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Archive: March, 2019
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  • March

    Corps begins Willamette Valley System evaluation

    Almost three million people, or about 70 percent of Oregon’s population live in a fertile valley on the state’s western side, according to Portland State University figures. This number has doubled since 1970 – and people are still squeezing themselves into the roughly 150 mile-long valley, which is bracketed by mountain ranges and dominated by a powerful and deceptive force – the Willamette River. This influential river has had a long history of devastating flooding, which spurred the people of Oregon and the U.S. Congress into action in the 1930’s. Congress granted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers the authority to build a system of dams on the Willamette River’s tributaries for flood control purposes.