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Elk Creek Dam may get notch next spring Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Roy Moore of Oregon's Department of Fish and Wildlife climbs a ladder to the fish elevator at the half-built Elk Creek Dam. Moore counts the fish and then transports them upstream of the dam. A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposal would "notch" the dam to allow easier fish passage as soon as next year, if Congress approves the funding. Species act could do trick in Congress, Corps believes By MARK FREEMAN Half-built Elk Creek Dam could be notched as early as next spring under a new federal proposal to give threatened salmon free swimming past the half-built structure along an upper Rogue River tributary. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers now is asking Congress for money to start lining up a private contractor that will cut or blast a V-like notch into the dam so Elk Creek flows unimpeded through it no later than October 2002. Corps studies conclude that this notching, expected to cost about $6 million, is the best and cheapest way to ensure that threatened wild coho salmon pass the dam site about a mile upstream from the creek's confluence with the upper Rogue near Trail. The dam has sat idle since 1987, when lawsuits halted construction a year after it began. Since 1992, migrating adult fish have been trapped downstream of the dam, then trucked to upstream spawning grounds for release. The request, to the House Appropriations Committee, sets the stage for yet another budgetary showdown between those who want to see the dam scrapped as a fish-killing financial albatross, and diametrically opposed forces who want it un-notched and finished so it can feed water to the growing Rogue Valley. "The people keep changing, but the need for (stored) water still exists," said Jerry Latham, 88, a member of a local water-advocacy group that has lobbied for the dam, as well as its completed sister dams of Lost Creek and Applegate. "We'll fight this until we all pass away, or the environmentalists pass away," Latham said. "Hopefully, they'll die first." But the Corps and its dam-notching allies believe the death blow to keeping the half-built dam as is lies within the federal Endangered Species Act. The National Marine Fisheries Service recently concluded that notching the dam is the only guaranteed biological way the project will not harm the threatened coho in Elk Creek, a basin identified as primary coho-spawning habitat and labeled as a key watershed to helping restore the basin's wild coho. Furthermore, the fisheries service report concludes that trapping adult salmon and hauling them to spawning grounds is not a viable long-term solution, even if the trapping facilities at the dam's base are upgraded. "I think the Corps pretty much has to have this (notching) in their budget," said Bob Hunter, a Medford environmental attorney who advocates notching. "But it's been so politicized, we're concerned that they may not be able to keep this in their budget." Since 1998, similar Corps budget requests efforts annually have been blocked in Congress - first by Rep. Bob Smith, prior to his retirement, and lately by Rep. Greg Walden. The Oregon Republicans have added language into Corps funding bills requiring the agency to continue trapping and hauling fish around the dam site. But Walden aides said the Oregon congressman will have to look closely at the fisheries service opinion and other factors before deciding whether continue funding the trap-and-haul program and not the notching. "That certainly will be something he'll look seriously at, but we don't know what the strategy will be at this point," said Jeff Eager, a Walden spokesman. "But any action that does take place will likely take place in the appropriations process." At the Corps' request, President Bush's draft budget for next year includes about $1.7 million to start searching for a contractor this summer, award the notching contract by next January and have most of the actual work done by fall 2002. Concrete now spawns a ravine, with Elk Creek flowing through a tunnel. The notching would allow the creek to flow freely past the remaining concrete sides. The contract would be to design and then construct the notch, likely with some combination of cutting and/or blasting done in a way that it would not jeopardize the integrity of the remaining structure, said Doug Clarke, the Corps' Elk Creek project manager. Notching also leaves open the option of one day finishing the dam and filling the proposed Elk Creek Lake behind it if future generations deem its trade-offs of water for native fish are worth it, according to the Corps. Notching is not only more effective but also cheaper in the long run than trapping and hauling fish, even when the cost of rebuilding the cut-away concrete is factored in. The notching does not mean an end to the dam - a move that only a vote of Congress could do. But Corps leaders believe it is the most cost-effective way to mothball the abandoned dam - a move Clarke instead calls "long-term management in an uncompleted state." "This is the best way to provide fish passage at the project without precluding future completion," Clarke said. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Facts about Elk Creek Dam - Elk Creek Dam was originally authorized as part of the Rogue Basin's trio of dams meant to control winter floods and release stored water in the summer to enhance Rogue fish habitat within the main-stem river. - Elk Creek Dam's original design called for it to hold a reservoir roughly the size of Applegate Lake, and cut off all fish migration at the dam. - Construction began in 1986, but a court injunction over fishery and water-quality concerns halted construction in 1987. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers came back in 1989 with a plan to finish the dam but not to create a summer lake. The dam instead would have a hole in its base so Elk Creek could flow through it and fish could swim past it under most water conditions, but it could be used to curb flooding during high water. - After continued resistance from environmental groups, the Corps decided in 1996 not to pursue the environmental studies needed to get a court injunction lifted. The move effectively left the project in limbo. - If the dam had been finished as planned in the late '80s, the total bill would have come to $121 million - with slightly more than half for construction. - Through January, the agency has spent almost $110 million on Elk Creek planning, construction and legal defenses, said Doug Clarke, the Corps' Elk Creek project manager. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.