By Claire Huber | Jan. 27, 2025 | The Cool Down
The privately-owned Pomeroy Dam in southern Oregon has been removed from the Illinois River. As detailed by KLCC Radio, removing this dam will allow migratory fish native to the Illinois River to pass the irrigation dam’s original site without harm for the first time in 126 years.
Oregon state law states any person who operates or owns an artificial barrier in a body of water must maintain it in a way that allows for the passage of native migratory fish.
This law protects migratory fish in the state of Oregon, as populations of freshwater fish have declined 84 percent since 1970. When animals are threatened in their habitats, their ecosystem and surrounding ecosystems become imbalanced.
“When fish can’t reach their habitat, they can’t reproduce,” national habitat conservation organization NOAA Fisheries said. With the removal of the dam comes better conditions for migratory fish to swim to breeding grounds as well as to move nutrients crucial for balance in their ecosystem.
Similar dam removals have happened along the Klamath River in Oregon, the River Derwent in England, and the Elwha River in Washington, among others.
Before the removal of the Pomeroy Dam in Nov. 2024, native migratory fish like the threatened coho salmon struggled to pass through the structure and were forced to jump over the barrier and shimmy through rocks.
“It was a place that, at best, delayed and injured fish and at worst, stopped fish entirely,” said Jim McCarthy a statement, per KLCC. McCarthy serves as the Southern Oregon program director for WaterWatch of Oregon, the nonprofit river conservation group responsible for the removal of the Pomeroy Dam.
The removal was part of WaterWatch’s Free the Rogue campaign, launched to combat the threatened populations of coho salmon and the declining populations of spring chinook salmon and steelhead trout. By removing unnecessary barriers, the nonprofit organization works to save these migratory fish.
The Conservation Alliance, a WaterWatch financial supporter, wrote in an Instagram post dated Dec. 5th, 2024: “With waters flowing freely, salmon and steelhead in the Illinois River can access their natural habitat and locals can enjoy the river again.”
This article originally appeared in the Jan. 27th, 2025, issue of The Cool Down, and later appeared on MSN and Yahoo.
Banner photo courtesy of Dustin Saigo.