Premium
Breaching of a Small Irrigation Dam in Oregon: A Case History
Author(s) -
Smith Lance W.,
Dittmer Eric,
Prevost Marc,
Burt Donald R.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
north american journal of fisheries management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.587
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1548-8675
pISSN - 0275-5947
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8675(2000)020<0205:boasid>2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - dam removal , fishery , irrigation , habitat , environmental science , water resource management , hydrology (agriculture) , geography , engineering , ecology , geotechnical engineering , biology , paleontology , sediment
Dam removal or breaching (partial removal) is an increasingly common remedy for fish passage, habitat degradation, water quality, and other problems caused by dams in the United States. The Jackson Street Dam, built in 1960 on Bear Creek in Medford, Oregon, resulted in a barrier to migration of Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. and steelhead O. mykiss, loss of stream habitat, eutrophication, and an algae‐choked impoundment in downtown Medford. The 11‐ft‐high concrete and wooden structure was owned and operated by the Rogue River Valley Irrigation District as one of its primary diversions. The dam was breached in 1998, culminating a 13‐year, US$1.2 million effort led by the Rogue Valley Council of Governments and the Medford Urban Renewal Agency in collaboration with the irrigation district, other government agencies, and local citizens. Breaching reduced the dam to a series of three concrete steps dropping 1 ft each, thereby providing fish passage and restoring a free‐flowing stream within the former impoundment. Before the dam was breached, a replacement diversion was built upstream of the dam site to provide water to the irrigation district. The new 3‐ft‐high diversion is equipped with effective fish passage facilities and is removed from Oct to April when irrigation is not needed. Major factors affecting the project were the large number of stakeholders with conflicting missions, underestimation of the project's cost and time frame, tests of the new diversion before breaching of the old dam, perseverance of key project supporters, and lack of opposition to the project. Lessons learned from the project include the importance of stakeholder collaboration, selection of a volunteer lead agency or organization, consideration of the project owner's needs, education of the public about the project, accurate budget development, and setting realistic expectations. A set of 10 recommendations is provided for the planning and implementation of similar efforts, based on the lessons learned from this and other successful dam removal or breaching projects.