News Release
| Release Number: | 01-118 |
| Dated: | 8/9/2001 |
| Contact: | Public Affairs Office, 503-808-4510 |
Portland, Ore. -- Fishing access will be maintained on Cascades Island at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Bonneville Lock and Dam as pre-construction soil explorations are conducted.
Beginning next week, the Corps will have drill rigs in the river and on Cascades Island, plus a backhoe working on the bank of the island. All work will be done in a popular fishing area on the north shore of the island. The in-water work will be done at night. The Corps plans to complete the work at Bonneville, on the Columbia River 40 miles east of Portland, Ore., by the end of August. The Corps is complying with Endangered Species Act requirements for in-water work.
Fishing areas will remain open, however, extra caution is being urged. The public is asked to stay well away from equipment and out of posted areas for safety reasons. All fishing areas on the Oregon and Washington shores, including Cascades Island, will be open from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. everyday through Labor Day. From Sept. 4 through Sept. 22, hours will be 6 a.m. until 7 p.m. On Sept. 23, winter hours will be put in place and access will be from 6 a.m. until 5 p.m.
The preparatory exploration work is being done to assess soil density and material composition prior to construction of a new bypass flume from the ice and trash sluiceway at the Bonneville second powerhouse. Testing in 1998 showed that a high percentage of juvenile fish in the forebay (area directly upstream) of the second powerhouse passed through the sluiceway.
The goal of this construction project is to increase the number of juveniles guided into the bypass system, pass them through without causing injury, and return them to the river at a safe location. The bypass flume will begin at the second powerhouse, and the fish will re-enter the water just beyond the westernmost tip of Cascades Island, almost one-quarter mile downstream of the second powerhouse.
The system is scheduled to be completed by March 2004, in time for that year's juvenile salmon migration. Cost is currently estimated at $35 million to $45 million, and will be refined later this year.