Fix a Rogue River Dam

The Rogue River in Southern Oregon is one of the nation’s most beloved waterways.  The Rogue was one of the twelve original Wild and Scenic Rivers recognized by Congress in 1968. People travel from all over the world to float the wild Rogue’s wilderness whitewater reaches, to hike a popular wilderness trail along the river, and to fish for salmon, trout and other sport fish. 

The Rogue has historically been a very productive river for salmon and steelhead, producing the largest wild populations in Oregon outside the Columbia River system. WaterWatch's Free the Rogue Campaign has successfully removed four major dams in the basin - three on the mainstem of the river.

Now, we are addressing other dams in the basin that impair fish passage on the Rogue. One such dam is the Gold Hill Irrigation District (GHID) diversion dam. This dam constricts and delays fish passage and harms and kills salmon and steelhead on the Rogue. This low dam that spans most of the length of the river. At times, the diversion takes more than ten times the water allowed by the district’s water rights. There are many design flaws and shortcomings with the system that harm and kill migrating fish in the Rogue.

WaterWatch is now working collaboratively with the irrigation district to modify this dam and diversion to help fish and to return water to the Rogue. We have a design and are looking for funding to complete construction.  The cost of the project is estimated at $249,000. We are seeking funding to build this project.

The benefits of the project will be substantial, eliminating adverse impacts to migrating salmon and steelhead and other native fish caused by the existing system and leaving more water in the Rogue River. We are close to a solution for this dam. We need your help to make the project real.

Links:

• Resurgent cutthroat trout on the Rogue River
• Dam removal leads to salmon revival on Rogue River