Bend Bulletin - Last concrete dam on Whychus Creek coming down

This article was published on: 09/9/14 12:00 AM

By Dylan J. Darling / The Bulletin

SISTERS — A pair of excavators put the first cracks in the last concrete dam on Whychus Creek on Monday, carrying out a plan built over five years of negotiations.

The heavy equipment started tearing down the Pine Meadow Ranch dam Monday just south of Sisters off the road to Three Creeks Lake. Removing the dam should take about two weeks and will contribute to the restoration of 13 miles of fish habitat along the creek, said Mathias Perle, project manager for the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council.

“It was pretty powerful to see,” he said.

The 6-foot dam will be the last of about a half-dozen concrete dams to be removed from Whychus Creek and its tributaries in recent years. Removing the dam and restoring the creek around it will cost about $2 million, with the Pelton-Round Butte Mitigation Fund, The Nature Conservancy, Reser Family Foundation, Patagonia and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation all contributing money to the