Photo: US Army Corps of Engineers
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is holding public information meetings to give overviews of alternatives for temperature control and construction, fish collection options and potential staging areas for the fish passage and temperature control project at Detroit Dam and Lake. These meetings are to help the public understand the vast array of alternatives the Corps considered, which included ones submitted by the public.
"This shows the National Environmental Policy Act process is working," said Jeff Ament, project manager. "We were able to take valuable input from the community and include it in our alternatives analysis, which yielded great information and benefits," he said. "For instance, public comments helped us find a construction staging area, which upon initial analysis, looks like it may be great for staging and reduce impacts to local lake users."
Three upcoming meetings:
- Tuesday, August 7 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Stayton Community Center: 400 W Virginia Street, Stayton, Ore. 97383
- Wednesday, August 22 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Gates Fire Hall: 140 East Sorbin St., Gates, Ore. 97346
- Thursday, August 23 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Commission Room: 4034 Fairview Industrial Drive SE, Salem, Ore. 97302
At the meetings, the public can learn about the process the Corps went through to narrow the alternatives of the project. This is not a formal comment forum.
The Corps took input during the Environmental Impact Statement scoping period, which has influenced the alternatives formulation process. This input has helped refine the EIS, brought new issues for analysis and eliminated issues that were not significant from further detailed study.
The purpose of this project's EIS is to analyze effects to the human environment, including aesthetic, historic, economic, social, etc. associated with the Corps' efforts to enhance passage for Endangered Species Act listed fish through Detroit Dam. It will also analyze effects of modifying temperatures in the North Santiam and main stem Santiam rivers, below Detroit Dam, so that operational temperature targets are optimized for adult and juvenile salmonids. These actions are part of the Corps implementation of the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (2008) Biological Opinions for the continued operations and maintenance of the Willamette Valley Project.