Built in 1912, the Marmot Dam along the Sandy River in Northwest Oregon has been a part of the Bull Run Hydro project that supplies power to the residents of the greater Portland area.

In October 2007, the dam was removed, and for the first time in nearly 100 years, the Sandy River ran free.

You can watch the entire dam removal
http://www.marmotdam.com/video6_files/tl_teardown_video.html video in 67 seconds!

Or see the dam breach http://www.marmotdam.com/video9_files/marmot_breach_timelapse_USGS.html
video.

After the dam was removed, I was sitting on a rock outcropping that jutted into the middle of the Sandy. I could hear boulders rolling along the river bottom crashing into the outcropping just below me. The power of the river was un-deniable. Thinking back 100 years, it was an obvious decision to harness the power of this river to provide electricity. That type of decision is not so simple today - we need energy and we need the benefits that a free flowing river provides whether it's kayaking, canoeing, fishing, bird watching, picnicing, photography, hiking...

Thanks to PGE, who donated water rights to the State of Oregon, and nearly 1,500 acres of land in the Sandy River Basin to the Western Rivers Conservancy.