May 22, 2007
Largest dam removal in Oregon set for mid-summer
PGE to begin demolition of hydro project in the Sandy River Basin
Sandy, Ore. — Following years of preparation, Portland General Electric will start to remove its 22-million-watt Bull Run Hydroelectric Project this summer. The Marmot Dam on the Sandy River will be disassembled in late July and August, followed by the Little Sandy Dam on its namesake river in the summer of 2008. The removals will create unimpeded salmon and steelhead passage from the southwest slopes of Mt. Hood to the Pacific Ocean.
The 47-foot-high Marmot Dam will be the largest dam ever removed in Oregon and the tallest dam removed in the Northwest in 40 years.
PGE, headquartered in Portland, is also in the process of donating 1,500 acres of its Sandy River Basin land, the centerpiece of a planned 9,000-acre natural resource and recreation area that will serve the entire region.
The actions are part of a Bull Run project “decommissioning” plan, a unique collaboration of 23 diverse organizations, including environmental groups, state and federal natural resource agencies, local governments and businesses.
Speaking for that partnership, Julie Keil, PGE’s director of Hydro Licensing said, “This plan opens the way to restore wild salmon and steelhead runs that were once among the strongest on the Pacific Coast. The new protected area will improve habitat and increase recreational opportunities in the basin. The Sandy River will remain one of the top steelhead and Chinook fishing destinations in Oregon.”
Good news for threatened fish species
The Sandy River Basin’s coho salmon, winter steelhead and spring Chinook salmon have been listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists characterize the Sandy and Little Sandy rivers as some of the best salmon and steelhead habitat in northwest Oregon.
Removal of Marmot Dam will give salmon and steelhead unimpeded access to about 100 miles of stream habitat above the dam. Work will begin this July, with construction of rock coffer dams upstream and downstream of Marmot Dam to create a dry work area on both sides of the structure. The coffer dams will be breached in the late fall when high seasonal flows return to the Sandy River.
The following summer, demolition of the 16-foot high Little Sandy Dam will allow fish passage at that location for the first time in almost a century. The structure currently diverts almost all of the water out of the Little Sandy River for power production. More than six miles of habitat will be restored when the natural flows are restored to the Little Sandy River.
Other components include:
- The 4,700-foot tunnel, which takes Sandy River water from Marmot Dam through a ridge and then into the Little Sandy River, will be closed in 2007.
- Roslyn Lake will be drained and the land restored to natural contours in 2008.
- An almost three-mile-long wooden flume running out of the Little Sandy Dam to the lake will be demolished in 2008.
- Powerhouse — Unless a new owner is found, PGE will remove it in 2009. That structure is on the Bull Run River, for which the entire project is named.
PGE will donate all its water rights to the affected streams to the State of Oregon. The rights will remain “in stream,” preventing any future commercial or agricultural use of those rights.
PGE announced it would shut down the Bull Run project in May 1999. In October 2002, PGE CEO and President Peggy Fowler, then Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber and representatives of the 21 other collaborating organizations signed an historic agreement detailing plans for removing the two dams and other elements.
Recreation opportunities expand
Located within 25 miles of downtown Portland, the 9,000-acre conservation and recreation area will expand recreational opportunities in the Sandy River Basin. The Western Rivers Conservancy, based in Portland, is assembling 5,000 acres of the land along a 15-mile stretch of the basin, including the PGE donation and other private properties. That portion will be conveyed to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) which will combine it with existing BLM holdings and manage the entire area. The BLM will determine the uses of the property over a two-year planning period that will include public input.
Additionally, Marmot Dam removal will enhance whitewater rafting and kayaking on the Sandy. Roslyn Lake Park will operate through the 2007 summer recreation season.
“We appreciate the Sandy community’s understanding that Roslyn Lake Park must close when the Bull Run hydro project stops operating,” Keil said. “Overall, we believe public recreation in the Sandy River Basin will be better as a result of the dam removal and the new protected area along the Sandy — not to mention the benefits to threatened salmon and steelhead.”
For more information click the links below or visit our Sandy River section.
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PGE, headquartered in Portland, is a fully integrated electric utility that serves more than 796,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in northwest Oregon.
For more information, contact:
Mark Fryburg, PGE,
503-464-8481
