R.I.P. Condit Dam, 1913-2011
Watch Columbia Riverkeeper's video of the dam blast and raging White Salmon River, including exclusive aerial footage. The 9-minute video captures the dam blast, incredible erosion of the reservoir, the sediment plume in the Columbia, and the river returning to its wild state. If you love rivers, it will make your spine tingle.
In the late 1990s, Columbia Riverkeeper (then Columbia River United) joined the Yakama Nation and conservation, fishing, and whitewater groups in opposing the relicensing of the dinosaur dam that produced only a tiny amount of power but blocked miles of critical salmon habitat. In 1999, we signed an agreement with PacifiCorp and several state and federal agencies that required the demolition of the dam. It's been a long journey, but our success was punctuated with one big boom.
A first-hand account from Brett VandenHeuvel of the dam blast:
At the dam site, the pre-blast warning sirens rang out, I held my breath, and felt the dynamite explosion shake the ground. We erupted in cheers and the White Salmon roared through a hole in the Condit Dam with the fury of a river that has been restrained for 98 years.
Looking upstream to the reservoir, the river began disgorging the thick silt that had choked it for so long. The river downcut through 100 feet of sediment - churning out slurries of mud and logs to expose its historic bedrock channel.
Please support Columbia Riverkeeper's work to protect and restore the Columbia.
A special thanks to the many local activists and our partner conservation organizations for their incredible work advocating for dam removal, including:
Friends of the White Salmon
American Whitewater
American Rivers
Friends of the Columbia River Gorge
Trout Unlimited
Hydropower Reform Coalition
Thank you to Cloud Cap Technology for aerial footage, PacifiCorp for the river level blast shots, and Brent Foster for video work.