Effectiveness Monitoring Data Library
Background and History
Constructed in 1921, the removal of Savage Rapids Dam was completed in October of 2009, after decades of debate over the barrier it presents to migrating (Steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss), Spring Chinook (O. tshawytscha), Fall Chinook (O. tshawytscha)), and federally-listed (Coho (O. kisutch)) salmonids in the Rogue River. As part of a larger plan to remove multiple passage barriers in this middle section of the Rogue, the 39’ high, 456’ long dam at Savage Rapids will be breached in stages, exposing the approximately 200,000 cubic yards of sediment currently stored behind the impoundment (USBR 2001) to a 12 mile reach downstream before the Rogue River enters Hellgate Canyon (USBR 2001).
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Monitoring Strategies
Monitoring of the Savage Rapids Dam Removal will be focused in the following areas:
1. physical adjustments to the removal (sediment movement, changes in physical habitat)
2. changes in food web dynamics (fish species composition, invertebrates, periphyton)
3. Patterns of vegetation colonization in the former reservoir
More details on specific monitoring plans are outlined in the Savage Rapids Dam Removal Monitoring Summary – May 2009.
Final report to OWEB, September 2012.
Resources and Pertinent Links
US Bureau of Reclamation – Savage Rapids Dam Fish Passage Improvement Project
US Bureau of Reclamation – Savage Rapids Dam Removal
US Bureau of Reclamation – (from the Southern Oregon Digital Archive)
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