Demolition began on June 1 at one of the largest-ever dam-removal projects in the U.S. Since 1921, the Savage Rapids Dam on the Rogue River near Grants Pass, Ore., has provided irrigation, but at a cost to the coho salmon that spawn in the river. A consent decree in 2000 capped a decade of legal fights and set the stage for the demolition.
The 39-ft-high, 500-ft-long concrete-buttress dam was built in 1921 by the Grants Pass Irrigation District for irrigation only and provides no electricity or flood control. But fish passages were substandard. Fish sometimes were blocked completely.