The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation are close to removing a dam near Pendleton that does little except keep fish from flowing through it. Yet it has taken the tribes and the dam’s owners 40 years to get this close to demolition.

Mike Lambert, fish habitat and passage program manager for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, said the tribes have listed the demolition of the Peterson Dam on Birch Creek as a priority project since 1984. The tribes intend to remove the privately owned structure by the end of September as part of a larger effort to remove man-made obstructions along hundreds of miles of river.

While demolishing larger dams is likely to attract more public attention, Lambert said removing outdated dams in smaller rivers and streams can also have a major impact on fish populations.

“We always intended to remove the dam because it is no longer being used for the purpose it was built for,” Lambert said. “It currently provides a useless barrier to fish.”

At 6 feet tall and 35 feet wide, the Peterson Dam pales in comparison to the giant dams on the Columbia River. But the Birch Creek watershed produces 50 percent of the summer steelhead population in the entire Umatilla Basin, Lambert said, and coho and chinook salmon also use the creek to spawn.

The Peterson Dam was built sometime in the early 20th century and used to divert water from Birch Creek to irrigate some nearby farms. The creek is a tributary of the Umatilla River and begins a few miles southwest of Pendleton.

The project to demolish the dam has been stalled for decades, but that is not due to a lack of commitment on the part of the tribe, Lambert says.

In addition to government red tape, it also took time to convince the landowner that removing the dam would not affect irrigation on an alfalfa farm. Irrigation techniques changed over time and became more efficient, Lambert said, and although the original owner, Homer Peterson, died in 2018, his estate eventually gave the tribes the green light when they agreed that demolishing the dam would not harm agriculture.

Lambert said the demolition of the dam was an important step for the tribes.

“Restoring these fish populations not only restores access to fish that the tribe relies on for their subsistence and even some level of commercial fishing, but it is also important to their culture,” he said.

Dams in the Northwest have been a boon to agriculture, hydroelectric power, and the shipping industry. But that has come at the expense of salmon and other freshwater fish, whose numbers are declining rapidly as they struggle to overcome the obstacles. Salmon have played an important role in the livelihoods and cultural life of Northwest tribes for thousands of years, and it is often the tribes that are in the first place trying to reverse the environmental damage caused by dams.

On the Willamette River, The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde have voted to open the dam gates to allow fish to pass through. However, they are facing resistance from the dam operator, the US Army Corps of Engineers, which critics say prefers to use complex and expensive but less effective fish traps. PacifiCorp is currently removing several dams from the Klamath River near the Oregon-California border, after decades of conflict between several tribes and non-tribal groups over the impact of dam removal on irrigation and local property values.

The economic risks for Peterson Dam are much lower. The dam does not generate hydroelectric power, and Lambert said the water rights associated with the dam have either been transferred elsewhere or converted for conservation reasons. While the dam’s owners may have had initial concerns, Lambert said the project was ultimately supported by the estate’s cooperation.

Lambert said the Peterson Dam project is one of several projects funded by a $3 million federal grant to restore fish habitat. By the time the funds are exhausted, Lambert said, the tribes expect to restore 30 trillion miles of waterways in the Umatilla, Grande Ronde and Walla Walla basins.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is Accepting public comments on water quality certification for the project by Sept. 4. Lambert said getting the green light from the DEQ is one of the last hurdles before the tribes can remove the dam.