A rogue Rogue?

One of O.A.R.S. guests’ favorite family-friendly whitewater rafting vacations spots – the Rogue River in southern Oregon – is about to be set free. Below is part of an article by Matthew Preusch of The Oregonian Staff. You can find the full article here.

Rogue River dams to come down – Salmon runs are expected to grow in iconic Oregon river

One of Oregon’s iconic rivers is on the cusp of a major makeover. What’s happening on the Rogue River isn’t so much transformation as reversion. Dams built during the previous century will come down. Reservoirs will return to running water.

And soon, for the first time in more than 100 years, the Rogue could flow unimpeded for 157 miles from the Cascade foothills to the Pacific Ocean. Four dam modification projects are in different stages, three on the main stem and a fourth along Elk Creek, a major tributary.

Dam decommissioning on the Rogue, the largest salmon-producing river in Oregon outside of the Columbia River system, is part of an accelerating trend of removing or altering aging and environmentally harmful dams across the Northwest and the United States.

The most recent tally by the conservation group American Rivers estimates about 273 dams were removed between 1999 and 2006. Last summer, Marmot Dam on the Sandy River was taken out, the largest removal in Oregon history. This summer, the Chiloquin Dam on the Klamath Basin’s Sprague River is set to come out. Plans are under way to remove other dams on the White Salmon and Elwha rivers in Washington.

On the Rogue, the most costly and high-profile project is the removal of the 87-year-old Savage Rapids Dam east of Grants Pass and just upstream from the historic Weasku Inn, a favorite fishing getaway for Clark Gable.

The fate of the 456-foot-long, 39-foot-high dam was debated for a decade before irrigators, government agencies and conservationists agreed in 2001 to remove it so long as pumps could be built to divert water from the river for hay and pasture plots served by the Grants Pass Irrigation District.

"This is one of those deals where everyone comes out OK," irrigation district manager Dan Shepard said recently while overlooking the dam as it held back the Rogue for one final summer.

"It’s really great for the Rogue River," he said. "In a few years from now people are going to wonder what all the controversy was about."

Written by Tracy

Writer, Photographer, former Waterblogged Editor