River runs wilder now that dam is gone

updated 12:13 a.m. ET Oct. 11, 2009

ROGUE RIVER, Ore. - The wild and scenic Rogue River has become even wilder with the demolition of a dam that had hindered passage of salmon and steelhead to their spawning grounds for 88 years.

A flotilla of some 80 rafts, driftboats and kayaks celebrated the breaching of the Savage Rapids Dam on Saturday by floating through the remains of the concrete structure in southwest Oregon.

Among them was Jim Martin, rowing his own driftboat. His first job as a young fisheries biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife was monitoring how many salmon and steelhead were killed each year by the irrigation dam.

"Forty-one years ago I stood on that dam as a young biologist fresh out of school watching the fish die, and thinking how this dam had to come out for the health of this river," said Martin, who rose to be chief of fisheries for the department and now is conservation director of Pure Fishing. "People said, 'Jim, be realistic, it will never happen. And it's happening."

Since the dam was completed in 1921, the logging and mining that once sustained Southern Oregon have faded. Farms that the Grants Pass Irrigation District once served have sprouted homes that tap the water for lawns and gardens. And the salmon and steelhead have struggled, with an estimated 58,000 adult salmon and steelhead blocked from spawning grounds each year.

The battles to restore the waterway started in 1988, when the conservation group WaterWatch, which organized the celebration, Rogue Fly Fishers and the American Fisheries Society filed a protest to stop the irrigation district from drawing more water from the Rogue.

Pumps become the solution
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation took a look and decided the cheapest and best solution to provide water efficiently without harming fish was to remove the dam and replace it with pumps.

The irrigation district initially went along, but later flip-flopped and fought to save the dam. Lawsuits were filed. Battles flared in the state Capitol. The Rogue's coho salmon were declared a threatened species, and more lawsuits were filed.

By 2001, after losing every lawsuit and spending more than $1 million on legal fees, the district agreed to remove the dam. The next year the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board pledged $3 million, and a year later Congress started approving funding that would eventually cover the rest of the $39.3 million cost.

"One reason this project took so long is people had to adjust their notions of what progress was," said John DeVoe of Portland, executive director of WaterWatch. "There was a lot of opposition to removing the dam because it was viewed as a symbol of progress."

Jeff Barnard / AP Former Oregon fisheries chief Jim Martin talks Saturday about his years working to remove the Savage Rapids Dam.

The Rogue, one of the original rivers to get federal wild and scenic protection in 1968, has given up its steelhead to such names as Western writer Zane Grey and movie star Ginger Rogers. This section is miles above the wild section of the Rogue, where people come from around the world to float the whitewater, camp and fish. Here the river is hemmed in on all sides by houses — some with docks no longer reaching the water — Interstate 5 and U.S. Highway 97.

That didn't stop Roger Funk, a carpenter from Talent, from joining the celebration. He recalled sitting on the banks of the river as a child and watching for hours as the salmon moved upstream. But over the years, the numbers of fish steadily dwindled. He joined the flotilla with his 15-year-old son, and a neighbor, nursing student Maddy Morse.

"I have been rafting the Rogue for 35 years," Funk said. "Taking the dam down to have a freeflowing river is exhilarating."

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