Howard Hanson Dam is a multi-purpose project operated by the Army Corps on the Green River. The Green River continues to serve as Tacoma Water’s primary drinking water source and a key supply resource to hundreds of thousands of residents in Pierce and King counties.

Downstream fish passage at Howard Hanson will help ensure additional drinking water storage to meet future regional needs, while reopening tens of miles of important salmon and steelhead habitat that will increase salmon production, critical for recovery of Southern Resident orcas. The State of Washington’s Lead Entity for salmon recovery in the Green and Duwamish rivers believes that completing Howard Hanson downstream fish passage will approximately double the available habitat for endangered salmon and steelhead in the Green-Duwamish watershed and could be the largest single opportunity to increase salmon production in Puget Sound.