ONRC Media Advisory
February 1, 2001

Conservation, and both recreational and commercial fishing organizations from around the regional today called on the US Army Corp of Engineers to proceed with the agency's previously announced plans to "notch" a hole in the Rogue River's Elk Creek Dam.

In compliance with the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) on January 23, 2001 issued a Biological Opinion, finding that any other option besides notching the dam and providing free passage would likely lead to threatened salmon species' extinction. Trying to further continue already failed attempts at fish passage around the unfinished structure would cause "jeopardy" of threatened coho salmon NMFS concluded. NMFS also stated that other alternatives to notching the dam could additionally adversely impact chinook salmon and steelhead.

Previously, on March 30, 2000, six conservation, commercial and recreational fishing organizations filed a lawsuit in US District Court against the US Army Corps of Engineers due to ongoing activities that are resulting in the illegal take of threatened coho salmon at the partially constructed Elk Creek Dam.

This resulted in the US Army Corps of Engineers initiating ESA consultation on the impact of its activities at Elk Creek Dam with the National Marine Fisheries Service. The Corp has now responded in a recent Biological Opinion, concluding that of the Corps' four alternatives for restoring coho in Elk Creek, that three of the four considered alternatives (including a new trap and haul facility) will cause jeopardy to coho. Only the fourth alternative, notching the dam, will avoid jeopardizing the federally listed salmon. The Corp's previous cost analyses clearly shows this to also be the cheapest alternative.

Elk Creek Dam, on a tributary of the Rogue River in Jackson County, Oregon is a dam that ONRC and other fishermens' organizations have been fighting, for over 20 years. Following a legal victory in 1987, the court enjoined construction of Elk Creek Dam, and it still sits today at one-third of its designed height.

The National Marine Fisheries Service has in effect agreed with conservation and fishing organizations that have long maintained the existing trap-and-haul program at Elk Creek Dam is killing salmon; will never help restore these fish; and is more expensive than breaching the dam. Renewed controversy surfaced when the National Marine Fisheries Service wrote the US Army Corps of Engineers an October 15, 1999 letter saying: "The existing trap-and-haul facility below Elk Creek Dam is grossly inadequate for long-term passage of coho and steelhead around the dam..." A take is occurring due to the physical limitations of the instream trapping facility, and "excessive fish handling" is additionally "resulting in stress and potential injury."

Above the damsite, the Elk Creek watershed accounts for 10% of the area accessible to anadromous salmonids in the upper Rogue River basin. However, the Elk Creek watershed above the damsite provides approximately 44% of the suitable spawning and rearing habitat for upper Rogue Coho salmon, and 15-20% of the spawning habitat for upper Rogue steelhead.

Conservationists and fishermen have sought that the dam be "notched" permitting steelhead and salmon passage up the stream. Yet, in recent years the dam has been kept alive only by last
minute special appropriations riders from Congressman Walden and his predecessors, in spite of the Corps opinion that it should never be completed.

Previously, following an April 1995 Federal appeals court ruling upholding a new environmental review of Elk Creek Dam, the US Army Corps of Engineers in November, 1995, abandoned the Elk Creek Dam project citing mounting fiscal and legal obstacles. In October of 1997 US Army Corp formally recommended breaching Elk Creek Dam to allow fish passage.

With still no action, and listed fish species dying, these organizations represented by the Western Environmental Law Center (WELC) in Eugene, have continued to take legal steps as necessary in a continued attempt to protect the Rogue River's endangered fish. Conservation organizations have long maintained that the public interest is best served by the elimination of Elk Creek Dam blocking salmon passage. The National Marine Fisheries Service has now also concluded that it is what the law requires.

For More Information contact:

Peter M.K. Frost, Attorney
Western Environmental Law Center
1216 Lincoln Street
Eugene, OR 97401
Ph. (541) 485-2471
Fax (541) 485-2457
Email: frost@westernlaw.org