MILL CREEK CANYON — A watershed restoration project continues this fall with the removal of a dam and part of the existing boardwalk in Mill Creek Canyon. This phase of the project implements a 2015 U.S. Forest Service decision to remove the dam, reshape the stream channel and replace the boardwalk.
The dam, constructed about 1910, was once used to divert water into a pipeline that discharged through a hydroelectric plant at the mouth of the canyon. The hydroelectric plant and pipeline have both been removed. The removal of the crumbling dam, and reshaping of the stream channel, will improve the long-term survival of the Bonneville cutthroat trout.
The dam will be removed by piping water around the construction site, salvaging existing vegetation for revegetation, dredging silt from above the dam, removing the dam, reshaping the stream channel, replanting salvaged vegetation and restoring water to the new stream channel.
The project is expected to take approximately two months. The road in the canyon will be open during construction, but the boardwalk, the parking areas adjacent to the construction site and the area around the dam will be closed to the public until the project is completed.