Detroit & Big Cliff Dams on the North Santiam River
Detroit Dam is located at river mile 49 on the North Santiam River, about 45 miles southeast of Salem, Oregon. Detroit Dam has two hydropower generating units capable of producing 50 megawatts each.
Big Cliff Dam is also on the North Santiam River three miles downstream of Detroit Dam and re-regulates water released from Detroit.
Carrying out the Reasonable and Prudent Alternative (RPA) from the 2008 Willamette Project Biological Opinion requires a suite of actions determined necessary to protect ESA-listed Upper Willamette River Spring Chinook salmon and Upper Willamette River Winter Steelhead ESUs. Key actions which apply for all of the project dams covered under the 2008 Opinion include:
- Meeting ramp rates and flow targets for the Willamette River mainstem and tributaries.
- Interim operations to improve conditions for fish passage, spawning, incubation and rearing are being conducted until permanent solutions can be developed and completed.
- Research Monitoring and Evaluation efforts to inform decision making for downstream fish passage, temperature control, and to analyze the effectiveness of actions which have already been undertaken.
In addition, reasonable RPA actions for Detroit and Big Cliff Dams include:
- Minto adult collection facility rebuild to be complete and operating in 2013 - Read about Minto's updated fish collection facility
- Detroit temperature control to be completed by 2018
- Detroit downstream fish passage by 2023
More information about this and other Willamette Valley Projects
