Green Peter reservoir is expected to be inaccessible to boaters as early as this week and only one Foster Reservoir boat ramp will soon be useable, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Friday, Sept. 19.
The Corps said water levels for boaters and other recreation users that Green Peter reservoir is likely to recede below their minimum conservation elevations as early as this week.
The Corps usually tries to hold water levels near those elevations throughout the winter. Going below them will put the the Thistle Creek low-water boat ramp at Green Peter.
At the same time, the Corps is starting its usual drawdown of Foster Reservoir to its winter elevation, which will put the Calkins Park and Gedney boat ramps and Edgewater Marina out of service. The Sunnyside Park low-water ramp should still be usable through the winter.
“We have been working closely with our partners to release the absolute minimum water from these reservoirs needed to meet our water supply and fish and wildlife missions,” said Laurie Nicholas, chief of the Reservoir Regulation and Water Quality Section for the Corps’ Portland District.
“Those releases, unfortunately, still exceed inflows by a fairly large amount.”
For current Willamette Basin reservoir levels and river flows, visit http://go.usa.gov/3e5qz.