How the Deschutes River estuary came to be dammed in the 1950s has been a heated topic locally the last few years. A history of the local efforts to dam the estuary and create Capitol Lake is now available.
The history covers the time from just after statehood when the first dam was proposed to just after World War II when the funding for Capitol Lake became available. The piece refutes the position that the lake was entirely inspired by the “City Beautiful” design of Wilder and White in the 1911 proposal for the capitol campus.
Also available is the total works cited for the history
Works cited
Other related materials
Peter Goldmark joined us earlier this month at our first annual picnic on the estuary. Take some time and listen to our public lands commisioner talk about why restoring the Deschutes River estuary is the right thing to do.
You can watch the rest of the entertainers and speakers from the picnic here.
The Deschutes Estuary Restoration Team is holding up for a great “bring your own” picnic at Heritage Park on September 1st from 1 to 5 p.m.! Dana Lyons, folks singer of Cows with Guns fame, will head the afternoon show with opening songs by Danny Kelly and Karen Hancock – the Hinges!
Update (August 21): Peter Goldmark, Commissioner of Public Lands, will be joining us as the keynote speaker for the picnic. Commissioner Goldmark has been a champion for estuary restoration. In 2009 Goldmark joined the director of other natural resources agencies to write a letter in support of estuary restoration.
The picnic will also include speakers on the history and ecology of the Deschutes Estuary, and a yet to be announced Keynote Speaker.
