Dorena & Cottage Grove Dams on the Coast Fork of the Willamette River

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.

More information about this and other Willamette Valley Projects