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  • July

    Ranger Tilton on Explore The Dalles tour

    Explore The Dalles Dam and visitor center this summer

    Visit The Dalles Dam and visitor center this summer. Discover how the dam works and why it’s here. Examine the benefits and trade-offs, and learn about the Corps’ unique history.

  • June

    Sunset at Dexter Reservoir

    Willamette Valley Project summer reservoir outlook

    The Corps manages the Willamette Valley Project's 13 dams and reservoirs to work as a system to provide flood risk management, recreation, water quality and supply, and more to the region.

  • May

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built Blue River Dam and Reservoir in 1969 to manage flood risks from the McKenzie River, a tributary of the Willamette River, east of Eugene, Oregon. It is one 13 dams and reservoirs in the Willamette Valley System and has helped the Corps reduce the severity of floods, which saves the region an estimated one billion dollars per year. Portland District is commemorating the 50th anniversary of the system, this year.

    Complex system of dams turns 50, saves Oregon $1 billion annually

    This year, Blue River Dam turns 50-years-old, and marks the 50th commemoration of the completion of the entire system of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ 13 dams in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, which has been systematically protecting people, infrastructure and a way-of-life since 1969.

  • Man up, and wear a life jacket!

    Eight things you didn't know about water safety.

  • March

    Foster Dam and Reservoir manages water coming from the South Santiam River, and is located in Sweet Home, Oregon. Foster Dam and its accompanying facilities will be part of the Willamette Valley System Environmental Impact Statement. Additional facilities included at Foster are an Adult Fish Collection Facility and a fish hatchery.

    Corps begins Willamette Valley System evaluation

    Almost three million people, or about 70 percent of Oregon’s population live in a fertile valley on the state’s western side, according to Portland State University figures. This number has doubled since 1970 – and people are still squeezing themselves into the roughly 150 mile-long valley, which is bracketed by mountain ranges and dominated by a powerful and deceptive force – the Willamette River. This influential river has had a long history of devastating flooding, which spurred the people of Oregon and the U.S. Congress into action in the 1930’s. Congress granted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers the authority to build a system of dams on the Willamette River’s tributaries for flood control purposes.

  • February

    Early morning at John Day Lock & Dam

    John Day 50th Anniversary

    Sept. 20, 2018, the Portland District commemorated the 50th anniversary of the ceremonial spillway opening at John Day Lock and Dam, which took place Sept. 28, 1968.

  • January

    A Dam Safety Program inspector dangles from the face of a Willamette Valley dam as he assesses the condition of spillway gates, June 6, 2009. The dam safety assessment concluded gates could fail to open or could stick, which could affect how the dams released water. In 2010, the District began rehabilitating the gates.

    Dam: that’s a lot of work - Corps completes spillway gate repair

    In 2009, dam safety inspectors dangled from ropes to inspect the spillway gates at federal dams throughout Oregon. The team, in their top-to-bottom inspection, determined that the aging spillway gates might malfunction when the water levels were high.

  • October

    Fall along the Rogue River

    New hopes for the Rogue

    The movie “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope” premiered on screens throughout the country in 1977. Around that same time, the Corps updated the Rogue River Basin project master plans to reflect new hopes for Lost Creek Lake, Elk Creek, and Applegate Dam.

  • September

    View Detroit Dam from below. Detroit is a concrete dam with gated spillways. It was completed in 1953 and is 463 feet tall.

    Balancing perspectives in the Willamette Valley

    In the 1930's, people from Oakridge, Cottage Grove, Springfield, Eugene, Monroe, Albany, Salem and Portland were tired of flooding in the Willamette Valley. Oregonians demanded solutions to the frequent flooding, which severely impacted travel, accessibility to homes and businesses and damaged personal and public property. They convinced politicians to address the problem with infrastructure, and drove the authorization, funding and construction of the Willamette Valley system: 13 dams that mitigate flood damages by managing perennial flood risks. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers developed this system from 1939-1969 and it has since provided immense benefits, especially with the valley’s continued, un-checked growth (by politicians, municipalities, developers, etc.) along the Willamette River.
  • The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built a temperature control tower (left) in 2005 at Cougar Dam, in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, which necessitated a drawdown of the reservoir. Corps plans to create downstream fish passage at the dam could affect reservoir levels during construction and installation. However, the Corps’ goal is to minimize impacts to stakeholders throughout the region.

    Corps begins final step to complete fish passage in the McKenzie River Watershed

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Cougar Dam sits astride the South Fork of the McKenzie River, approximately 50 miles southeast of Eugene, Oregon. The dam has been blocking fish passage in the river since the Corps built it in the 1960s. Salmon numbers have plummeted in this watershed and, as a result, the Corps has worked to help by improve water temperatures and supply adult fish passage upstream of the dam. However, these actions haven’t addressed moving juvenile fish downstream of the dam – until now.

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