News Release
| Release Number: | 99-092 |
| Dated: | 10/14/1999 |
| Contact: | Matt Rabe, 503-808-4510 |
Portland, Ore. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Monday, Oct. 18, will begin its annual lowering of Willow Creek Lake in Heppner, Ore. The lake will be at its wintertime level by Dec. 1.
At 7 a.m. Monday, water releases will be increased from 3 cubic feet per second to 15 cfs. The lake level will drop nine vertical feet between now and Dec. 1.
Residents living along the creek below the dam should see a water level increase of about nine inches – measured at the gagehouse – as a result of the increased water releases.
Water releases from the lake could fluctuate during the winter depending on the amount of water coming into the lake.
The lake is operated during the winter months for flood damage reduction and during the summer months for recreation.
The Corps lowers the lake level to elevation 2,063 feet each year to store winter rain and snowmelt runoff which minimizes the effects of flooding downstream of the dam. The dam sits just upstream of the town of Heppner. The dam controls a drainage basin of 96 square miles.
Willow Creek Dam was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1965 and constructed by the Corps in the early 1980s.