Portland District News

Corps trains for ‘Super Bowl of disasters’

Chris Gaylord — Fri, 24 Jun 2022 22:05:00 GMT

The Corps of Engineers' Northwestern Division led a regional exercise June 14-16 to prepare its teams of emergency planners, operators, and engineers for the possibility of a severe earthquake from the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

Mother Nature can be comforting but has scolded (scalded) us this year

Tom Conning, Public Affairs Office — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 20:35:04 GMT

Mother Nature can be comforting and calm but this year it seems like she used our first, middle and last name as she scolded (or scalded) us … “Pacific North [emphasis added] West, what in the world were you thinking?!” … for punching our hypothetical little sister (California). Our punishment has been drought, record-breaking temperatures, wildfires and extremely dry conditions throughout the region. Even though the early part of this summer was a scorching hot nightmare, north western Oregon is fortunate to have a consistent flow of water – thanks to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ system of dams and reservoirs in the Willamette Valley.

That sounds fishy: fish ladders at high-head dams impractical, largely unneeded

Tom Conning, Public Affairs Office — Mon, 19 Jul 2021 15:55:32 GMT

Humans. What other sentient being designs a tool requiring hands and feet and expects animals without limbs to use it? Alas, the answer is humans. Humans created a ladder for fish, which is quite effective in certain situations – but isn’t a blanket solution to every fish passage problem. And while most humans would agree that ladders can be useful for climbing short distances, perhaps 20-50 feet– another tool – like an elevator or truck – may be a better option to climb hundreds of feet. Otherwise, there would need to be more infrastructure to support that ladder, or perhaps it would need to be a staircase at that point. This is similar for fish when moving them up and downstream.

That sounds fishy: twisting traps troll tributaries in the Willamette

Tom Conning, Public Affairs Office — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 19:13:29 GMT

The bulky contraptions float listlessly downstream of three dams in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. The buoyant, metal devices hold large screws that the water flow turns. This twist of the screw – creating a creaking, rasping, scraping sound – generates enough hydraulics to keep small fish from escaping the slowly spinning, cone-shaped collectors – or, screw traps.