News Release
| Release Number: | 08-012 |
| Dated: | 1/23/2008 |
| Contact: | Scott Clemans, 503-808-4510 |
PORTLAND, Ore. – The final environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ plan to create a fish passage corridor through Elk Creek Dam are now available on the Portland District Web site at http://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/pm/e/en_plan_assess.asp.
Elk Creek Dam is located 1.7 miles above the confluence with the Rogue River and about 26 miles northeast of Medford, Ore.
The Corps’ plan calls for removing a section of the incomplete dam and returning Elk Creek to its original alignment and gradient. This will help support coho salmon, which are listed as threatened by the Endangered Species Act, and other native fish.
The plan is designed to keep most of the already-completed portions of the dam intact. If budgetary, environmental and legal climates shift and construction is allowed to resume, the structure can be used as the completed dam’s foundation.
The Corps issued a draft environmental assessment for public review and comment in October 2007. The final environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact address key issues raised by local government agencies and the public during that comment period.