Managing Uncertainty in Real-Time During the Removal of Gold Ray Dam

In spring 2009, Jackson County received American Recovery and Restoration Act (ARRA) funding from the NOAA Restoration Center to remove the defunct Gold Ray Hydroelectric Dam from the Rogue River in Oregon. Jackson County convened a technical team composed of representatives from state, county, and federal agencies to assist the project in getting through design and permitting in a very short time frame.  Jackson County, the technical team, and the selected contracting team met monthly to review designs and insure that all permitting, consultations, and an environmental assessment were completed quickly.

Two of the major challenges of the project were the short time frame dictated by the ARRA funding and the fact that we were working in a dynamic river system with a relative lack of analogous projects to use for comparison.  These challenges required the project team to accept that there were some uncertainties associated with the project and move forward with design and implementation.  The project team addressed the challenge of moving forward quickly with some uncertainties unresolved by having a nimble interdisciplinary project technical team; using modeling to attempt to anticipate river response; leaving room for flexibility, which allowed real-time & coordinated decision making; and participating in ongoing, creative, adaptive management.

After the removal of the dam was complete, Jackson County continued to work with upstream and downstream landowners to work through issues that occurred as a result of the lowering of the reservoir and the release of sediments.  Completing this priority project on such an aggressive schedule would not have been possible without the cooperation and dedication of the contracting and interagency teams.