By Ron Brown
 
November 18, 2008
 
ELK CREEK, Ore. -- A Rogue River tributary that was blocked for 20 years by a partially completed dam is now flowing free.
 
An eight million dollar project to blast a notch out of the half finished Elk Creek Dam was recently completed to help restore native fish runs. As landscapers work to restore the banks, fisheries managers and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hope that restoring the creek to its original streambed will allow salmon and steelhead back into prime spawning grounds again.
 
"Elk Creek is a very productive watershed, and it supports very good numbers of Coho salmon, steelhead, both summer and winter run steelhead... and other native fish, including our native suckers and Pacific lamprey. A small number of Chinook salmon also utliize Elk Creek. So, as it stands this year, they have free access to swim into the upper watershed in Elk Creek on their own," says ODFW Fish Biologist Dan Van Dyke.
 
In July, the USACE blasted out the center of the roller-compacted concrete dam and excavated down to the streambed. They also removed a trapping weir used to corral fish and haul them around the dam structure. Its foundation is now a riffle for fish. Dyke says this provides "the best situation for fish to be able to reach the spawning grounds and thrive".
 
"That'll provide just a fantastic nursery stream... for those small salmon and steelhead to survive, head downstream, and then again contribute to those really economically important fisheries as those fish return to the Rogue as adults," says Dyke.
 
The USACE is interested in ehether the project they did this summer will survive through the winter. If there's damage that needs to be corrected, that will be the first priority. If not, they'll extend on upstream for further habitat restoration.