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Less scenery, more fish Photo by Bob Pennell Ashland teens Jackie Curry, left, Luke Judge, Brook Golling and Rosalie Davis will miss the waterfalls created by cement dams along Ashland Creek. The dams have to come out to help fish. Lithia Park might lose its waterfalls By DANI DODGE ASHLAND -- A series of manmade waterfalls in Lithia Park's portion of Ashland Creek may soon be flattened to allow coho salmon and steelhead trout to more easily make their way up the river. "These have been a fixture in the stream for many many years," said Park and Recreation Department director Ken Mickelsen. "It's very popular for people to sit and watch the water cascading over the dams." But when the city received permission to repair Ashland Creek in Lithia Park after the 1997 floods, officials agreed to improve the fish habitat. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is recommending removal of four manmade dams that create the waterfalls. The city also could build fish ladders to aid the salmon and trout. Two of the waterfalls are just above the playground, one is near the tennis courts and one is at a swimming hole at the very top of Lithia Park -- the Granite Street Reservoir. "I used to go under the waterfalls all the time," said 13-year-old Luke Judge, as he hung out with his friends near the waterfall above the playground Thursday. "The waterfalls are one of the main things we like when we walk through the park. "That at least makes the river exciting." But the waterfalls were all manmade dams placed in the creek over the years, and the fish and wildlife specialists believe fish would be better off without the structures. The lowest on the creek, just above the playground, was built to allow a city waterline to go under the creek. But the waterline has since been abandoned, Mickelsen said. One waterfall just a few steps up from the first was built to divert water to the fabric mill that used to exist in the park. The dam now diverts water into the lower duck pond, where the city's signature swans reside. The dam near the tennis courts was used to pump water into the upper duck pond. And the biggest dam, at the top of the park, creates the Granite Street Reservoir, a swimming hole used by hundreds of people each weekend that the mercury soars. Thursday, lifeguards watched over the children swimming in the cool swimming hole while adults munched on potato chips and read novels. If the dam was removed, the swimming hole would no longer exist. "If they took this out, I'd really miss it," said Holly Stocking, 38, of Talent as she watched her children play in the water. ``We are here about 20 times every summer." The city hired biologist Scott English to make recommendations on what should be done with the dams. He will make a presentation to commissioners at the Park and Recreation Commission's next meeting at 7 p.m. Monday in the Civic Center Council Chambers. In a letter to Mickelsen, English recommends returning the lower three dams to a natural topography of cascading step pools, although he does suggest other alternatives. He makes no recommendation on the Granite Street Reservoir because that was only recently pointed out by the state as another problem for the parks department. Mickelsen said the commission is well aware that the sound of cascading water in Lithia Park may be a thing of the past. "There are laws that require barriers removed from stream channels -- and these are classified as artificial because they are manmade," Mickelsen said. "It comes down to removal, or fish ladders to allow the fish to go up." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA