THE DALLES DAM REGENERATION

LOCATION : PROPOSAL FOR THE REGNERATION OF CELILO FALLS & THE NARROWS ALONG THE COLUMBIA RIVER BETWEEN JOHN DAY DAM & THE DALLES DAM

MATERIAL : DIGITAL PROPOSAL

Celilo Falls was a sacred place and economic center where tribes from the Northwest would gather during the salmon runs along the Columbia River just east of The Dalles. Celilo was a place for trade and sustenance during this time of year. In 1957, The Dalles Dam was constructed which inundated the landscape behind the dam with the backwaters of what is now Celilo Lake.

As part of my thesis for the Master of Landscape Architecture program at the University of New Mexico I choose to explore the potential of restoring an culturally important landscape by redesigning how the function of the dam so that it would still provide power, but not dam up the flow of the river.  The goal was to bring back the now hidden geological landscape and restoring the natural hydrological patterns of the Columbia River.  

There is an incredible disconnect between the local communitiy and the river because of the physical restrictions of the railroad and interstate highways.  The access points to the river are almost non existant for the ten mile stretch of river that was so important to Wasco, Wishram, Klikitat, and other tribes who fished or lived along this section of the Columbia River.