Kwoneesum Dam Removal Project
The 2026 RRNW Symposium field trip on Friday, February 6th will be to the Kwoneesum Dam Removal project site in Washougal, Washington. The field trip will be led by Peter Barber / Cowlitz Indian Tribe and Will Norris / Parr Excellence.
The Kwoneesum Dam Removal Project is a collaborative effort to restore the Wildboy Creek and a portion of the Washougal River watershed in southwestern Washington. Led by the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and the Columbia Land Trust, the project was completed in September 2024 with the primary goal of restoring crucial habitat for threatened salmon and steelhead and included removing the 55-foot-tall, 425-foot-long Kwoneesum Dam on Wildboy Creek, which had blocked salmon and steelhead migration for almost 60 years. In addition to dam removal, this project included restoration of Wildboy Creek channel downstream of the dam. The channel had sections of exposed bedrock from previous historic log drives and restricted sediment transport. Parr Excellence, Wiliam Norris (PE) was the design engineer.
Project highlights:
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Collaboration between the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and the Columbia Land Trust, with funding and support from multiple sources, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
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Complex multi-stage dewatering and deconstruction of the dam.
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Rebuilding downstream channels from years of sediment reduction and extensive replanting effort in the previously impounded area.
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New fish removal techniques with the use of heavy-lift drone.
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(per dewatering) Redirected three tributaries and dewatered 20 million gallons from the Kwoneesum reservoir.
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Removed 20k cubic yards of dam material to restore fish passage
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Reconstructed three tributary channels (0.8 miles) within the reservoir footprint
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Utilized eDNA to document presence/absence of steelhead recolonization.
Kwoneesum Dam Removal specifically:
- Restored access to 6.5 miles of spawning and rearing habitat for threatened summer steelhead and coho salmon
- Restored 1.3 miles of stream channel
- Constructed 75 logjam structures and 12 pools for juvenile fish rearing
- Planted 37, 550 native trees and shrubs to reforest the dam reservoir footprint
- Placed approximately 15,000 cubic yards of rock and spawning gravels to rebuild the degraded stream bed
Project Videos
- Kwoneesum Dam Drone Fly-Through Video
- Resource Legacy Fund (RLF) short films: "Restoring Wildboy Creek" and "Meander: Restoring Wildboy Creek"
Field Trip registration will be open to everyone through the symposium registration portal.
Field Trip Logistics
Notes:
The Habitat Restoration Program will have a covered area, maybe a few heaters and projector to give a ppt presentation in review of site history, implementation/construction, lessons learned and on-going site monitoring (fish & habitat). If the weather and wading conditions are appropriate, we would entertain taking some adventurous individuals on a hike through a portion of the Wildboy Creek canyon project reach (waders with studded boot inserts and trekking poles likely required).
Tentative Schedule:
- 8:00 am – Meet in Skamania Lodge lobby for shuttle van service. Depart by 8:20 am
- 9:30 am – Arrive at field site and orientation
- 10:00 am – Field visits
- 1:00 pm – Depart field site. Shuttle van service returns to Skamania Lodge and arrives by 2:00 pm
Bring:
- Positive attitude
- Warm clothes and sturdy shoes for cold/rainy/snowy weather for early February
- Water and snacks
- Mask (for wearing on the shuttle, if you want)
- Questions and curiosity!