The White Salmon Runs Free!
Many of us wondered if the
day would ever arrive, but after years of waiting it finally came in the form
of a text message from PacifiCorp staff on a Saturday in November: “It’s
official. The White Salmon is open! Spread the word. Safe paddling to all.” And
with that, paddlers hit the water to experience a truly remarkable treasure—a
new section of river that for the past century was buried beneath the placid
waters of Northwestern Reservoir.
On an overcast morning a
week later, we gathered on the banks of the White Salmon River giddy with
anticipation for the opportunity to experience a new river. Just a year before,
many of us stood on the lip of Condit Dam and watched the dramatic results of
the explosive blast that breached the dam and drained the reservoir in a little
more than an hour’s time—a reservoir that had been there for a century vanished
before our very eyes. It was easy to view the scene before us as a wasteland of
mud and debris, and hard to imagine it would ever look like a river again. But
as we’ve observed at dam removal projects across the country, rivers have an
incredible capacity for self restoration.
Over the months that followed the dam breach,
contractors chipped away at the dam. It slowly shrunk in size while the mud
washed away and the river began to flow clear again. This past September, the
dam was completely gone, and as amazing as this may sound you could hardly tell
where it once stood. Agonizing days then became weeks as the contractors
continued their work to restore the river channel below the dam, which included
removing massive logs that had once been buried in the reservoir sediments and
then wedged in the White Salmon Narrows. Finally, the most hazardous logs to
navigation were all removed, and PacifiCorp declared the river open for public
use. Our day to experience the river had finally arrived.
We began the day’s journey
from Wet Planet in Husum, launching as a flotilla of more than a dozen kayakers
and at least as many rafters. The run began on the mild Class II section of the
run known as the Lower White Salmon, which historically ended with the
slackwater of Northwestern Reservoir. The river continued on at a good pace
with fun Class II and a couple good features as we slowly descended below the
surface elevation of the former reservoir. Old stumps appeared that were buried
beneath the reservoir sediments for a century, and we could see vegetation
starting to colonize the newly exposed banks, while the basalt outcrops along
the banks were scrubbed clean of the thick coat of mud that had buried them.
Floating the White Salmon River through what was once Northwestern Reservoir. |
Halfway down the old
reservoir the river flowed past a dramatic basalt cliff on river right, with a
bathtub ring stain marking the surface elevation of the historic reservoir.
Here the gradient picked up and the river crashed through some great Class III
whitewater as it followed a serpentine path through an incredibly beautiful
section of basalt gorge with waterfalls cascading in. The scenic beauty of this
section will only be enhanced as maidenhair ferns and mosses colonize these
walls. Floating through this section, anticipation built as we passed through
the bedrock gates that marked the site of Condit Dam. We could hardly recognize
that a dam once towered over 100’ above this point, but whoops of joy echoed
between the gorge walls as we pulled out on a gravel bar on river right to
savor the moment. A spontaneous celebration ensued as Pat Arnold, representing
Friends of the White Salmon, popped the cork on a bottle of champagne.
Just 40 years ago the White Salmon River faced a grim future
with a proposal to develop a series of seven dams to harness the entire length
of the river for hydropower. Friends of the White Salmon, a locally based
advocacy group for the river, successfully fought off that proposal and in the
early 1980’s began to advocate for restoration of salmon on the White Salmon
River. At first the discussion focused only on fish passage around the
salmon-blocking Condit Dam, but when PacifiCorp filed an application in
December 1991 to renew their license for the hydropower project, the idea of
dam removal began to germinate.
American Whitewater and Friends of the White Salmon made the
first formal requests for a study of dam removal in 1992 as part of the federal
licensing process. Rich Bowers was hired as American Whitewater’s first
Conservation Director thanks to
support from the Conservation Alliance and member companies, including
Patagonia.
In comments filed that first year of the licensing process
for Condit Dam, Rich wrote that a study was needed to “determine the
recreation, fishery, flood damage mitigation, power production and other
impacts associated with the removal of impoundments and in returning the White
Salmon River to its truest sense of 'run-of-river'.” In 1993, during scoping
for the Environmental Impact Statement, Rich requested “a detailed analysis of
the whitewater boating opportunities in the lower White Salmon River that would
be reestablished under a dam removal alternative, as well as the economic value
associated with those expanded opportunities”.
In 1996, federal regulators completed a review of
PacifiCorp’s license application and determined that keeping the dam in place
and upgrading facilities to meet “modern environmental standards” was the
preferred alternative. During the time when John Gangemi represented the
interests of whitewater boaters for American Whitewater, it became apparent
that the required upgrades were going to be much more costly than dam removal.
The dam produced very little power and it became clear that the dam could not
produce this power economically. Katherine Ransel, working for American Rivers,
represented a coalition of conservation groups including American Whitewater
and successfully secured a settlement agreement between dam owner PaciifCorp,
resource agencies, and river conservation groups for dam removal. The agreement
was signed in 1999 and called for the dam to be removed in 2006.
Federal regulators analyzed this agreement and recommended dam
removal as the new preferred alternative in 2002. The plan was not without
controversy however, and at a memorable public hearing Daniel Dancer launched into his song extolling the glories of a salmon
returning to a free-flowing White Salmon River, to the tune of Neil Young's “Long
May They Run.” Foes of dam removal
raised their collective voice in an impromptu “God Bless America” and pandemonium
ensued as federal regulators threatened to shut down the meeting. Order was
restored and Daniel was allowed to finish his musical testimony but it was not
an end to the controversy. Despite the objections, the removal plan moved
forward. As
the date for removal approached in 2006 however, it was clear that the project
was languishing and the County even mounted an effort to acquire the dam from
PacifiCorp. The necessary regulatory steps were not proceeding in part due to
continued opposition from the County and a pending threat of litigation. It was
around this time that Keen Footwear stepped up to support American Whitewater’s
effort to launch a stewardship program based in the Pacific Northwest. With a
regional office in close proximity to the project, American Whitewater was able
to take on a leadership role in moving the agreement through the final steps of
the regulatory process. Working with our partners in the Hydropower Reform
Coalition—it was truly a team effort involving several local, regional, and
national organizations—we got the project back on track and applied the
consistent pressure that was necessary to bring the project to fruition. As we
all stood near the bank of the river above the dam that day a little more than
a year ago and felt the ground shake with the blast of 700 lbs. of dynamite we
knew there was no turning back—Condit Dam was destined for removal.
Standing there at the base of Condit Dam a year later
drinking champagne, it was rewarding to reflect back on the long journey that
had brought us to that day. Watching
the joy and excitement on everyone’s faces, it quickly became apparent what really
brought Condit Dam down. It was not the poor economics of the project, the
power of the Endangered Species Act, or even the fishway prescriptions
resulting from Section 18 of the Federal Power Act. It really came down to a
simple fact—people care deeply about this river. It was the kayakers who went
out to enjoy the river on their free weekends, the fishermen who have a spiritual connection to the river,
members of the Yakama Nation whose connection to the river predates all of us,
the school kids who acted out the dam breach at countless public hearings, and
others who just enjoyed hanging out by the river. For all those people, the
White Salmon River mattered and it was this community of folks who ultimately
brought the dam down.
Standing there at the
former dam site, our celebration wasn’t done–we all had more new river to run.
Soon we were back in our boats in nervous anticipation of Steelhead Falls a short distance downstream. The mile
and a half below Condit Dam was largely dewatered over the past century as the
flow of the river was routed through a pipe to the powerhouse downstream. While
some had explored this section of river over the years, it was largely
characterized by a series of stagnant pools harboring the debris and detritus
that occassionaly washed over the dam. This section contains the most
significant whitewater on the run as the river plunges over Steelhead Falls, a
ledge drop that feeds into a meaty hydraulic that is Class IV to V depending on
flows. About half the group portaged the falls-including the rafters, but
several folks fired it up and everyone styled it. Those considering their first
run are advised to go with someone who can recognize the drop because it comes
up quick at the end of a Class III rapid. As flows increase the intensity of
the hydraulic builds and the portage route closes out. Below Steelhead Falls
the river passed through one of the most dramatic sections of river
anywhere—the White Salmon Narrows, where gardens of mosses and ferns spill in
over the high gorge walls that are beautiful organic fomations of pillow
basalts.
Susan Hollingsworth paddles through Steelhead Falls. |
Emerging from the Narrows,
the river passed by the old powerhouse on river left and it was in this section
that we saw the most spawning salmon. Massive fish made good use of the abundant
supply of gravel that can now move downstream and is no longer held back by
Condit Dam. All were deeply moved by the presence of these majestic fish that
were so quickly taking advantage of the benefits of this restored river. A
short distance downstream, the river cascaded through one final Class III
sequence before settling in to the calm waters of the pool held back by
Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River. It was only about a half mile of flatwater
paddling down to the point where the White Salmon joins the Columbia and the
take-out. While the take-out marked the end of the day’s journey it was really
much more than that. It was the end of a long road extending over decades to
see this project come to a successful outcome, and it was the start of a new
beginning for a restored White Salmon River.
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