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Building Strong® at Detroit Dam and Reservoir

Detroit Dam is located at river mile 49 on the North Santiam River, about 45 miles southeast of Salem, Ore.

Detroit Dam is a concrete dam with gated spillways. It was completed in 1953 with Big Cliff Dam, located just downstream, at a cost of $62.7 million. Detroit Dam has two hydropower generating units which were put into service in 1953, capable of producing 50 megawatts each.

Detroit Dam works together with Big Cliff Dam to provide flood risk management. Detroit’s other authorized primary purposes also include hydropower, water quality improvement, irrigation, fish and wildlife habitat and recreation.

Click the small map icon (picture's lower right corner) for a larger PDF version.

For more information

Detroit pamphlet

Contact us about Detroit:
General: 541-937-2131
Recreation: 541-942-5631

Email us about Detroit

Willamette Valley Project images

Caption

Operations: Detroit

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Environment

The Detroit project encompasses more than 6,500 acres. The reservoir is managed primarily through an agreement with the Willamette National Forest.

The reservoir is a designated stop along the Mt. Jefferson section of the Oregon Cascades Birding Trail. This Trail is a self-guided auto tour of nearly 200 prime birding destinations in the Oregon Cascades. This area provides songbird habitat in its hardwood stands, while osprey use lakeshore snags and trees as roosts and nesting sites and waterfowl including common mergansers nest at the lake.

To mitigate impacts caused by Corps dams to Chinook salmon and winter steelhead within the North Santiam River Basin, the Corps constructed the Marion Forks Fish Hatchery and the Minto Collection Facility. These facilities are operated by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife with funds provided by the Corps. Additionally, the Corps supports the ongoing effort towards the recovery of the Oregon chub within the North Santiam River basin.

Oregon Cascades Birding Trail

Flood risk reduction

Conservation season: April to November: Restrict pool elevation to 1568.5 feet.
Flood season: November to March: Restrict pool elevation to 1568.5 feet.

For more information, visit our Water page.

Project data

Dam length	1,523.5 ft	464.5m
Height	463 ft	141.1 m
Elevation (NGVD*)	1,580 ft	481 m
Total megawatts		100 mw
Lake length	9 mi	14.4 km
Shoreline	32 mi	51.4 km
Area when full	3,500 ac	1,432 ha

*National Geodetic Vertical Datum

(Mean Sea Level)

Detroit recreation

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Birding

Oregon Cascades Birding Trail

Four Detroit recreation sites are operated by the U.S. Forest Service

For more information about the four parks on Detroit Lake operated by the U.S. Forest Service, contact the Detroit Ranger Station at (503) 854-3366 or click on the links below:

Two Detroit recreation sites are operated by Oregon Parks and Recreation

For questions or concerns, call either the park office at 503- 854-3406 or the State Parks Information Center at 800-551-6949, or click one of the links below:

The Oregon State Parks website is at http://www.oregonstateparks.org/