News Release
| Release Number: | 05-076 |
| Dated: | 5/25/2005 |
| Contact: | Diana J. Fredlund, 503-808-4510 |
PORTLAND, Ore. — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will host public information meetings in Medford and Gold Beach to discuss Rogue River water management at Lost Creek and Applegate reservoirs.
The Medford meeting will be held June 1 at the Rogue Regency Hotel, 2300 Biddle Road, near the Crater Lake Highway. The second meeting will be held June 2 in the Gold Beach City Council Chambers, 29592 Ellensburg Ave., in Gold Beach. Both meetings begin at 7 p.m.
Corps project managers will discuss anticipated lake levels and water release needs for the summer and fall seasons. Planned releases have been reviewed by an interagency group including the Oregon departments of Water Resources and Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, National Marine Fisheries Service, U.S. Forest Service, the Oregon Marine Board and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. State agency representatives will be at each meeting to answer questions.
Severely dry winter conditions caused concern that the Rogue River Basin would experience a very low water year, but a wet spring has improved the situation and both reservoirs are now full. With half the normal snowpack levels in the mountains, questions remain about how long the reservoirs will stay full, said Mike Posovich, Corps hydraulic engineer.
“The Corps needs to balance the competing needs of flood damage reduction, hydropower, irrigation, fisheries, municipal water supply, water quality and recreation, and that is more difficult when the region is facing both low snowpack and precipitation levels,” Posovich said.