Third fish-impeding dam removal in nine years at Rogue River's Evans Creek

EVANS CREEK, Ore. – A tributary creek for the Rogue River has had its third fish-impeding dam removal completed in the last nine years.

In the last week of June, crews finished demolition of an abandoned concrete former diversion dam in Evans Creek.

River Design Group’s Senior Engineer and Geomorphologist Melanie Klym told NBC5 News the 5-foot tall dam was blocking fish passage and access to the aquatic habitat upstream.

The removal is part of a larger collaborative effort to restore access to nearly 40 miles of habitat for native salmon and steelhead in the creek.

Klym said the project will restore natural river processes as well as increase water quality.

The project was to remove the dam; restore fish passage in Evans Creek. Make sure that we kept the homeowners, who were pumping from the former reservoir, still able to access their irrigation water; so improving their pump intakes. And then, what we’re working on today, is adding some large wood structures back to Evans Creek to provide more habitat complexity in the former reservoir.

According to Klym, wildlife is already responding to the dam removal in a positive way.