and means to allow fish passage and improve the overall health of the fish population.