The Stearn's Dam

The Stearns Dam was built back in 1911 to irrigate the Stearn Ranch from water in the Crooked River. In 1934 the dam had to be constructed even stronger to prevent it from being washed down the hill. Eventually anglers became concerned that the dam would prevent the migration of the native fish. In October 2013 they decided to remove the dam. The concerns were that it was built so long ago that nobody knew what to expect when they tore it apart. The Crooked River runs with the Deshutes River in Grant County, Oregon. It is part of the Grasslands biome community. The river is fed off of Snow Mountain and Funny Butte runoff draining into the rivers. The Crooked River once housed Chinook Salmon and Redband Trout. Unfortunately the Salmon did not survive the dam. Since the dam has been taken down they have tried to place hatchery fish back in the river to see if they can bring up the population again. The river used to be full of waist high grasses and willow trees. Animals that lived there were beavers and rattlesnake. Currently the Crooked River is used for irrigation diversions during the summer months. The biggest struggle right now is trying to get native fish back into the water there and get vegetation up on the river bank to keep it from sliding into the river. Weeds are trying to take over. Another struggle is trying to keep cattle from crossing over the river onto the highways. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crooked_River_%28Oregon%29 http://www.bendbulletin.com/home/1574596-151/stearns-dam-completely-gone-from-crooked-river http://portlandtribune.com/ceo/162-news/198386-stearns-dam-removal-gets-under-way http://blog.oregonlive.com/terryrichard/2011/12/crooked_river_grassland_is_no.html