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94 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, May 26, 2005 Today's News | Shop Our Valley | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery | Contact Us SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Britt Festival Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Biz Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend October 16, 2004 Savage Rapids Dam fish ladders back in operation By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune ROGUE RIVER — For the first time in nearly two weeks, Rogue River water began flowing Friday through the fish ladders at Savage Rapids Dam, where a gaffe in a gravel-removal project caused the annual October maintenance to drag on longer than normal. The Grants Pass Irrigation District on Oct. 1 began the annual draw-down of its small reservoir to remove up to 1,000 cubic yards of gravel built up near irrigation water intakes and do maintenance work during the so-called "winterizing" of the dam that normally takes less than a week. During that time, the fish ladders are left dry, delaying some of the migration of fall chinook salmon, summer steelhead and coho salmon up the Rogue at the Jackson-Josephine county line. This time, however, GPID violated a Oregon Department of State Lands permit by pushing gravel away from the radial fish screens and leaving it in the river bed instead of removing it. A citizen complained about the gravel to Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist Dan Van Dyke, who checked with the Department of State Lands about GPID’s permit. Advertisement The DSL informed district officials of the violation Oct. 7, said Bob Lobdell, DSL’s natural resources coordinator. GPID arranged with Copeland Sand & Gravel for the cleanup and proper removal of the gravel, which was completed Thursday, said Julie Webster, GPID’s office manager. GPID employees then began slowly raising the reservoir level in short increments to fill the fish ladders, she said. Webster said Dave Howard, who recently replaced Dan Shepherd as GPID manager, misread the DSL permit and thought the district need not remove the gravel. "Along the lines, there was a break in communications," Lobdell said. The violation will be reviewed to ensure no repeat in the future. Lobdell did not expect any fines. "They responded very quickly to get the equipment in and clean it up," Lobdell said. "That’s the most important thing." Losing use of the two fish ladders slowed salmon and steelhead migration, but the problem did not appear to be too troublesome for migrating salmon, Van Dyke said. Federal studies show that adult salmon can swim upstream through the dam’s two open radial gates when Rogue flows are less than 2,000 cubic feet per second. Flows downstream at Grants Pass, the closest gauge, were about 1,300 cfs this week, which Van Dyke said was well within those thresholds. ODFW biologists also flew over the dam area Wednesday to see if large schools of salmon and steelhead were holding at the dam’s base waiting for passage, Van Dyke said. The trip revealed no large numbers of "kegged up" fish, he said. "It certainly isn’t the best situation for migrating fish," Van Dyke said. "But we did not see significant numbers of fish kegged up behind the dam." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Free Music Downloads Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg diamonds Distance Education Diamonds Online Poker Auto Insurance Mesothelioma Slippers Student Loans tcg student loan consolidation teleconferencing Website Design & Marketing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Mortgage Calculator Free Home-Loan Referrals Payday Loans Advertisement s