Dams of the Columbia Basin & Their Effects on the Native Fishery

Hells Canyon Dam. Courtesy of Corps of Engineers

Hells Canyon Dam: Mid-Snake River at mile marker 247.0, completed in 1967, spillway 330 feet, 3 gates, concrete gravity type hydroelectric dam. Idaho PUD owned. Hells Canyon Dam employs a salmon protection program that works in conjunction with Brownlee Dam to release water to help spawning salmon get downstream.

Oxbow Dam. Courtesy of Army Corps of Engineers

Oxbow Dam: Mid-Snake River at mile marker 273.0,completed in 1961, spillway 700 feet, 3 gates, owned by Idaho Power Company, hydroelectric gravity concrete dam.

Brownlee Dam: Mid-Snake River at mile marker 285.0, completed in 1958, spillway 1097 feet, 4 gates, creates a 58 mile reservoir, concrete gravity type hydroelectric, PUD-owned by Idaho Power. Brownlee Dam works in conjunction with the Hells Canyon Dam to release water to help anadromous fish in their migration.

Dworshak Dam: Clearwater River at mile marker 1.9, North Fork, Idaho, completed in 1971, federally owned, concrete hydroelectric gravity dam. Dworshak creates a 53-mile long reservoir with a flood control plan that covers a 2 million acre region. The Corps of Engineers constructed the Dworshak National Fish Hatchery to compensate for loss of salmon migration because of the dam.

Dworshak Dam. Courtesy of Army Corps of Engineers

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