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Archive: 2021
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  • October

    A Pacific lamprey clings to a fish viewing window at Bonneville Lock & Dam. Engineers didn’t design the fish ladders, which successfully move salmon upstream of the lower Columbia River dams (Bonneville, The Dalles and John Day) with lamprey in mind. But that’s changing. (U.S. Army photo by Lesley McClintock)

    That sounds fishy: demonized trash fish finally gets some respect

    Leaves are changing, the weather is cooling and getting wetter, and Fred Meyer is stocking its shelves with Christmas decorations, which means it’s October. Instead of skipping ahead to winter holidays, let’s fall back and celebrate autumn and Halloween by highlighting a fish that has been demonized in the past, partly for its looks, and partly for our past perceptions of it as a blood-sucking, bottom-feeding trash fish*: the Pacific lamprey.

  • September

    Detroit Dam, east of Salem, Ore. impounds water from the North Santiam River. Its large storage reservoir allows downstream users to have a consistent amount of water year-round but especially during long, hot summers and droughts. According to public scoping comments from city of Salem officials during a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Draft Environmental Impact Statement (page 246) for downstream fish passage at Detroit Dam, the city’s intake for drinking water needs 750 cubic feet per second to operate (as of August 9, the combined tributaries of the North Santiam and Little North Santiam rivers were providing 413 cubic feet per second of water). (U.S. Army photo by Todd Manny)

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

    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.

  • July

    Water flows through a fish ladder at John Day Dam in eastern Oregon. Fish ladders are effective at allowing fish to swim upstream of low-head or shorter dams on the Columbia River. John Day’s ladder is 1,080 feet long. (U.S. Army photo by Karim Delgado)

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

    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.

  • June

    The Essayons travelled north to the Corps’ Alaska District, to dredge the Cook Inlet Navigation Channel. A sudden surge of shoal material in the past two years reduced depths and affected navigation in the channel, which is the only Coast Guard marked route for all cargo and fuel ships supplying the Port of Anchorage.

    Big Bertha heads to Benson Beach, battles erosion

    Off the coast of Oregon, Big Bertha moves in the water, inching toward land. Bertha, as her government creators to refer to it, is the result of three years of inter-agency planning. Her architects; some of whom work for the Portland District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; conscripted half of Portland District’s dredge fleet to scrape the river bottom and collect what was to become Bertha: a migrating mound of sand.
  • Corps contractors monitor screw traps downstream of Cougar Dam, May 28, 2021. The water flow turns a large screw creating hydraulics, which keeps small fish from escaping the trap. These traps are collecting juvenile salmon after they pass through Lookout Point, Cougar and Big Cliff dams. We’ve changed operations at these dams to help with downstream fish passage – or that’s the goal. These traps will give us insight into how well we’re doing.

    That sounds fishy: twisting traps troll tributaries in the Willamette

    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.

  • May

    A man in a blue button up shirt and blue fleece vest sits at his desk in his office.

    Building dams and, we hope, public trust

    I take pride in knowing my organization, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Portland District, has played an important role in the story of how our country taps into our water resources like the Willamette River. On April 17, the district celebrated 150 years of serving Oregon and southwestern Washington.    

  • February

    The Oregonian recognized the Corps' efforts to save the downtown Portland area from the flooding.

    Containing the Flood of 1996

    One of the biggest floods the Portland District faced in the late 20th century occurred in February 1996 and caused millions of dollars in damage to the region. The District played a crucial role in combating this flood 's impact through a variety of short-term and long-term activities.

  • January

    Workers place the new Auditorium building cupola within reach of the crane that will lift it into place.

    Dam, that’s a lot of work: Bonneville buildings get face lift, cupolas

    Portland District put new roofs – one of the most vital parts of a building in the rainy northwest – on the Bonneville Project Office and Auditorium buildings, which are included in the list of National Historic Landmarks.

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