Oregon's Rogue River dam may be next to go

MEDFORD, Ore. — Another dam on the Rogue River may be a candidate for removal.

Gold Ray Dam could be taken out of the upper Rogue River in 2012 and replaced with world-class kayaking rapids under a Jackson County proposal for removing the last main barrier to fish and boats between the Cascades and the sea.

The dam is considered one of the 10 worst artificial fish-passage impediments in Oregon, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

With Savage Rapids Dam set for removal next year downstream near the city of Rogue River and the Gold Hill diversion dam removed last summer, Gold Ray Dam remains the last major impediment between Lost Creek Lake and the Pacific.

Next week, contractors plan to begin studying the muck that's been trapped behind the dam near Gold Hill for 104 years. The federally required sediment study will determine whether, when and how the dam is removed, county officials said.

Sonar pulses pumped into the silt and rock will determine how deep the sediment is atop bedrock in the reservoir behind the dam.

That will be followed by studies of the area's geology before the original wooden dam was built in 1904 to generate electricity for Medford.

The sediment was scheduled to be analyzed for its content — including for mercury or other contaminants — sometime next year.

"Given what's been found at other areas like Savage Rapids [Dam], we don't expect there to be any contaminants," said Lin Bernhardt, the county's natural-resources coordinator. "But we'll wait and see."

Those results will be key to determining which environmental studies will be needed for eventual design-demolition bids, which could be submitted as early as 2011, with the actual removal the following year, Bernhardt said.

Once the sediment can be flushed out, the remaining bedrock would likely form a steep gradient that county officials hope will create a whitewater playground that attracts a new set of recreators to the Rogue Valley.

"Here we potentially have a really great feature set up for that," Bernhardt said. "We just won't know until the dam is removed."

A wave on the downstream end of the dam's fish ladder is a favorite play place for kayakers who would love to see some form of rapids to replace it once the dam is gone, said Bill Cross, an Ashland canoeist and rafter who is following the dam's fate.

"They'll be disappointed to see the wave go, but I've never heard any of them say they'd want the dam to stay just to keep the wave," Cross said.