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altasnob
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Joined: 29 Aug 2007
Posts: 466 | TRs
Location: Tacoma
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Enloe Dam has no license to produce electricity, hasn’t generated a kilowatt since 1958, and provides no benefits for irrigation or flood control.
But one thing Enloe Dam, built 100 years ago, still does very, very well: block fish from reaching more than 340 miles of high-quality, cold-water habitat upstream in the Similkameen River.
The dam is of no use to anyone, not the small rural public utility district (PUD) that owns it, and not to tribes longing to bring salmon back to this river. Obstacles of cost, liability and a quest by the PUD to revive the dam for more than a decade stood in the way of removal.
But now new efforts are underway to take down Enloe Dam.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/a-dam-blocking-348-miles-of-salmon-streams-hasnt-generated-electricity-since-1958-but-who-will-take-it-down/ |
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jinx'sboy
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Joined: 30 Jul 2008
Posts: 638 | TRs
Location: on a great circle route
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I have been trying to get more educated about this issue. I am a member (i.e. owner) of the ‘small PUD’ that owns the Dam. I have been puzzled about why the PUD continues to spend time and $$ on looking at this. IMO, it doesnt make much sense to consider a retro-fit/re-build of this infrastructure, given the cheap dam-generated electricity already available. But, the Okanogan PUD efforts on this issue have been on-going for 15+ years, or more.
However, I have heard a couple of positions in opposition to dam removal that I wonder about:
1) where do the silted heavy metals end up? There were large milling and mining operations across the Border in Keremeos and elsewhere along the Similkameen R. In contrast - the Elwha dam removal sent silt to the ocean just a few miles away. The silt storage behind this dam is hundreds of miles - and many Columbia dams and further silting areas - away from the ocean.
2) Apparently, BC fisheries folks (and maybe BC first nations people) do NOT want the addition of ‘new’ genes into their landlocked fish species? I don’t know if this is a real threat or not... |
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Pyrites
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Joined: 16 Sep 2014
Posts: 1438 | TRs
Location: South Sound
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treeswarper
Alleged Sockpuppet!
Joined: 25 Dec 2006
Posts: 10089 | TRs
Location: Don't move here
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Yah, this is not new news. Perhaps the PUD has a complex due to not owning a dam like Chelan and Douglas Counties? 
It's been dam on, dam off for some time.
I'd really like to see the rail trail extended, dam or no dam. Oroville's got a good thing going with that.
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What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities |
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Sculpin
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Joined: 23 Apr 2015
Posts: 823 | TRs
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One thing to keep in mind is that no dam has ever come down for environmental reasons, and we are not close to starting that now. The Elwha dams, and other dams that have come down, came down for economic reasons. The prospective Elwha fish run had to get to something like 100X the value of the power before removal was even considered.
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Between every two pines is a doorway to the new world. - John Muir |
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treeswarper
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Joined: 25 Dec 2006
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The PUD has a lot of money invested in the various feasibility studies. I think they are trying not to commit that chunk of change to a loss of face and money.
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What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities |
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Schroder
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Joined: 26 Oct 2007
Posts: 5846 | TRs
Location: on the beach
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| I would think the dam in Tumwater Canyon would be a candidate for removal too. It hasn't been used since 1956. |
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Kim Brown
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Joined: 13 Jul 2009
Posts: 5975 | TRs
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So, you're saying it's been a flop; and has been that way since 1956?
Sounds like a perfect lyric for a song. 
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" I'm really happy about this! … I have very strong good and horrible memories up there." – oldgranola, NWH’s outdoors advocate. |
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treeswarper
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Joined: 25 Dec 2006
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| Schroder wrote: |
| I would think the dam in Tumwater Canyon would be a candidate for removal too. It hasn't been used since 1956. |
Fish make it over that one. My folks used to haul us up there to watch the fishies jump over the dam..and they swam and they swam (but jumped) over the dam.
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What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities |
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Pyrites
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Joined: 16 Sep 2014
Posts: 1438 | TRs
Location: South Sound
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A virtue of complete removal of a fish passage barrier is long term effect.
How do you calculate net present value on an investment that presents yields forever?
Best. |
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Ski
><((((°>
Joined: 27 May 2005
Posts: 11569 | TRs
Location: tacoma
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| Pyrites wrote: |
| "A virtue of complete removal..." |
... of any barrier or obstruction which interferes with or blocks the natural flow of the stream is the restoration of the natural processes by which gravels and sediments migrate downstream.
Another benefit is that the natural processes upstream from the obstruction are also restored: dams and other obstructions interfere with (and usually have some detrimental effects) on natural processes on the uphill side as well.
The example demonstrated on the lower Elwha was mind-boggling in its scale.
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"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each." |
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treeswarper
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Joined: 25 Dec 2006
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Big big article about the Similkameen Dam in Saturday's Wenatchee World. You need to have a subscription to read it, I think.
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What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities |
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Schroder
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Pyrites
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Joined: 16 Sep 2014
Posts: 1438 | TRs
Location: South Sound
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The falls as shown in the old photo are formidable. Apparently fish, at least some, got over them. Are there complete blocking falls above? If the dam was removed could chinook or steelhead go up the Similkameen, to the Pasayten? Would there be anadromous fish in river just below the old airstrip?
Best. |
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treeswarper
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