Stimulus money pays for Rogue River dam removal
Associated Press
June 30, 2009
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) – Federal stimulus money will pay for removal of another dam from the Rogue River in southwestern Oregon, adding to a string of dam removals designed to help salmon and steelhead.
Commerce Sec. Gary Locke announced Tuesday that $5 million will go to removal of Gold Ray Dam, a defunct hydroelectric dam built in 1905 outside Gold Hill.
The money is part of $167 million going to 50 habitat restoration projects around the country from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Slated to be out by next year, Gold Ray will be the third dam removed from the Rogue in recent years, leaving only Lost Creek Dam on 1 of Oregon’s best-known salmon and steelhead rivers.