One Year Later: A Dam Removal And A River’s Rebirth

One Year Later: A Dam Removal And A River’s Rebirth

One Year Later: A Dam Removal And A River’s Rebirth Waterline is an ongoing series that explores the solutions making rivers, waterways and ocean food chains healthier. It is funded by a grant from the Walton Family Foundation. When someone at the Washington Department of Natural Resources told Pete Barber about a derelict dam on the upper Washougal River, he was intrigued. Barber, the Habitat Restoration Program Manager for the Cowlitz Indian Tribe , had grown up near the Washougal, a tributary of the Columbia River, and had heard tell of the Kwoneesum Dam. “But I thought it was being used as a reservoir for the city of Camas,” he says. “Come to find out that it was a relic from the Camp Fire Girls [an outdoors-focused group for girls that preceded the Girl Scouts]. There was no real purpose, and it hadn’t been in use since 1985.” Barber’s discovery was correct. Once an outdoor swimming spot for the Camp Fire Girls, the reservoir — and the dam that created it — had been tucked back in the…