News Release
| Release Number: | 05-001 |
| Dated: | 1/4/2005 |
| Contact: | Mike McAleer, 503-808-4510 |
Portland, Ore.--The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will hold public meetings Jan. 12 and Jan. 13 to discuss pool restrictions placed on the 63-year-old Fern Ridge Dam on the Long Tom River near Monroe and Veneta, Ore.
Topics will include the recently completed investigation report, findings and recommendations of a senior review board, and operational restrictions on the project because it is in an active state of failure by piping and/or internal erosion. The restricted maximum conservation pool elevation at Fern Ridge Dam will be no higher than 360 feet compared to the normal operating level of 373.5 feet. The dam is no longer safe to operate normally according to review board members.
The Corps will host the first meeting at 7 p.m. on Jan. 12 at the Fern Ridge Middle School Gym located at 88831 Territorial Rd. in Elmira across from the Fern Ridge School District Offices. The second meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Jan. 13 at the Monroe High School Commons Room on Highway 99W at the north end of the city of Monroe.
"A year-round restriction on operating levels has been adopted to ensure the public's safety," said Mark Dasso, project manager for the Fern Ridge investigation project. "We will continue to prevent flood damage to the extent possible with these new restrictions, but our storage capacity will be drastically reduced, and during a storm event downstream flooding is a real possibility."
Completed in 1941, Fern Ridge Dam has served the people of the region through irrigation, economic development, recreation, and flood damage reduction. It has prevented more than $401 million in cumulative flood damages and provides an estimated $8.5 million in tourism benefit to the community each year.
Information about the Fern Ridge Dam is posted on the Corps' web site at www.nwp.usace.army.mil.