Many cities in Washington, cities like Issaquah and Sammamish, have come to regard the state’s iconic fish species as something of a modern totem.

Like the indigenous populations that were the first inhabitants of these lands, now too our 20th century communities have come to see the economic, social, and environmental importance of the populations of the Chinook, the Cutthroat, the Coho and the Steelhead.

Whereas before healthy salmonid populations meant a wealthy harvest, now they have their value in tourism, recreation, and a need to meet our environmental responsibilities.

Issaquah in particular has tied itself closely to the salmon — the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery is one of the primary tourist attractions of the city, and the hub of the Issaquah Salmon Days Festival every October.

All over the Eastside, volunteer groups and city staff work on habitat restoration projects to help the struggling fish populations.

The hatchery itself produces 2.5 million salmon fry every year to boost local stocks.

But despite the gains, one major impediment to the goal of a greater population of naturally breeding fish still exists. And it has plagued the city since the 1930s.

About half a mile upstream from the hatchery along the Issaquah Creek is a dam which regulates water intake into the hatchery.

To help fish traveling upstream get past the dam and make it to suitable breeding grounds further along, a fish ladder of sorts was constructed.

But, in the words of Hatchery Operations Manager Doug Hatfield, that ladder is “not meeting current compliance criteria” for what is expected of such structures.

What that translates to is hundreds of adult salmon dying each year at the dam when they leap or swim up on the concrete apron at its base and are unable to turn around in the shallow water and swim downstream.

Those are fish that would otherwise be breeding, and producing spawn a little way upstream.

According to one study, removing the 70-year-old structure and building a functioning fish ladder would result in a 509 percent increase in the number of adult Chinook salmon returning to spawn in Issaquah Creek, and a 430 percent increase in juvenile

Chinook production, resulting in a 60 percent increase in productivity of the population and a 157 percent increase in diversity of Chinook salmon within the watershed.

And while Hatfield does warn that figures like this are often based on some guesswork, he does agree that the “aged and deteriorating” structure does represent a “significant impediment to passage.”

“We have been looking at this challenge for at least a decade now,” he said. “It has been described by the Water Resource Inventory Area Salmon Recovery Council as the most significant thing we could do to help the local Chinook Salmon population.”

The Chinook Salmon is currently listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, which means that it is present in such small numbers that it is at risk of extinction.

But despite the widespread agreement as to the importance of the project, that goodwill has not yet translated into the dollars that will make it happen.

A few years ago, the US Army Corps of Engineers took on the project, and there was hope that their significant manpower and resources could make the eco-dream a reality.

But then the Iraq war happened, and Hurricane Katrina, and the Corps were called away to more urgent missions.

The project has received some funding — about $470,000, from a mixture of government and community groups, including the State of Washington Recreation and Conservation Office, the the Muckleshoot Tribe, and Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery. And the current state budget promises a little more.

This has allowed for studies to be done and designs to be made.

City of Issaquah Surface Water Manager Kerry Ritland is the man charged with helping the project itself negotiate the bureaucratic and budgetary ladders and falls, just like the ones that are killing the salmon.

And they just might kill the project too. About $3 million dollars more is needed to make it happen, and at the moment that money is being held by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

With $170 million to spend on marine habitat projects nationwide, NOAA is currently weighing up the merits of about $1.5 billion worth of applications.

The City of Issaquah’s proposal to build a new fish ladder is among them.

Ritland is waiting for a call, any day now.