Access has been restored to White Salmon River after PacifiCorp’s
safe, successful Condit Dam removal
Whitewater experts stress safety; remind river users to avoid sensitive plant areas,
respect local cabin owners
WHITE SALMON, Wash. – A year after a dynamite blast punched a hole in the Condit Dam, the
last remnants of the structure are gone and access restrictions on the White Salmon River are
now lifted downstream of Northwestern Park. Caution is still advised as the rapids on the lower
river are significant.
“This has been a long journey for PacifiCorp and the partners in the settlement agreement
that led to the Condit Dam removal,” said Todd Olson, program manager for PacifiCorp. “Work
still remains in restoring area vegetation and demobilizing equipment from the work area, but
this has been a very successful project. No one from the public has been hurt, and there have
been no lost-time injuries among our contractors during more than 64,000 hours worked on the
project. We want to especially thank the local community for understanding that access
restrictions have been necessary to assure safety, and for abiding by them.”
The last pieces of the dam came out in September. Just last week, PacifiCorp’s
Vancouver, Wash.-based contractor, J.R. Merit, completed removal of a large logjam that would
have significantly blocked boats drifting the river. Experienced guides from the local rafting
community have inspected the river from the Northwestern Lake Road Bridge to the White
Salmon’s confluence with the Columbia River and confirmed that major obstacles are gone,
though some rapids in the area are for experts only.
“The restoration of a free-flowing river is an exciting event for the whitewater boating
community,” said Thomas O’Keefe, Pacific Northwest stewardship director for American
Whitewater. “Paddling the restored reach will be a treasured, yet challenging, experience for
many. Downstream from the stretch of river near Northwestern Park, the river enters the White
Salmon Narrows, a dramatic canyon guarded by a rapid with powerful hydraulics that only
expert paddlers should attempt to navigate.”
Some access restrictions will remain along the river banks, where signs will identify areas
recently planted with native vegetation. Also, O’Keefe reminded water enthusiasts to respect the
privacy and property of cabin owners in the area. Do not park on cabin access roads or traverse
through cabin areas. River access should be only at the public access point at Northwestern Park.
Settlement parties to the Condit Dam removal agreement originally signed in 1999
include: American Rivers, American Whitewater, Columbia Gorge Audubon Society, Columbia
Gorge Coalition, Columbia River United, Federation of Fly Fishers, Friends of the Columbia
Gorge, Friends of the Earth, Friends of the White Salmon, The Mountaineers, Rivers Council of
Washington, The Sierra Club, Trout Unlimited, Washington Trout, Washington Wilderness
Coalition, the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, the Yakama Nation, the U.S.
Forest Service, the U.S. Department of the Interior, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the
Washington Department of Ecology, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and
PacifiCorp.
Facts about the Condit Dam removal
The project was located approximately 3.3 miles upstream from the confluence of the White
Salmon and Columbia rivers. The dam was a 125-foot high, 471-foot long concrete gravity
diversion dam, with an intake structure that directed water into a 13.5-foot diameter by
5,100-foot long wood stave flow line. Approximately 30,000 cubic yards of material were
removed in the decommissioning work.
Removal opened approximately 33 miles of new spawning and rearing grounds for
steelhead and 14 miles for salmon in the White Salmon River basin. In the summer of
2011, fish biologists moved more than 500 salmon upstream of the dam, which spawned in
their new habitat that fall and then descended the White Salmon River unimpeded by the
dam.
About PacifiCorp
PacifiCorp is one of the lowest-cost electricity producers in the United States, serving more than 1.7
million customers in the West. PacifiCorp operates as Pacific Power in Oregon, Washington and
California, and as Rocky Mountain Power in Utah, Wyoming and Idaho. With a generating capability of
more than 10,620 megawatts from coal, hydro, gas-fired combustion turbines and renewable wind and
geothermal power, the company works to meet growing energy demand while protecting and enhancing
the environment.
