Category Archives: dam removal

Patagonia's film about our nation's dam problem has been on tour this spring and racking up the awards:Winner – SXSW Audience Choice AwardWinner – Documentary Award for Environmental Advocacy, DC Environmental Film FestivalWinner – Mountainfilm Audience Choice AwardWinner – Best of Festival, 5Point Film Festival On Thursday, June 5, Patagonia presented the award-winning, feature length…

Around the country, more dams are being removed today than are being built. One example of a successful project is Hemlock Dam Removal on the Columbia River system. This video showed in this year's Wild & Scenic Film Festival, and documents this project: Of note in this video: Sediment management included excavation of a new…

'Just Notch It' No matter who you speak with about Matilija Dam, the question always comes up; "Why not just take the dam down a bit at a time and let the river gradually remove the sediment?" Indeed, one of the newspaper editorials this summer suggested "that the dam be notched down to the top…

Recent news on San Clemente Dam: The headline reads: Deal struck to tear down 106-foot dam; would be largest dam removal in California. "A $150 million project to tear down the 165-foot Matilija Dam in Ventura County, which is also silted up, was approved in 2004 by county officials, but has not been implemented yet…

A study conducted by private consultants for four dams on the Klamath River confirms statements from experts convened before the Matilija Dam feasibility study was begun: extreme short term impacts from dam removal will pay off in the long run: "our studies show that impacts of releasing the millions of tons of fine sediment stored…

Matilija Coalition comment letters on the final design components of the Matilija Dam Ecosystem Restoration project are now online on the www.matilija-coalition.org website As always, the most recent information is on this blog

Matilija Dam Ecosystem Restoration ProjectDesign Oversight Group Coordination MeetingOctober 2, 2008 9:00 AM – 12:00 The primary focus of this meeting was the Potential Slurry Disposal Area(s). Other features and related issues will be tabled for future DOG meetings. The meeting was well attended, and included several local residents, water district representatives, and other local…

On Aug 7, 2008, the Matilija Dam "Design Oversight Group" met for an all-day meeting in Ventura. Over 40 people participated, including several property owners and interested local residents. The group was brought up to date on current schedule and funding, and discussions were conducted regarding several of the project design components. The schedule shown…

Slurry Disposal to undergo Alternatives Analysis and CEQA review Over the past few months, the Matilija Coalition, CalTrout, Ojai Valley Land Conservancy, and CA Dept of Fish and Game have all expressed concerns about the Slurry Disposal component of the Matilija Dam project. This issue was summarized here: http://venturaecosystem.blogspot.com/2008/05/moda-its-back.html It seems our collective voice has…

ISSUE: Slurry Disposal Site(s) for the Matilija Dam project 2 million cubic yards of fine sediments from Matilija reservoir are to be removed by slurry pipeline and deposited within the floodplain downstream. It was intended that these disposal sites would be temporary and would erode downstream into the ocean during future floods.These sites were selected…