Senator Ron Wyden and Reps. Suzanne Bonamici and Jaime Herrera Beutler attend a small commemoration event at the South Jetty at the Mouth of the Columbia River to see what their legislative funding efforts are supporting, Aug. 31. The Corps estimates that it will complete rehabilitation on South Jetty by 2024 and will use 400,000 tons of stone. (U.S. Army photo by Jeremy Bell)
PORTLAND, Ore. — During violent winter storms, waves taller than the length of six king-sized beds stacked end-to-end (40 feet) can meet the Columbia River as it makes its way out to the Pacific Ocean. This concentrated colliding of water makes crossing the bar incredibly dangerous, according to the Columbia River Maritime Museum. So precarious, in fact, that this channel had a nickname, “the graveyard of the Pacific,” at least until the U.S. government built critical infrastructure to reduce some of the risk.
Since the late 1800s, the U.S. sought to reduce the destruction these waves cause at the mouth of the Columbia River and gave that mission to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District. The Corps built a system...
Salmon face predation and flooding inundates eggs with too much water, whereas drought leaves them dry. Human irrigation practices can dewater habitats, pollute or return water that is too warm into those environments. Likewise, harsh currents can wash fry away or leave them stranded when water levels recede, and the threats from birds and other fish never cease.
For several months, Jeff Ament has been watching tension simmer along the banks of the North Santiam River, as it churns and empties its frustrations into the Willamette River as residents voice a mix of anxieties about a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ project at Detroit Dam.
The proposed project, a temperature control tower and fish collection facility, will provide temperature regulation and fish passage through the dam for endangered...
An upcoming Corps construction project at Detroit Lake, Oregon has been generating buzz around the region because of its potential impacts on thousands of Willamette Valley residents.
This project, like many U.S. Army Corps of Engineers fish-related projects in the valley, is part of a broader effort to reduce the effects of Corps-operated dams on winter steelhead and spring Chinook salmon. Both species are listed under the Endangered...
