[/media-credit] Removing the Odell Creek Dam
By Miko Ruhlen. Feb. 16, 2017. “The big picture is we put it back to what it was. The stream was returned to its original path, vegetation was planted to mimic the surrounding area,” said Cindy Thieman, Hood River Watershed Group coordinator. It took six years to obtain permits, funding, partners, and contractors to remove the Odell Creek Dam. The dam was removed and stream and habitat restoration work was completed by late September 2016.
THIRTY-SIX YEARS PRIOR, in 1980 Fred Plog got the idea of installing a dam on Odell Creek from staff at a booth on hydro power at the Oregon State Fair. Due to a worldwide oil shortage, in 1980 President Jimmy Carter proclaimed a national energy shortage. States responded by promoting renewable energy projects: wind, solar, geothermal, and hydro power. The Plog’s dam became a part of this effort.
It took five years for Fred and Wilma Plog to obtain permits from 14 different agencies, a contract for the energy, funding for the project, and for construction to be completed on the dam and infrastructure.
“I got a good start on a bedspread sitting through all those meetings,” Wilma Plog told the Ruralite with a laugh in March of 1986 (Code 26- March 1986 -17).
[/media-credit] Odell Creek Dam and Fish Ladder
Five years to install the dam. Six years to remove it and put it back to what it had been before.
IN THE 25-YEAR INTERIM, this 12-foot high and 30-foot wide dam restricted passage of fish to upper Odell Creek. It was estimated the dam would generate one million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year to sell to Pacific Power and Light (Ruralite March 1986).
Odell Creek Dam was built near the mouth of Odell Creek just above its confluence with the Hood River. This dam had a half acre pond behind it, a fish ladder and screen, 1,500 feet of pipe/penstock from the dam to the power house, and three turbine generators licensed to generate 225 kW.
Power generation commenced in 1985. It is unclear whether the Plog’s ever sold enough energy to pay for the cost of installing the dam, but the dam operation lease was sold twice after it was installed. The property was sold in 2010. Jim Jans was the dam operator and dam leaseholder in 2010, but did not own the property.
[/media-credit] Fish Ladder Odell Creek (original)
EVERYTHING CHANGED IN 2010 when the Oregon Water Resources permit expired.
In order to renew the permit, Jim Jans had to ensure that the dam met current, more stringent, fish passage and screening standards. This creek was identified as important potential habitat for Lower Columbia winter steelhead (threatened), as well as populations of resident rainbow trout and coastal cutthroat trout (Oregon listed sensitive species) by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Juvenile steelhead and smaller resident fish were unable to jump the ladder because the 12-inch increment baffle heights were too high. In 2010, 6-inch increments were part of the requirements. Additionally, small fish could get stuck on the intake screen, because the hydro project did not meet modern screening criteria.
[/media-credit] Fish Screen (former) Odell Creek Dam
The dam leaseholder, Jans sought help from Steve Stampfli, Hood River Watershed Group coordinator in 2010. An economic evaluation determined that upgrades to the dam and infrastructure would cost more than future net power revenues. Power prices in 2010 were about a third of what they had been in 1980s. In 2013, the dam leaseholder and the landowner decided that the dam should be removed due to the economics and negative environmental impacts to the creek.
DAMS DO NOT LAST FOREVER. Concrete cracks and crumbles, sediment builds up, equipment ages, turbines chip or crack. Dams are neither easy nor cheap to update or remove.
[/media-credit] Removing Odell Creek Dam
A study of several hundred North American dams revealed that hydro dam operating costs rise dramatically around 25-35 years. In some cases, the project owner pays for removal or upgrades. But some older small dams in the United States have simply been abandoned by their owners due to lack of funding. Some of these have been washed away with storms, but others have had to be removed through taxpayer dollars.
Fortunately for Odell Creek, The Hood River Watershed Group assisted in obtaining $450,000 for dam removal and habitat restoration. Funding for this project was provided by the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board ($342,732) which receives a percentage of Oregon lottery revenues. Additional funding came from Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife ($65,000), and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs ($35,000).
[/media-credit] Restoration of Odell Creek
RESTORING THE CREEK back to its original state was a long, arduous process. Permits were needed from multiple agencies: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Division of State Lands, U.S. Corps of Engineers, and Hood River County. River Design Group designed the dam removal and stream restoration, while the Hood River Watershed Group hired a contractor with heavy machinery to remove the concrete structure, divert the stream through a bypass pipe during construction, and remove over 2,500 cubic yards (approximately 210 dump truck loads) of sediment accumulated from behind the dam. To replace the former irrigation diversion, a concrete vault with a fish screen had to be installed at the edge of the channel to accommodate an existing irrigation water right for 18 acres of adjacent orchard land.
The challenge to restoring Odell Creek meant excavating a new channel, and placing large boulders and cobbles to create the ‘backbone.’ To replicate a natural stream bed, small cobbles, gravel, and sand were added, and large wood was placed along the edge of the channel to improve fish habitat and protect the bank from high stream flows. A total of 750 native trees and shrubs were planted to mimic the surrounding habitat including vine maple, western red cedar, sword fern, and snowberry.
Although this portion of Odell Creek is still private property, the hydro power water right for this portion of Odell Creek has been converted to an in-stream flow right held by the State of Oregon. “The hydro power right is different than an irrigation right,” says Thieman.
Steelhead
SINCE THE DAM REMOVAL, rainbow trout and coastal cutthroat trout now have permanent upstream and downstream passage, and steelhead can access four and a half miles of upstream habitat with potential for spawning and rearing in upper Odell Creek. “This project was successful for re-establishing connectivity,” said Ted Wise, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife East Region Hydro power Coordinator. “It is very exciting to see what happens in response to the barrier being removed.”
The good news for fish is that “..Odell Creek Dam was somewhat unique in its scale for the area,” said Wise, “While there are some much smaller dams on private property in the Gorge, fish passage on the smaller dams is easily solved.”
The Odell Creek Dam was the last hydro power dam listed in the Lower Columbia Recovery Plan projects deemed essential for recovering salmon, steelhead and bulltrout populations in the Hood River Basin. Since 2000, 27 fish passage projects have been completed in the Hood River basin, including the 2010 removal of the Powerdale Dam.
While there are no other hydro power dams pending significant overhaul or removal in the Hood River Basin, the Lower Columbia Recovery Plan lists a number of future projects short-listed to help fish recovery: in-stream habitat restoration, delivery and distribution pipelines, on-farm irrigation efficiency, riparian habitat restoration, and fish passage (culverts). If all Hood River Basin recovery projects planned to recover fish species were funded and implemented over the next 25 years, the total cost would be $66 million. One key source of funding for some of these projects comes from the Confederated Tribes of Warms Springs.
Recovering steelhead, salmon, bull trout and their habitat is a complex undertaking relying on water conservation projects, economic incentives, and legal mechanisms. As the Hood River Watershed Group stated in their report: “Perhaps more difficult will be ingraining a sense of necessity and personal responsibility for water conservation.”
[/media-credit] Odell Creek after restoration efforts
RECENTLY, THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY listed several Gorge rivers as potentially water quality impaired due to pollution. Odell Creek was one of those listed. “In all streams, if we have ‘ag’ use, there is always the potential for pesticide run off,” said Wise, “and nutrient run-off into the streams. So working with land owners to look at ways to prevent run-off and to manage livestock in riparian areas is really advantageous to stream health.”
Odell Creek is one of six strategic implementation areas in the State. Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) recently did a survey of agricultural land in the Odell Watershed to evaluate agriculture’s impact on water quality, according to Jordan Kim of Hood River Soil and Water Conservation District. Surveys focused on livestock near creeks, manure storage, quality of streamside vegetation, and sources of water pollution from agricultural use. As as result, “The ODA is offering landowners assistance to protect habitat along Odell Creek with an open house on February 21, 2017,” says Kim. Technical assistance from staff at Hood River Soil and Water Conservation District may be available as well as opportunities for financial assistance.
RELATED POSTS:
Columbia River Dams and Salmon
Irrigating our Future in the Midst of Climate Change
Paid Advertisement:
