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OUTDOOR ATTRACTION Open house showcases Elk Creek trail for hikers, bikers, horseback riders Army Corps celebrates Elk Creek Dam's transformation to recreation area Comment By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Follow @@MTwriterFreeman MailTribune.com By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Follow @@MTwriterFreeman Posted May. 10, 2016 at 2:40 PM Updated May 10, 2016 at 3:49 PM By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Follow @@MTwriterFreeman Posted May. 10, 2016 at 2:40 PM Updated May 10, 2016 at 3:49 PM --> Elk Creek Day The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will host its inaugural Elk Creek Day from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 14, at the former Elk Creek Dam site near Trail. A geocac... » Read more X Elk Creek Day The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will host its inaugural Elk Creek Day from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 14, at the former Elk Creek Dam site near Trail. A geocaching event will begin at 9 a.m., followed by guided nature and history walks that begin at 9:30 a.m. and run every half hour. A 5K family fun run is set for 10 a.m., with "slowest bike races" scheduled for 11 a.m. and noon. Booths and displays will also be featured. To get there, take Highway 62 north past Trail, then turn north on Elk Creek Road. Just past milepost 2, turn right into the Corps property. The parking lot is at the end of the road. » Social News TRAIL — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is hoping to lure hikers, cyclists, horseback riders and others to its vast Elk Creek holdings, which once were slated to become Elk Creek Lake but were kept terrestrial with the notching of the half-built dam in 2008. The agency is holding the first of what it hopes will be an annual Elk Creek Day to show off its new bridges on a five-mile hiking and cycling trail and highlight the cultural and historical features along the route. "This is sort of our open house, our coming-out ball," says David Hays, the Corps' natural-resources manager in the Rogue Basin. "For the most part, it's been a lot of lucky locals using the area," Hays says. "We're trying to invite a larger group of visitors." The agency has rebuilt four bridges for foot, hoof and bike traffic that will be showcased to the public during the event, which runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 14, and includes a 5K run, geocaching, interpretive hikes and slow-bike races. The event will introduce the public to the walk-in access part of the Corps' 3,500 acres, including the stretch of an old Jackson County road that now serves as access to Elk Creek swimming holes, grassy fields and complex wildlife habitats. Last year, the Corps formally converted the Elk Creek holdings from a construction project to an operations project, opening the door for bridge work, restrooms and parking areas to create a low-intensity recreation site amid habitats managed for wild salmon spawning and rearing as well as other wildlife. "For the foreseeable future, the Elk Creek infrastructure is going to be what you see now," Hays says. The Elk Creek Dam saga conjures many memories since the Corps purchased private lands in 1971 to become the site of Elk Creek Lake, one of three Rogue Basin reservoirs envisioned by the agency for flood-control and fisheries management. Lost Creek and Applegate dams were completed, but Elk Creek Dam's construction was halted in 1988 because of environmental lawsuits. The Corps could not legally complete the half-built dam because it couldn't create mitigation to offset the warmer waters that would flow out of the reservoir and alter Rogue salmon habitat. So the dam was notched in 2008 to allow fish passage into the upper basin, which is considered important spawning and rearing habitat for federally protected wild steelhead and coho salmon. Most of the land has remained open to the public, except areas immediately upstream and downstream of the dam's remnants. But visitors can hike past the pyramids of gravel meant for dam construction that remain on site. Also accessible is a wooden Stonehenge-like reconstruction of a portion of the Elk Creek streambed immediately upstream of the former dam site. Shortly after the dam's notching, the Corps spent about $2 million to turn the creek channel upstream of the dam from a moonscape to a thriving complex habitat for wild coho and steelhead. Then the agency slowly stepped up its recreational facilities. Reach Mail Tribune reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470 or [email protected] . Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MTwriterFreeman . By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Follow @@MTwriterFreeman MailTribune.com By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Follow @@MTwriterFreeman Posted May. 10, 2016 at 2:40 PM Updated May 10, 2016 at 3:49 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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