Largest inland dam removed

WA Farm Bureau

10/12/05

Pend Oreille County, WA - A 55-YEAR-OLD DAM ON CEDAR CREEK AT IONE IN PEND OREILLE COUNTY WAS demolished Tuesday - believed to be the largest dam ever removed in the Inland Northwest. (Spokane Spokesman-Review, Oct. 12)

The 95-foot-wide concrete dam was built to provide drinking water for the town, which has been using groundwater since 1988.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife said removing the dam would open the creek to migrating bull trout, but not until fish passage is installed at two dams further downstream on the Pend Oreille River. Removing the dam cost $850,000, most of which came from the state's Salmon Recovery Board.