Deep reservoir drawdown at Green Peter Dam causes 'barotrauma,' death for thousands of kokanee salmon.

Lyle Wold at his desk in the Portland District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers headquarters office in downtown Portland, Oregon. Wold is a project controller in the Programs Management Branch. (USACE Photo by Amber Tilton, Public Affairs Specialist)

After a historically dry start to the refill season, water managers with the Portland District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) are now optimistic about refilling most Willamette Valley reservoirs after increased rainfall and snowmelt in April.

Beginning in June, the Portland District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will begin to gradually drawdown Lookout Point and Green Peter reservoirs to historically low levels. The goal of these reservoir “drawdowns,” which are part of an injunction ordered by the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, is to increase juvenile spring Chinook and steelhead survival and passage through the reservoirs and past the dams. Drawdown operations will reduce Green Peter’s reservoir to a surface elevation of 780 feet – about 120 feet lower than it’s been drawn down since construction.

Beginning in June, the Portland District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will begin to gradually drawdown Lookout Point and Green Peter reservoirs to historically low levels. The goal of these reservoir “drawdowns,” which are part of an injunction ordered by the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, is to increase juvenile spring Chinook and steelhead survival and passage through the reservoirs and past the dams. At Lookout Point, the Corps will take the reservoir down to an elevation of 750 feet, which is 80 feet lower than any previous drawdown since construction.

On November 5th 2021, Congress and President Biden authorized a bill allocating $8.3 billion to advance and expand access to clean water for families, farmers and wildlife called the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This infographic displays USACE projects that are receiving money from the BIL.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Portland District (Corps) will begin a nearly three-year, $64 million critical infrastructure project March 18 to repair the Coos Bay North Jetty.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Portland District (Corps) will move forward this spring with seismic repairs at Willamette Falls Locks ahead of the agency’s official transfer of the historic navigation lock system to the Willamette Falls Locks Authority, expected to take place in 2026.