Rafting the Rogue River with one less Dam

After more than 2 decades of work, litigation, contemplation, bickering, arguing, crying, screaming, laughing, and talking, on October 9th, 2009 Savage Rapids Dam was cleared and the Rogue River flowed unabrupted through this area for the first time since 1921, allowing a floatilla of rafts, kayaks, drift boats, and jet boats to freely navigate through its channel. Sadly, this profound event did not go down without incident. Friday afternoon a man was killed when his jetboat crashed just downstream of the dam and Saturday an experienced river boatman wrapped his driftboat on a snag just down from the Dam. Outside of these two incidents, plenty of rafts, drift boats, and kayaks succesfully floated down this new section of the Rogue River.Photo: Jamie Lusch Mail Tribune

We are very excited to see how this channel settles in. For at least this first season the channel is expected to be in transition as years of silt and the gravel from the coffer dam settles, moves, and gets washed away. There is some great potential for this to become a fun little rapid. For more information on the Savage Rapids Dam and the other Dam removal projects on the Rogue River check out the Mail Tribune.
Here are some videos I found on youtube as well as some pictures from the Mail Tribune

2009 Wild and Scenic Enviromental Film Fest

This should be a great event up in Portland. If you are in the area you should make an appearance to learn more about and support the causes of Wild and Scenic areas like our beloved Rogue and Salmon River.
Sponsored by Patagonia, and hosted by Willamette Riverkeeper, this is the
LARGEST environmental film festival in North America. Wild & Scenic will both
inform you about the state of the world, and inspire you to create positive
change.

With multiple movies and events, two highlights will be....

Red Gold: A multiple award winning film about a controversial mine proposed at
the headwaters of the world's largest salmon fishery in Bristol Bay, Alaska. The
film tells a story of a remote, but diverse community that all share the
commonality of salmon fishing at the core of their existence.

Crossroads at the Columbia: Exploring the environmental and community-rights
issues surrounding proposals by private companies to build Liquefied Natural Gas
(LNG) terminals on Oregon's Columbia River.

when: Thursday, November 12th

where: McMenamins Bagdad Theater & Pub in Portland Oregon (37th & SE Hawthorne)
doors open at 5:30pm, films begin at 7pm

cost: tickets $8 (and also serve as your raffle entry for a chance to win an
Eddyline kayak and other prizes from Patagonia and Osprey!)

21 & over

You do not want to miss this!

www.wildandscenicfilmfestival.org

Willamette Riverkeeper is a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection
& restoration of the Willamette River www.willametteriverkeeper.org