Water again flows through fish ladders

ROGUE RIVER, Ore. – Water is flowing again through the fish ladders at Savage Rapids Dam for the first time in nearly two weeks after problems with a gravel-removal project.

The Grants Pass Irrigation District began the annual draw-down of its small reservoir on Oct. 1 to remove up to 1,000 cubic yards of gravel built up near irrigation water intakes and do maintenance work to “winterize” the dam.

During that time, the fish ladders are left dry, which results in delaying some of the migration of fall chinook salmon, summer steelhead and coho salmon up the Rogue at the Jackson-Josephine county line.

But the irrigation district violated an Oregon Department of State Lands permit by pushing gravel away from the radial fish screens and leaving it in the river bed instead of removing it, reports say.

A complaint by a local resident to an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist resulted in cleanup, said Julie Webster, the irrigation district’s office manager.

She said Dave Howard, who recently replaced Dan Shepherd as district manager, misread the state permit and mistakenly decided the district did not need to remove the gravel.

The violation will be reviewed to ensure no repeats occur, said Bob Lobdell, Department of State Lands natural resources coordinator.

State biologists checked last week to see if large schools of salmon and steelhead were holding at the dam’s base waiting for passage, but no significant numbers were seen.