The Pomeroy Dam was first built in 1896 for irrigation. The current concrete version of the dam was built in the 1940s. Since then, it鈥檚 prevented fish like salmon and steelhead from going upstream to spawn in one of the Rogue River鈥檚 major tributaries.
Jim McCarthy is with WaterWatch of Oregon, the group that secured agreements with landowners to remove the dam. He said this dam has long been on a state list ranking barriers to fish passage.
鈥淎nd after other removals on the main stem it became the highest priority dam for fish passage correction in the rogue and one of the highest priorities in the entire state for correction,鈥� said McCarthy.
WaterWatch of Oregon secured an agreement with the current owner of the dam, Q Bar X Ranch, after the nonprofit sued the ranch in 2022, alleging it lacked proper fish passage. The lawsuit was dropped after the ranch agreed to remove the dam.
requires that dams provide adequate passage for native migratory fish.
鈥淚t didn't have a fish ladder,鈥� said McCarthy. 鈥淚t had various places where fish would jump to try to cross or wriggle through rocks to try to cross. But it was a place that, at best, delayed and injured fish and at worst, stopped fish entirely.鈥�
The dam was also an inefficient method of delivering water to the ranch. McCarthy said water had to travel two-miles down a canal to the ranch itself.
鈥淪o it's been updated with new pumps on site that are fish screened and metered and offset in their pumping cost by installation of a solar array that's part of the deal,鈥� he said.
The removal of the dam is just part of the project. McCarthy said they also signed agreements with two other nearby landowners to install fish-friendly infrastructure, including replacing culverts running underneath roadways with streams that are more free-flowing.
This is the second dam removed from the Illinois River sub-basin in two years. WaterWatch removed the Takelma Creek Dam near Selma in 2023.
McCarthy said the Pomeroy dam removal and improvements were provided free-of-charge to the landowners.
With this dam is removed, all 56 miles of the mainstem of the Illinois River are now free-flowing for the first time in 126 years.
