The Deschutes River Trail offers nearly uninterrupted access for hikers and bikers along the banks of the river in six stretches ranging from one to four miles through the heart of Bend.
But for those who want to play and recreate IN/ON the water rather than beside it, there are four non-navigable, man-made obstructions standing between Bend and full river accessibility for recreationalists and serve as a problem for the native inhabitants of the Deschutes, the fish.
The “paddle trail,” as it’s called, is navigable from Benham Falls to Colorado Ave. (with whitewater for expert paddlers; including Lava Island, Benham and Dillon Falls). But then the problems begin just before the Colorado driving bridge.
“Once you hit the urban area, you hit four major spillways in town in a three- or four- mile distance,” explained Geoff Frank, owner of Tumalo Creek Kayak & Canoe, and a member of the Bend Paddle Trail Alliance board. In that stretch, The Colorado Spillway, The Mirror Pond Dam at Newport Ave., the Tumalo Irrigation Canal and the North Unit Dam all block continuous river navigability in varying degrees.
“A lot of the spillways are from an old Bend era,” said Frank. “From the mill days, they are old archaic dams that don’t serve purposes now.”
Some updates to the obstructions are underway including the Colorado Dam Safe Passage project—scheduled to be completed by the summer of 2015—that, as the name suggests, would allow for safe passage of both floaters and fish past the Colorado spillway, as well as an added white water play park for boaters.
However, reaching this “something-for-everyone” solution took 12 years according to Frank, and comes with a price tag of $7.35 million. As construction begins this fall, the Colorado Dam Safe Passage project will serve as a shining example of hard work leading to a well-balanced and highly beneficial solution to redirecting the flow of the river.
Colorado Avenue Dam
Location: Immediately downstream of Colorado road bridge
Fish: Partial obstruction
Floaters: Full obstruction
Currently, the Colorado Avenue Dam represents a central safety hazard for floaters and a challenge for fish passage due to a largely ineffective fish ladder. After the 2005 opening of Farewell Bend Park, and the accompanying influx of lazy-day tubers from the Old Mill District to Downtown Bend, several accidents have prompted a redesign of the spillway and nearby footbridge.
The planned improvements include a new river-left channel that will allow for river use bypass and fish passage. A middle channel will serve as a whitewater play park for recreationalists and the far right will be a wildlife channel.
“There are side eddies so [the fish] can pull out of the main current and rest and then get back into the main current to go upstream,” said Chelsea Schneider, who explained in-stream work on the project is set to begin in September. “The parks district primary goal of the project is the floaters. It’s the reason why it was a bond measure to provide for safe passage because there have been accidents and fatalities at the site and we want to make sure the river is a safe place for people to play. There’s been discussion inside the district and elsewhere as to the future potential of this type of project. I would like to see how this one goes and what we can learn from it, and where we can go from there.”
Newport Avenue Dam/Bend Hydro Dam
Location: Near Newport Ave. Bridge
Fish: Full obstruction
Floaters: Full obstruction
With what seems like never-ending discussion of the fate of Mirror Pond and the Newport Avenue Dam, the prospect of dam removal, or a hybrid solution to the current pond challenges (see News, page 7), represents an opportunity for full fish passage. Brett Hodgson, a fish biologist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, explained that while ODFW understands that the Mirror Pond issue is complex, its goal is to see fish migration increase.
“To meet our fish management goals we would like to see passage at each of the artificial obstructions,” said Hodgson. “There are a few things that constitute triggers and invoke the state’s fish passage statute. One of them would be construction of a new dam. One of them is removal of a dam. One is a 30 percent or greater modification of a dam.”
Bend Feed Canal Dam/Tumalo Irrigation District diversion dam, Often referred to as the StEidl Dam
Location: Near Pioneer Park
Fish: No obstruction, fish ladder in place
Floaters: Full obstruction
“The Steidl Street spillway is a sleeper,” explained Geoff Frank. “But it would be easy to modify because it’s a canal intake. You could take the intake on river-left and have a free flowing on the right.”
North Canal Dam
Fish: Full obstruction
Floaters: Full obstruction
A plan is currently in motion to build a fish ladder at the North Canal Dam site. The Department of Fish and Wildlife entered into an agreement with the three irrigation districts associated with the site (Central Oregon Irrigation District, Swalley Irrigation District and North Unit Irrigation District) to share costs to provide passage by fish ladder at the site. Brett Hodgson confirmed that ODFW is in the process of getting its finances in line for the project, and that he hopes to have full fish passage through the North Canal Dam by 2017.
This article appears in Apr 17-23, 2014.
MAKE LOCAL JOURNALISM HAPPEN
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
Am I the only one who thinks the whole ‘play wave’ idea is ludicrous? I am all for removing the Colorado Ave. sieve for safety, providing fish passage and improved habitat – but I thought we would have learned from the last 100 years of modifying our rivers to satisfy passing human fancies. At times, it seems like the environmental benefits are merely window dressing for the pet project of a small number of boaters who think taxpayers should pay for their artificial playground. We are surrounded by whitewater opportunities here in Oregon and dumping thousands of tons of concrete into the river for a play wave stinks of the same brand of selfishness & hubris that resulted in the construction of 75,000 American dams (albeit on a smaller scale). It’s like the Walmart of river recreation and I am disappointed to see the recreational zeal that Bend is now known for trump the environmental and moral responsibilities we hold as stewards of the land and water. Let’s be grateful for what we’ve got.
Perhaps as a non recreationalist (or so self described) the community benefits of the planned Whitewater Surf Channel are lost on the previous commenter, but one has only to look to other towns which have already built such surf parks to see what a broad range of benefits communities derive from whitewater recreation. Far from being a selfish endeavor to benefit a few, the whitewater channel will bring an economic benefit to our community and a relatively safe learning environment in which future generations of river enthusiasts can learn the values of self sufficiency, humility, critical thinking, teamwork, sharing, caring and respect for nature.
This project will bring visitors to Oregon’s first and only such Surf Park. With 2 of the 4 features planned as waves the park will also provide a recreational opportunity for the hundreds of board surfers and stand up paddle-boarders in Bend who currently drive to the coast for their waves, or simply do without.
As for “window dressing”, perhaps if numerous accidents hadn’t occurred at this site over the past few years, including one fatality, the conversation would still be ongoing as to whether or not the Colorado Dam and Spillway were deserving of an upgrade. It has been the quick response of the river community (Geoff Frank in particular, who should be recognized as a civic Hero) which averted more loss of life at this site. The Whitewater Channel will also serve as a training ground for DCSAR and the Bend Fire Dept. to develop and hone the swift-water rescue skills increasingly needed in our community as more and more people take to the rivers to recreate in all manners.
The facts are that Bend Paddle Trail Alliance is raising nearly a Million dollars of the project funding, which largely covers the cost of the whitewater surf improvements, which are also being made with a minimum of concrete use. In Colorado, where more and more towns are installing whitewater parks every year, these projects show an economic benefit to their communities of $600,000-$19.6 Million PER YEAR!
Perhaps the river community should be saying “You’re Welcome!” to the tax payers of Bend as much as “Thank You!” for investing in what makes Bend such a special place, where people want to live and visit.
I hope that when “Not a Recro-Yuppy” walks across the new footbridge next summer, they will pause for a moment at the overlook, appreciate the fish passage & habitat improvements to the area as well as the broad diversity of people enjoying the improved river recreation opportunities there, and be grateful for what we bought. Heck, you might even enjoy it if you tried it!
I have heard these arguments before and they do not convince me that construction of a play park is “doing the right thing” for our river or that it is worth public investment. I’m also skeptical of the fundamental legality of dumping thousands of yards of concrete into the Deschutes River. Has BPTA been granted the necessary permits or is this being conducted like the city of Bend did for the Tumalo Creek pipeline project? The whole thing is a big shame, and while I strongly support BPTA’s other activities, this has me scratching my head.
To “not a recro-youper”; Your assertions and hyperbole do not jive with the plans that the hydrology consultants from River Restoration have prepared, which look to create an overall ecological enhancement within the project reach. While there WILL be concrete used in the rebuild of portions of the dam itself, to facilitate control of the surface water elevation of the Mill Pond(maybe if they had used concrete during the last complete re-build it wouldn’t have shifted and needed the nasty rebar mess which now re-enforces it?), the islands which define the 3 channels including the whitewater/surf channel, will be almost entirely composed of stacked indigenous rock.
This will create lots of pockets and structure, which is good for the aquatic plants and insects which form the basis of the web of life, while the recreational features themselves will likely increase oxygenation, a benefit to water quality in general. Deep water holds and strong eddy circulations in the whitewater/surf channel will also more closely mimic natural river hydrology than the extremely shallow and broadly graded slope which exists there today, providing habitat for mature fish.
Do remember why it is so shallow and broad below the spillway? Have you ever wondered where the rocks at the Historical Society came from? or what the Colorado Ave. area looked like before the dams?
I believe that Public investment should do good for the broadest spectrum of residents(and visitors, who are a large part of Bend’s economic vitality). Putting a little bit of “River” back in between “Pond”s seems like a wise use of resources to me. I hope that “recros” enjoying the surf waves, tubers safely floating the safe passage channel, and the fish who will call that area home can all agree.
I realize that my opinion may be an unpopular one here, but I will stress my point one last time (hopefully sans hyperbole), as the responses indicate that I have not made myself clear:
I am strongly in favor of dam removal, safe passage and habitat improvements. I am strongly opposed to construction of any artificial boating features. Furthermore, justifying the play wave by extolling the virtues of dam removal and habitat improvement is misleading, as the two are not mutually exclusive and need to be uncoupled in the narrative here (hence my ‘window dressing’ comment earlier). Okay… now that we’re talking about the play wave, it is my own opinion that this is a step in the wrong direction and we should be striving to achieve as natural a state as is practicable when considering making alterations to the river. I appreciate that boaters think it would be cool, but this is not Disneyland and we should show more respect for the waters that nourish us in all the ways mentioned below.