UMATILLA, Ore.-The Pacific Salmon Visitor Information Center offers a fun and educational opportunity to learn about the iconic Pacific Northwest Salmon.
Located on the Oregon side of McNary Lock and Dam, the information center features interpretive displays, visual programs, taxidermized animals of the area, and a juvenile fish facility that monitors salmon smelt on their journey to the ocean.
Operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the information center chronicles the lifestyle, history and cultural significance of salmon in the region.
The benefits of McNary Dam, including hydroelectricity, flood control, navigation, irrigation and recreational opportunities, are also illustrated at the information center.
Visitors can view a five-minute video on the salmon lifecycle, from stream to ocean and back again to spawn, that also illustrates how the commercial canning industry in the late nineteenth century, and dams in the twentieth century, disrupted the natural lifecycle of the Pacific Salmon.
The video then poses the question of “how to save salmon and dams?” before exploring the present state of conservation and preservation efforts.
Visitors can also go out on the sky walk off the fourth floor of the information center for an aerial view of McNary Dam and the fish ladder that helps salmon get over the dam.
The information center is free and open to the public and provides a fun couple of hours exploring regional culture, history and industry.
From October through April the Information Center is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and then seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. from May through September.
Visitors are welcome to sign the guestbook and take self-guided tours at their own pace. More information on group tours is available by calling the USACE at 541-922-2268.
The Pacific Salmon Visitor Information Center is located about a mile east of Umatilla on Highway 730 to Devore Road.
