Balm Grove Dam Removal Timelapse

Gales Creek winds for more than fifty miles through western Washington County, offering some of the best habitat in the region for two endangered species, winter steelhead and Pacific lamprey, as well as coho salmon, cutthroat trout, mountain whitefish, mountain sucker and largescale sucker.
For decades, however, 12 miles upstream from where Gales Creek joins the Tualatin River, an obsolete concrete dam at Balm Grove impeded fish passage.
After purchasing the site in 2016, Tree for All partners laid the groundwork to remove the dam and restore fish passage to more than 35 miles of prime habitat. Partners recognized that removal of the concrete dam at Balm Grove was one of the most important steps that our community could take to directly benefit aquatic life in the Tualatin River Watershed. In late summer 2022, the dam was removed.

[@OddsandEnds]

less dams the better

[@XUndergroundRap]

Awesome.

[@robertrockwell7581]

why on every dam project do they always put logs and rocks where nature did not put them.?. let the stream figure out it's original flow.

[@MrJeep75]

Keeps things from washing out I guess, and provide habitat for fish

[@mattsavage]

its part of every restoration project. woody material is important for habitat and erosion control. its just jumpstarting natures process.

[@bulletscreenprinting]

Kill a eco system after that many years is a head scratcher. Why not just install a fish ladder.