Restoring The River
The Condit Dam, or the Condit Hydroelectric project, was built in 1913 in White Salmon, Washington by the Northwest Electric Company under the leadership of head engineer B.C. Condit. 99 years later, the dam was removed by it's current owner, Pacificorp. The general contractor was J.R. Merit Industrial Contractors out of Vancouver, Washington. J.R. Merit was in charge of everything to do with the removal and restoration of the whole dam area: everything from the controlled explosion to the re-vegetation after the river was set back to its natural course.
We at Northwest Hydro- Mulchers, Inc. were selected by J.R. Merit as the re-vegetation contractor for the entire area affected by the removal of the dam. In keeping with that role, we offered recommendations on seed mixes that helped cover the range of site aspects. This project contained sites that ranged from dry and sandy to a cool and moist. We were integral in the execution of successful re-vegetation, erosion control and planting of new species along the multiple miles next to the White Salmon River We worked closely on this project with Kleinfelder, who functioned as the representative for Pacificorp. We first started discussing the project with J.R. Merit in the summer of 2012. Our work began in the summer of 2013, and in March of 2016 we completed the re-vegetation of the Condit Dam area.
