Mt. Hood National Forest

Sandy River Basin

Good things are happening in the Sandy River Basin! 

Little Sandy River, Photo by John King, Western Rivers Conservancy

The Mt. Hood National Forest occupies 2/3 of the Sandy River Basin.  As steward of the basin's headwaters, the Mt. Hood National Forest is committed to restoring and maintaining the basin's ecosystem health and aquatic habitat. 

Please click on the links or scroll down to the information below to learn more about the great things happening in the Sandy River Basin. 

Sandy River Basin Partnerships in Restoration

The Sandy River Basin links the Portland metropolitan area to Mt.Hood National Forest, and contains Bull Run Watershed, Portland's water supply. 

The Sandy River Basin Agreement Partnership formed in 1999 for habitat restoration throughout the basin to benefit the recovery of listed fish.  Currently, all salmon and steelhead populations in the basin are listed. 

So far, 14 partners have identified 160 key opportunities for restoration and recovery, set the stage for large-scale, basin wide habitat restoration, and undertaken restoration work on the ground.  In process now is a basin-wide restoration strategy. 

Many opportunites to become involved in habitat restoration projects exist.  Please click on Fisheries/Watershed of our Volunteering Web Page to learn more. 

To read about three examples of successful volunteer restoration projects within the Sandy River Basin click on the following three reports.

Clear Creek Campground Restoration

Sandy River Keeper Program

Wilderness Volunteers

The Mt. Hood National Forest is a member of the Sandy River Basin Watershed Council which is composed of people who live and work in the Sandy River Basin.  The Council includes organizations that have an interest in the area and is a partnership of individuals and organizations that works cooperatively to improve the watershed for fish, wildlife, and people.  The Sandy River Basin Watershed Council sponsors many habitat restoration projects with volunteer opportunities.  Please visit the Council's web site at www.sandyriver.org for more information. 

Sandy River Basin Partners is also a group in which the Mt. Hood National Forest actively participates.   Sandy River Partners is a group of public and private organizations working together to restore native fish populations of the Sandy River Basin.  The Sandy River Basin Parners have created an on-line interactive map of the six sub-watersheds of the Sandy River Basin.  Visitors to the web site will be able to see a detailed watershed map with specific information for various river reaches such as geomorphology, habitat, flows, water quality, ecological function, monitoring data, as well as a photo gallery.  Please visit the Sandy River Basin Partners' web site to learn more. 

For a more complete listing of volunteer opportunities on the Mt. Hood National Forest, please visit our web site's Volunteering web page. 

Bull Run Watershed Management Unit 

The Bull Run Watershed Management Unit, located within the Sandy River Basin and the Mt. Hood National Forest is the source of drinking water for the City of Portland.

The USDA Forest Service (Mt. Hood National Forest) and Portland Water Bureau have prepared a new Bull Run Watershed Management Unit Agreement pursuant to Public Law 95-200, commonly known as the Bull Run Act. This Agreement serves as a partnership guide for the long-term stewardship of the Bull Run watershed and will replace a 1979 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).  The Agreement provides the revised administrative direction and agreements needed to structure the roles, responsibilities, functional processes, and working relationships for the Forest Service and City of Portland as joint managers of the Bull Run. 

Drafts of the Agreement were first submitted for public review in June 2005 and again in February 2006. The most recent draft of the Bull Run Watershed Management Unit Agreement was made available for public review and comment during a two-month period in the spring of 2007. The public was also provided the opportunity to learn more about the draft agreement or to provide comment at two public meetings held on March 20, 2007 in Portland and March 21, 2007 in Sandy , OR . The public was asked to submit written comments by April 16, 2007.

Based on public input, staff from the Water Bureau and from the Mt. Hood National Forest have made changes to the final draft of the agreement. Click on the link provided to access the Report to the Community , a short history of the interactions and relationships among the City of Portland , the Mt. Hood National Forest and interested stakeholders in the Bull Run watershed.

You may also access a Response to Comments document which summarizes the public comments received during the spring 2007 public review period with responses from the agencies. 

The Portland City Council considered the Bull Run Watershed Management Unit Agreeement at the regular City Council meeting on October 3rd, 2007.  Public testimony  was also heard by the City Council at this time.  The Council voted to adopt the Bull Run Watershed Management Unit Agreement during the regular City Council Meeting on October 10, 2007. The Agreement was signed by City Commissioner Randy Leonard, Regional Forester Linda Goodman, and Mt. Hood National Forest Supervisor Gary Larsen on December 17, 2007.  Link to News Release

Link Now Available to

Bull Run lake Cutthroat Trout Tributary Spawning Monitoring Report. 

Aquatic Resources Benefit from the Decommissioning of the Bull Run Hydroelectric Project

In the summer of 2007, the largest dam ever to be removed in Oregon, Marmot Dam, was dismantled allowing the Sandy River to be free flowing for the first time in nearly 100 years.  In 2008, the Little Sandy Dam will also be removed, improving access to over 100 miles of salmon and steelhead habitat on the Mt. Hood National Forest. 

The Bull Run Hydroelectric Project operated within the Sandy River Basin for nearly 100 years.  The removal of the Marmot Dam in 2007, and the Little Sandy Dam in 2008 will improve fish access to over 100 miles of salmon and steelhead habitat on the Mt. Hood National Forest. 

Removal of the Little Sandy Dam in 2008 and associated hydroelectric facilities will allow anadromous fish access to approximately 6.5 miles of the Little Sandy River above and below the dam for the first time since 1912.   

Fish species to benefit from removal of the dams include winter steelhead, spring chinook salmon, and coho salmon, all listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. 

Dismantling of Marmot Dam

In order to provide demolition crews with a dry working area during the dismantling of Marmot Dam, a temporary earthen coffer dam was constructed upstream from the concrete 47 foot high Marmot Dam.  On October 19, 2007, recent rain increased the flows of the Sandy River causing the earthen coffer dam to be breached, allowing the Sandy River to flow unimpeded for the first time in nearly 100 years.  Click on the following links to view the restoration of the Sandy River as a free flowing river as the earthen coffer dam was breached:

Coffer Dam Breach Provided by Jon Major, USGS

Sequential Photos of Coffer Dam Breach (Scroll down within PDF document to view sequential photos.)

Link to Portland General Electric's Marmot Dam Website

Forest Service Involvement in Project Decommissioning

Collaboration

The Forest Service first became involved in 1998-99 when Portland General Electric initiated a collaborative process for relicensing the Bull Run Hydroelectric Project.  Because the Forest Service manages lands that are affected by a hydroelectric project, the Mt. Hood National Forest actively participated in the relicensing process.

In May, 1999, PGE announced its intent to surrender the license of this project.  After basin-wide fish management issues were tentatively resolved, the primary stakeholders to the relicencing of the project joined together to develop a settlement agreement for the decomissioning of the project.   

The Forest Service helped negotiate the settlement agreement with its many partners for decommissioning of the hydroelectric projects.  Employees of the Mt. Hood National Forest and the Forest Service's Region 6 Hydropower Assistance Team were part of the Decommissioning Working Group and helped work out details on dam removal.  The Forest Service has been involved in the development of the project decommissioning plan and in the restoration of affected National Forest System Lands. 

Key Partners in Dam Removal Monitoring: 

Portland General Electric, Mt. Hood National Forest, Forest Service Pacific Northwest Lab, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Geological Survey, NOAA - National Marine Fisheries Service, Sandy River Watershed Basin Council, John Hopkins University, National Center for Earth Service Dynamics, City of Portland, Oregon Water Bureau. 

Long Term Monitoring of Pre and Post Dam Removal Conditions

Fish habitat conditions and changes to physical attributes of the stream channel are being monitored by the Forest Service, PGE, and other partners.  We hope to learn the effects to physical attributes of the stream environment such as changes to stream channel caused by dam removal.   Marmot Dam and the Little Sandy Dam are the first of several dams to be removed/decommissioned that affect federal lands.  It is hoped that much of what we learn from monitoring will be applicable elsewhere nationally on other rivers. 

Monitoring of Sediment, Stream Structure, and Riparian Vegetation

The Sandy River naturally moves and stores lots of sediment from Mt. Hood (hence its name).  The capability of the Sandy River to handle lots of natural sediment is good.  Over time, the presence of Marmot Dam has trapped additional sediment.  Through a variety of methods including photo point monitoring, the Sandy River will be monitored to document how and where sediment moves through the Sandy River system.  Changes to riparian vegetation, stream banks, and to channel structures such as riffles, pools, and glides will also be observed.  Ultimately, we hope to understand short term and long term effects on aquatic habitat caused by removing dams.  Knowledge gained by monitoring will be used by the Forest Service, PGE, and our partners to take short term action to mitigate effects to fish, and could be used in long term design and mitigation measures to be implemented in future dam decommissioning projects elsewhere. 

Map of Photo Point Monitoring Locations with Panoramic Views for Each Point

(May take some time to download images.  Please use your browser to zoom in and out.) 

Upstream and Downstream Views at Various Photo Point Monitoring Locations

Biological Monitoring

Besides doing some of the monitoring in the Sandy River Basin, the Forest Service is serving in a key role as coordinator of monitoring conducted by all agencies and universities in order to avoid duplication, and to promote cost effectiveness and efficiencies. 

The Forest Service is also involved in monitoring of smolt (pre and post dam removal) in the upper basin above Marmot Dam.  Dam removal may cause changes in fish populations.  Smolt monitoring may possibly be used for estimating annual salmonid production in the upper basin.

Genetic monitoring will also look at changes in the upper basin of the Little Sandy River after the Little Sandy Dam is removed in 2008.  Since the upper basin of the Little Sandy River will be accessible to anadromous fish for the the first time since 1912, monitoring will help us understand how the genetic pool of fish is changing. This type of monitoring will help us understand how fast the anadromous fish re-establish themselves.  We hope to also learn the locations of the upper basin that the fish re-occupy.   

General Description of Hydroelectric Project Currently Undergoing Decommissioning

The majority of the facilities associated with the Bull Run Project were located outside the boundaries of the Mt. Hood National Forest.  However, portions of a 15,000 foot long wooden flume box associated with the project as well as 3/4 mile of the dewatered Little Sandy River were within the boundaries of the Mt. Hood National Forest.  The project has impacted national forest aquatic habitat, resources, and fish. 

A brief description of the Hydroelectric Project as it operated before dismantling follows.  Please click on the following links to view maps of the project and how it operated as described below. (Remember to zoom in to see images enlarged.)

Bull Run Hydroelectric Project Map

Sandy River Basin and Project Location Map

Sandy River Basin Map

Project Operation

1. While the project operated, Marmot Dam diverted up to 600 cubic feet per second of water from the Sandy River.  This amount of diverted water was equivalent up to 69% reduction of the river's flow during periods of low flow.  Marmot Dam did include a fish ladder to provide some fish passage to the upper Sandy River subbasin.
2. A series of concrete canals, flumes, and tunnels carried Sandy River water approximately two miles to a 3/4 mile long tunnel which then released the water into the Little Sandy River. 
3. The Little Sandy Dam, located just below the terminus of the tunnel, then diverted the entire flow of the Little Sandy River combined with the diverted flow of the Sandy River into a wooden flume. 
4. A wooden box flume carried water 15,000 feet to Roslyn Lake.  Up to 800 cubic feet per second of combined Sandy and Little Sandy flow wass authorized by the hydroelelectric power license to be carried through this flume.  Both this flume and the dewatered Little Sandy River cross the Mt. Hood National Forest for approximately 3/4 mile. 
5. Roslyn Lake was the human made forebay for the power generating plant.  This lake was located entirely on private land and was a popular public fishing and recreation area.
6. The Bull Run powerhouse received water from Roslyn Lake via penstocks and releases it into the Bull Run River after use.

US Forest Service - Mt. Hood National Forest
Last Modified: Tuesday, 01 July 2008 at 17:19:09 EDT