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GPID voters: Remove the dam Vote will have effect in Congress, Walden says By PAUL FATTIG GRANTS PASS -- Grants Pass Irrigation District patrons sent a message to Uncle Sam Tuesday: Remove Savage Rapids Dam, but bring your wallet. A majority of the district patrons -- 1,821 to 1,088 -- supported a controversial proposal in Tuesday's mail-in vote to remove the dam on the Rogue River at a cost of some $27 million. "We are very pleased," said Don Greenwood, chairman of the GPID Board of Directors. While the vote is not binding on the fate of the dam completed in 1921, it will serve as a mandate that will be presented to Congress to ask for funding, Greenwood said. There are 6,720 patrons in the district. There were 2,940 ballots returned, or 43 percent; 31 ballots were ruled invalid, leaving the final totals. The vote will send an effective message to Congress, 2nd District Congressman Greg Walden said in an interview before the results were tallied. "If they decide they would like to see Savage Rapids Dam taken out and for the federal government to pay for it, that will have an impact on Congress," said Walden, a Republican from Hood River whose district includes Jackson and Josephine counties as well as Eastern Oregon. "My view has always been that there were still some local decisions to be made before Congress should jump in the middle of it," he added. "It (decisions) had to start with the local patrons." While opponents to the proposal say it includes contingencies that cannot be met, thus making the proposal pointless, Greenwood and immediate past GPID board chairman Dennis Becklin say it is the best way to remove the dam while protecting the river and the district. The proposal was crafted by the board late last year. In addition to removing the dam, the proposal also requires that Uncle Sam install and operate pumps to replace it, restore riparian zones along the reservoir, dispose of sediments behind the dam and compensate for economic losses caused by the removal. Both Greenwood and Becklin say that, given the growing opposition to the dam driven by environmental concerns, there is no question the dam will be removed. National and local environmental groups have called for the removal of the dam, citing concerns over fish passage. Gov. John Kitzhaber has also supported its removal. The National Marine Fisheries Service sued the district in 1998 for failing to meet Endangered Species Act requirements over threatened coho salmon. The Oregon Water Resources Commission canceled a supplemental water right last year after deciding the irrigation district had failed to make progress on a 1994 agreement to remove the dam and replace it with pumps. The district appealed the action to the Oregon Court of Appeals, where it is pending. Congressman Walden, a member of the Agriculture, Resources and Government Reform committees in the House, says he has been keeping an eye on the debate over the dam. "The vote will give us the support necessary to go before Congress in a united front," he said of Oregon's congressional delegation. "But there would be discussion of how much money is needed to accomplish the task," he added. "Frankly, $27 million is an enormous amount of money to be asking for." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA