By Whitney Woodworth
Salem Statesman Journal

Marion County, along with a collection of Santiam Canyon cities and agencies, submitted a formal letter June 22 to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers urging it to cancel any deep drawdown of Detroit Reservoir in 2026 and reevaluate future draining plans.

The letter, which cites serious risks to downstream drinking water systems, local recreation and fish populations, was submitted on behalf of a community coalition that includes Stayton, Sublimity, Mill City, Detroit Lake Foundation, Detroit Lake Marina, Woodburn Area Chamber of Commerce and North Marion Tourism Collaborative.

The city of Salem also sent a letter in early 2026 urging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to take more steps to protect the city’s drinking water. It was not one of the cities that signed the June 22 letter.

“Our residents depend on clean, reliable drinking water,” Marion County Commissioner Kevin Cameron said. “The Army Corps should complete the analysis required by law before taking on any risks that could harm that supply.”

Commissioner Colm Willis said the Corps’ own analysis acknowledges the drawdown’s adverse risk to drinking water and recreation.

“The risks to our communities strongly outweigh any perceived, hypothetical benefits from this drawdown,” Willis said.

The drawdown is meant to save endangered salmon, but that could impact water quality for 210,000 and harm the economy of the Santiam Canyon. It has been the source of disagreement between the county and federal agency since news of it was first reported by the Statesman Journal in January 2025.

The move spurred alarm bells in Salem and Marion County over concern the drawdown would flush muddy water into the drinking water facilities for Stayton and Salem.

Salem City Council voted to declare a state of emergency in July 2025. The declaration allowed the city to take immediate action to prepare for the impacts of the drawdown, including constructing new groundwater wells at the Geren Island Water Treatment Plant and adding a new pump station connection with Keizer.

The letter comes after Marion County filed a lawsuit in May against the Corps asking a federal court to pause efforts to drain the lake until the Corps completes a federally required turbidity request.

Marion County also sent letters in December 2025 and in January 2026 asking for a halt to the drawdown. The county also requested a more formal review, pointing to the 2023 Green Peter Reservoir drawdown, “which caused significant damage to downstream water filtration systems and killed hundreds of thousands of kokanee salmon.”

County leaders said despite these warnings, the Corps published its Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement in May without completing the required turbidity study.

The joint letter sent on June 22 asks the Corps to refrain from authorizing any deep drawdown in 2026 and to satisfy five conditions before revisiting a draining plan: completing the turbidity report; establishing enforceable triggers for termination if the drawdown impacts water quality, recreation and fisheries; demonstrating that prior drawdowns produced improvements in fish passage; consult directly with downstream water providers and governments for coordination and emergency response; and identify and commit in advance to funding for impacts to water systems and local businesses.

“Any changes to Detroit Lake’s water level must be grounded in data-backed science with meaningful protections in place for our downstream communities,” Commissioner Danielle Bethell said. “We will continue working to ensure that decisions made at the federal level align with the needs of local communities.”

Statesman Journal reporter Zach Urness also contributed to this report.

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By MARTHA BELLISLE
Associated Press

COULEE DAM, Wash. (AP) — Trump administration workforce cuts at federal agencies overseeing U.S. dams are threatening their ability to provide reliable electricity, supply farmers with water and protect communities from floods, employees and industry experts warn.

The Bureau of Reclamation provides water and hydropower to the public in 17 western states. Nearly 400 agency workers have been cut through the Trump reduction plan, an administration official said.

“Reductions-in-force” memos have also been sent to current workers, and more layoffs are expected. The cuts included workers at the Grand Coulee Dam, the largest hydropower generator in North America, according to two fired staffers interviewed by The Associated Press.

“Without these dam operators, engineers, hydrologists, geologists, researchers, emergency managers and other experts, there is a serious potential for heightened risk to public safety and economic or environmental damage,” Lori Spragens, executive director of the Kentucky-based Association of Dam Safety Officials, told the AP.

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said federal workforce reductions will ensure disaster responses are not bogged down by bureaucracy and bloat.

“A more efficient workforce means more timely access to resources for all Americans,” she said by email.

But a bureau hydrologist said they need people on the job to ensure the dams are working properly.

“These are complex systems,” said the worker in the Midwest, who is still employed but spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of possible retaliation.

Workers keep dams safe by monitoring data, identifying weaknesses and doing site exams to check for cracks and seepage.

“As we scramble to get these screenings, as we lose institutional knowledge from people leaving or early retirement, we limit our ability to ensure public safety,” the worker added. “Having people available to respond to operational emergencies is critical. Cuts in staff threaten our ability to do this effectively.”

A federal judge on Thursday ordered the administration to rehire fired probationary workers, but a Trump spokesperson said they would fight back, leaving unclear whether any would return.

The heads of 14 California water and power agencies sent a letter to the Bureau of Reclamation and the Department of Interior last month warning that eliminating workers with “specialized knowledge” in operating and maintaining aging infrastructure “could negatively impact our water delivery system and threaten public health and safety.”

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also operates dams nationwide. Matt Rabe, a spokesman, declined to say how many workers left through early buyouts, but said the agency hasn’t been told to reduce its workforce.

But Neil Maunu, executive director of the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association, said it learned more than 150 Army Corps workers in Portland, Oregon, were told they would be terminated and they expect to lose about 600 more in the Pacific Northwest.

The firings include “district chiefs down to operators on vessels” and people critical to safe river navigation, he said.

Their last day is not known. The Corps was told to provide a plan to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management by March 14, Maunu said.

Several other federal agencies that help ensure dams run safely also have faced layoffs and closures. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is laying off 10% of its workforce and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Dam Safety Review Board was disbanded in January.

The cuts come at a time when the nation’s dams need expert attention.

An AP review of Army Corps data last year showed at least 4,000 dams are in poor or unsatisfactory condition and could kill people or harm the environment if they failed.

They require inspections, maintenance and emergency repairs to avoid catastrophes, the AP found.

Heavy rain damaged the spillway at California’s Oroville Dam in 2017, forcing nearly 190,000 residents to evacuate, and Michigan’s Edenville Dam breached in storms in 2020, the AP found.

Stephanie Duclos, a Bureau of Reclamation probationary worker fired at the Grand Coulee Dam, said she was among a dozen workers initially terminated. The dam across the Columbia River in central Washington state generates electricity for millions of homes and supplies water to a 27-mile-long reservoir that irrigates the Columbia Basin Project.

“This is a big infrastructure,” she said. “It’s going to take a lot of people to run it.”

Some fired employees had worked there for decades but were in a probation status due to a position switch. Duclos was an assistant for program managers who organized training and was a liaison with human resources. The only person doing that job, she fears how others will cover the work.

“You’re going to get employee burnout” in the workers left behind, she said.

Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat who pushed a bipartisan effort to ensure the National Dam Safety Program was authorized through 2028, said, “the safety and efficacy of our dams is a national security priority.

“Americans deserve better, and I will work to make sure this administration is held accountable for their reckless actions,” Padilla said.

Associated Press White House reporter Chris Megerian also contributed to this report.

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Suites L and M of the Ambassador Business Center were recently leased to US Army Corps of Engineers/General Services Administration for $1.95 million. The space totals about 8,854 square feet, located at 7515 NE Ambassador Place in Portland.

Constructed in 1990, the property consists of a total of 23,551 square feet of rentable space. The property is within walking distance of a TriMet MAX station, restaurants and retail spaces. The location also offers easy access to Portland International Airport and major transportation arterials, such as I-84, I-205 and I-5.

Portland-based Norris & Stevens Inc. represented the tenant in the transaction. Colliers International represented the landlord, LPC Ambassador LLC.

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is awarding two Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loans that will be used to help pay for $1.3 billion in Willamette Water Supply System improvements.

One loan for $388 million is being awarded to the Tualatin Valley Water District, and the other for $251 million is going to the city of Hillsboro. The money will go toward construction of intake facilities, over 30 miles of pipeline, a water treatment plant and two storage reservoirs.

The program calls for the expansion of the existing municipal raw water intake facility on the Willamette River in Wilsonville, along with construction of a new water treatment plant in Sherwood. The former will be built between 2020 and 2024, while the latter is scheduled to be built between 2022 and 2025.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Oregon Department of State Lands also have approved the project’s environmental permits, while land use permitting is in progress for various elements.

“The benefits significantly reduce the rate impacts to our customers,” Tualatin Valley Water District CEO Tom Hickmann stated in a press release, “while simultaneously helping provide an additional water supply that results in protecting public health with a reliable drinking water source and fueling the economy with jobs now and in the future.”

The EPA has estimated the two WIFIA loans will save the water district an estimated $138.4 million and the city of Hillsboro an estimated $125.2 million when compared with typical bond financing terms.

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A coalition of government agencies led by Metro on Monday applied for a construction permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the first stage of the Willamette Falls Legacy Project in a major milestone for the long-gestating public-private development.

The move came after the property’s owner, George Heidgerken, signed permit documents and settled payments he owed to Clackamas County and Oregon City, government officials said, lifting a monthslong impasse between the two sides.

The project had stalled amid Heidgerken’s concerns the agencies were trying to sideline his options for private development at the waterfall site. Then a promising sign came in March, when Heidgerken signed permit applications to allow the project to move forward and signaled he would pay about $280,000 in tax and utility bills.

Those payments have been made.

“He’s completely caught up,” said Tony Konkol, city manager of Oregon City.

The city has received a check from Heidgerken for more than $63,000 to settle a previously unpaid utilities balance, Konkol said.

The Willamette Falls Legacy Project promises to showcase the falls – the second-largest waterfall by volume in the United States – and build a noteworthy attraction that local officials believe could inject economic vitality into downtown Oregon City and remake a defunct industrial site.

“We have this opportunity to really engage with the river again and re-establish multiple blocks of our downtown,” Konkol said. “So we really couldn’t be more excited to get this project going over the next couple of years.”

Heidgerken said the permit application was a positive sign.

“I think everything’s great,” he said Tuesday. “That’s all I’ve got to say – I’m glad they’re moving forward.”

Control of the project has long been an issue dividing Heidgerken and the partner agencies. Heidgerken, a Tacoma, Washington-based developer, swooped in to purchase the property in 2014. The site’s previous tenant, the Blue Heron Paper Co., had ceased operations three years earlier.

Metro partnered with Clackamas County, Oregon City and the state of Oregon for the Willamette Falls Legacy Project. The governments commissioned an ambitious design from international firm Snohetta, along with Mayer/Reed�����Ի���Dialog, for a public river walk. Heidgerken negotiated a public easement for the river walk. But he held out the possibility of developing multifamily buildings and amenities such as restaurants and brewpubs – either by himself or with a partner.

“There’s a whole lot of neat things that fit on that site, and they’ll happen when the right players step up to do them,” Heidgerken said Tuesday.

Heidgerken earlier rejected a purchase offer from the government agencies. Now the two sides are proceeding with an uneasy partnership that would allow the river walk to proceed while he controls the rest of the 22-acre site.

“This project is a big and complex project,” said Brian Moore, project manager for Metro. “When the partners elected not to purchase the property and when their (subsequent offer to Heidgerken) was rejected, it put us in a position where we had a partner we didn’t select, but we’re figuring out how to work with him and how to move this forward.”

In a reflection of the increasing optimism for development, the Legacy Project group will host public tours of the site on June 1-2. The tours quickly filled up.

The Section 106 permit, if granted by the Army Corps of Engineers, would allow in-water and above-water work to begin. Moore cautioned it will be about two years before any construction occurs.

“It takes quite some time,” he said. “We’ve got to be patient while we work through this process and we’ll get to construction as soon as we feasibly can.”

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The Port of Coos Bay is preparing to study the feasibility of building a marine terminal served by rail at the bay’s North Spit.

The port last week received a $50,000 grant from Business Oregon to study the feasibility, infrastructure needs and cost of building the terminal.

Port officials point to a need for another West Coast port to ease congestion at the ports of Tacoma, Seattle, Los Angeles and Long Beach, California.

“The state needs to have multiple outlets and inlets for cargo to travel through,” said Margaret Barber, spokeswoman for the Port of Coos Bay.

The port owns approximately 400 acres of property zoned for marine industrial use on the North Spit. The port has a rail spur that connects with the Coos Bay rail link and allows access to Union Pacific’s Eugene yard.

Nearly 40,000 40-foot containers of agricultural goods from the mid- and southern Willamette Valley, southern Oregon and the Oregon Coast travel to the ports of Seattle and Tacoma to be exported, according to a study commissioned by Business Oregon and conducted by ECONorthwest. That increases truck traffic on Oregon’s highways, port officials said.

The port of Coos Bay could offer faster turnaround times and new technologies to a niche market, officials said.

“As a smaller port, the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay has the capacity to grow, but is not locked into legacy technologies and old ways of operating,” port officials stated in a news release. “Our port can be nimble and responsive in a way that the large ports may not, handling a variety of cargoes.”

The port offers access to the federal navigation channel. Port officials are working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to deepen and widen the channel from 37 feet deep and 300 feet nominal width to 45 feet deep and 450 feet wide.

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Sometimes excellence comes in a flash of inspiration. Other times, it requires decades to take a concrete shape.

More than 40 years from idea to conception, the Peter Courtney Minto Island Bridge may fit solidly into the latter category. But now that the Salem structure is a reality, it’s winning accolades and attracting positive attention.

The most recent recognition came from the American Public Works Association‘s Oregon chapter, which named the bridge its 2017 Project of the Year for projects in the $5 million to $25 million range.

Courtney, now Oregon Senate president, was a member of the Salem City Council in 1975 when he suggested building a bridge to link downtown Salem with Minto Island and Minto-Brown Island Park.

The idea languished for the next two decades until development of Salem’s Riverfront Park, a project that restarted conversations about the bridge. Several years later, the 2009 completion of the conversion of the Union Street Railroad Bridge to suit pedestrians and bicyclists spurred formation of a nonprofit called Friends of Two Bridges (F2B) – a group dedicated to bringing Courtney’s ideas to fruition.

As fundraising for the Minto Island bridge began in earnest, Aaron Kimsey stepped into the role of senior project manager for the city.

“It took another three years to get funding,” Kimsey said.

Working with an estimate that the bridge would cost $10 million, money raised by F2B was added to dollars from state and local sources including the Oregon Department of Transportation, Oregon Parks & Recreation, Business Oregon, the Salem Keizer Area Transportation Study and Salem’s Urban Renewal Agency Board.

“Through that process, the (Salem) City Council selected a design.” Kimsey and.

Guy Hakanson, vice president of technical services and chief engineer at OBEC Consulting Engineers, and senior project manager Bob Goodrich, OBEC division manager of bridges and structures, turned the design concept into reality.

“It was fascinating from a structural engineering perspective – very elegant,” Hakanson said.

The arches of the 305-foot-long, tied-arch bridge bow out from center. The resulting linear flow becomes almost visually weightless, as though the bridge were floating. Lighting is attached to the arches in a linear manner that follows the form of the structure so that it becomes even more ethereal at night.

“It’s visually deceptive … (and) very unique,” Hakanson said. “The weight of the deck actually holds the arches in dynamic tension. The idea is about connections. This is the final link that (along with the Union Street Railroad Bridge) connects three parts of one community. The bridges are a reiteration of that. I’ve been privileged to work at OBEC for 31 years and this is the coolest (bridge) I’ve worked on.”

Construction of the bridge, which spans the Willamette River, was handled by Stayton-based Legacy Contracting and began in 2015. Before ground was broken, though, more than a dozen permits had to be obtained. A slew of agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Coast Guard, had to approve elements of the design and the construction plan to make sure there would be no negative effects on the environment or boat traffic. Work was confined to designated periods so as not to obstruct or affect river traffic or migrating fish runs. Care also had to be taken to protect wetlands surrounding Minto Island, much of which is in the floodplain and critical wildlife habitat.

The official opening of the Minto Island bridge earlier this year created the final link in more than 30 miles of off-street trails over nearly 1,400 acres of parks – a total area greater than New York’s Central Park. Each day, approximately 2,000 people use the bridge, Kimsey said.

“The response has been overwhelming,” Hakanson said. “I think it will forever change the skyline of downtown Salem – the lights, the shape – and don’t forget that Minto Island is a park. There’s really nothing there but green space, wildlife and trails, so it’s a destination and not just a thoroughfare. People love the lights too. It’s already an iconic part of Salem.”

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It’s a good time to receive an architecture degree. It’s an even better time to gain an engineering degree.

With the college academic year coming to an end, a new crop of architecture and engineering graduates are hunting for jobs. Amid Portland’s building boom, many graduates have a job before they ever don their caps and gowns.

“I applied for eight positions, got two calls, one rejection and a job,” said Lucas Fuller, a recent Oregon Institute of Technology graduate in electrical engineering. “There are a whole lot of opportunities; you just have to find them.”

Kevin Chavez’s architecture job search was even shorter. SRG Partnership offered him a job on its design staff based on the strength of his internship with the company. He began his job in entry-level drafting and model building a week before his Portland State University graduation ceremony.

“As soon as they learned that I was graduating, they offered me a job,” Chavez said.

Fuller’s opportunity came from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers‘ Hydroelectric Design Center.

“They deal with anything having to do with hydroelectric energy,” he said. “It’s like working for a firm with only one client.”

Quick job searches aren’t unusual these days, according to Frank Goovaerts, director of student career success at Portland State University’s Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science. Demand for graduates is very strong, he said.

“It is a pretty good time for engineers,” he said. “Last year, within six months after graduation, 90 percent of our students were employed or decided to go grad school.”

New graduates are finding plenty of job opportunities to choose from. The unemployment rate for engineers on the West Coast is less than 1 percent.

“Everyone that wants work as an engineer is working,” said Shiloh Butterworth, director of employee experience at PAE Engineers. “It’s a good time to be coming out of college with an engineering degree.”

The story is similar for architects.

“A good quarter to half of our students are currently working in offices (before graduation),” said Barbara Sestak, an architecture professor at Portland State University. “Some take a year off before they apply to our grad programs.”

The dynamics driving the markets are similar: not many experienced engineers and architects are seeking employment.

“There are so few engineers with five to 10 years of experience looking for jobs, that now they come to the college and are willing to train from the ground up,” Goovaerts said.

That requires a big investment of time, which firms apparently are willing to make.

“When you hire someone out of school they know about 20 percent of what they need,” said Blake Patsy, a principal at KPFF. “It’s about four to seven years before they are totally able to do the job.”

Licensing requirements further complicate the hunt for new employees. A licensed architect must obtain National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) accreditation, fulfill 3,740 hours of architectural experience and pass a series of tests. It’s not unusual for an architecture student to get a bachelor’s degree, work at a firm to gain architectural experience hours, and then pursue a graduate degree before taking licensing tests.

“What we are finding is that people who graduated with a (bachelor’s) degree are holding off applying to graduate school because the job market is so much better,” Sestak said. “We saw fewer of our students applying to other programs and fewer students applying to our program.”

During the Great Recession, the architecture industry was one of the hardest hit – its unemployment rate reached 13.9 percent in 2010. Between 2006 and 2012, the number of architecture jobs shrunk by more than 12 percent.

Now, the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects the architecture industry to grow by 7 percent through 2024 and unemployment rates to hover near 2 percent. The median salary for starting architects is $70,486.

“I think it might cool down (locally), or at least flatten a little bit,” said Alan Osborne, vice president and principal of Hennebery Eddy Architects. “The apartment boom will be slowing down. That will slow the job market some.”

Like many firms, Hennebery Eddy relies on its internship programs to help attract potential future employees. The company’s social media presence helps widen appeal to new applicants, Osborne added.

For engineers, job prospects vary a bit. Civil engineering graduates are in demand in Portland at the moment, according to Goovaerts.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects the numbers of jobs in civil engineering to grow by 8.4 percent in the next decade, and in biomedical and environmental engineering to grow by double digits in that time span.

Overall, the bureau expects yearly engineering job growth of about 4 percent in the next decade. The median wage for people entering the profession is $77,900, well above the $37,040 median wage for all other occupations.

“I can say with great confidence, the chance you will find a job in your major is really high,” Goovaerts said. “One thing I pound into students (is) they will have to be willing to change.”

For many years, Portland State University catered largely to Intel. Until recently, it was not uncommon for a student to begin working for Intel as an entry-level engineer and work his or her way up into management. However, now that the tech giant is downsizing, that career path is less likely.

“They might have to begin at a startup and then go to a competitor,” Goovaerts said.

Even in a good job market like Portland, landing that first position can require leg work by students.

“The biggest thing I tell them is not to solely rely on job boards,” Goovaerts said. “You will be looking for a long time and you might not find anything. It’s easy to do. Students can become hermits hunkered down at their computer searching for positions.”

Instead, students must get out and network and work in an internship prior to graduation, Goovaerts said. Taking a close look at one’s social media account can also be important.

“Some employers may look at social media (and) some may not; you never know,” he said. “I am sure that some are out there that will. Someone may look at your profile and say that this guy is partying a lot. I’ll avoid that.”

At the very least, Goovaerts recommended limiting social media accounts to include closely known friends. Students may even want to consider removing posts or accounts, depending on content, he added.

Fuller found that one of the biggest keys for him in the interview process was remembering that employers are seeking people skills in addition to technical knowledge.

“For the majority of people it’s their first career job,” he said. “They get so focused on the tech that they forget about the people aspect of it. You have to convince them that yes, I am a good person that you can work with and be a team player.”

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Portland‘s 26 miles of levees along the Columbia and Sandy rivers need millions of dollars’ worth of repairs and maintenance, and a group of stakeholders is trying to keep the solution from breaking the bank.

Hurricane Katrina‘s devastating flooding in 2005 prompted Federal Emergency Management Agency officials to re-evaluate safety standards on levee districts nationwide, and, in 2012, the Multnomah County Drainage District received notification that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers‘ certification for two levee districts – Peninsula Drainage District No. 1 and Peninsula Drainage District No. 2 – would expire in 2013.

Certification for the other two levee districts administered by Multnomah County Drainage District – the Sandy Drainage Improvement Company and the largest district (called MCDD) that is home to Portland International Airport and almost 20 percent of the region’s industrial land – is set to expire in 2017.

The levees that protect valuable North Portland real estate need to be recertified and reaccredited in order to remain active in the National Flood Insurance Program.

Levees must be accredited – recognized by FEMA as proven, from an engineering standpoint, to have been designed and maintained to protect low-lying areas from a 1 percent annual chance flood – in order to be eligible for the national flood insurance. Without it, residents, businesses and property owners would be required to purchase private flood insurance – much more expensive – to comply with development standards for flood plains.

“If you have a federally backed loan, and you’re in a flood plain, you’re required to carry flood insurance,” said Jason McBain, a levee safety program manager with the corps’ Portland office. “Levee accreditation means a lot to property value and flood insurance because when you live behind a levee that’s accredited, you’re shown on (FEMA) maps as having less flood vulnerability and less risk.”

In response to FEMA’s requirements, city and Port of Portland officials asked then-Gov. John Kitzhaber to assign the issue to Oregon Solutions, project manager Steve Greenwood said.

“We’re here to provide a neutral forum, a convening table, for bringing stakeholders together to make public projects happen,” he said.

At a March 3 meeting, Oregon Solutions program participants chose to expand the engineering analysis, which so far has focused only on Peninsula Drainage District Nos. 1 and 2, into the other two levee districts.

Findings from a Cornforth Consultants study that was released at that meeting analyzed two of the four levee districts, indicating that “both systems continue to have targeted areas with deficiencies; however, the majority of the systems perform well” overall.

Greenwood said the report and preliminary evaluation of the other two levee districts has stakeholders hopeful that the levees won’t require as much work for reaccreditation as estimated initially – between $100 million and $268 million. He added that FEMA will likely wait for stakeholders working collaboratively toward a solution before taking action.

“FEMA has indicated that, because we’re being proactive, the clock hasn’t started ticking yet,” he said.

If FEMA does begin a remapping process, it would require about 18 months to complete.

The next steps include using the corps’ findings to determine flood risk tolerance, begin discussion around setting new standards for protection and identifying flood risk prevention strategies, according to Jackie Dingfelder, Mayor Charlie Hales‘ policy director on the environment and sustainability.

“We’re moving into the second phase and are showing FEMA that we’re at the discussion table to make sure we are making good progress,” she said. “Maintaining the Columbia River levees is vital for the city and the region. Next we have to look at how large and how expensive the project will be.”

Amy Echols, public affairs officer for the corps’ Portland office, said it’s too early in the analysis process to determine repair and maintenance costs, but said the Oregon Solutions project team is considering cost along with safety when deciding on solutions for the levees.

“The team is working to get the level of surety we need in the most efficient way,” she said. “This area is a very important part of Portland’s economy, and the cost-efficiency will be considered along with life safety and protection levels.”

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The roar of Celilo Falls in Eastern Oregon could be heard from miles around before the sound was silenced by construction of The Dalles Dam in 1957.

For centuries, the falls now submerged under the Columbia River near Celilo Park east of The Dalles served as productive salmon fishing grounds and a much revered site for nearby Native American tribes. A park restoration project conceived by renowned designer Maya Lin is intended to remind visitors of this history.

Lin’s designs for the Celilo Park Confluence Project include a curved, wooden structure inspired by traditional Native American fishing platforms used at the site. The elevated walkway will overlook the now calm stretch of river where the basalt rock formation the falls once cascaded over still exists underwater.

“This was such a sacred space, and it was so powerful,” Lin said last week during a City Club of Portland talk. “The falls are still there. They’re just hidden from view.”

She spoke last week in Portland and Eugene about designing the Celilo Park project and other portions of Confluence, a series of six public art installations at historically significant points along the Columbia River system in Oregon and Washington.

When the $10.5 million Celilo Park restoration is completed in 2017, the project will be Lin’s final contribution to Confluence, a 12-year collaborative effort between Pacific Northwest tribes, civic groups, artists, architects and landscape architects. A recent $1 million donation from the Schnitzer family, $1.5 million from the state of Oregon and grants from various charitable organizations will help pay for the “Celilo Arc” elevated walkway, an interpretive pavilion with information about the site’s history, and park facility improvements, Confluence Executive Director Colin Fogarty said.

Currently, there are three interpretive signs at the Celilo Park rest area and picnic grounds operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers off of Interstate 84, Fogarty said. The signs mostly talk about the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the early 1800s and only briefly mention the site’s significance to Native American tribes, he said.

“This 10,000-year history of Native American culture and commerce (is discussed), but not enough,” he said.

The Confluence sites are spread out along a 438-mile stretch from the mouth of the Columbia River to the Hells Canyon area in Eastern Oregon. Each installation includes educational components with information about both the Lewis and Clark Expedition and Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest. The aim of the Celilo Park Confluence Project is to educate visitors about Celilo Falls and pay homage to the site’s importance to Native American tribes, Fogarty said.

“We want it to be as culturally sensitive as possible and we want it to be for them,” he said.

When Lin first conferred with tribal members about designing the various Confluence sites they expressed hesitancy about anything being built at Celilo Park.

“When we first started, we met with the tribes and we were told it was too painful a site,” she said.

After the success of Confluence installations at Cape Disappointment State Park on the Washington Coast and Sandy River Delta Park near Troutdale, the tribes returned to Lin to help tell the story of Celilo Falls. The elevated walkway arc will catalog the history of the Celilo site, beginning with Native Americans and concluding with the falls disappearing because of construction.

“This will be a journey – a kind of a journey and a memory,” Lin said.

The project acknowledges that although Celilo Falls no longer roars, it hasn’t been forgotten by the tribes, she said.

“Celilo Falls, I think it’s a symbol, but it’s not just a symbol,” she said. “It’s still one of the sacred places for the tribes. It’s still there, which I think is a fantastic fact that came out.”

Celilo Park Confluence Project

Location: Celilo Park, The Dalles

Estimated cost: $10.4 million

Anticipated construction completion date: 2017

Developer: Confluence

Architect: Maya Lin Studio

Landscape architect: GreenWorks

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