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What it Takes to Take Down a Dam

Dam removal is now a common strategy for managing our nation’s aging infrastructure and correcting the environmental impacts of deadbeat dams. However, managers must make decisions regarding if and how to remove dams, and how to address stakeholder concerns about potential negative effects, regardless of whether these concerns are warranted at a particular site. This lecture will present an overview of how dams are removed, the cost drivers of dam removal, and the common concerns managers and engineers face when undertaking a dam removal. It will conclude with an update on the world’s largest dam removal, set to begin in 2023 on the Klamath River.

Desiree Tullos, P.E., is a professor in the Biological and Ecological Engineering Department at Oregon State University. Her research emphasizes the sustainable engineering and management of rivers. Projects focus on questions that range from the particle to basin scale. Current projects include physical and biological responses to dam removal; analysis of reservoir operations in systems undergoing change; turbulence and habitat of flow around vegetation and wood in rivers; sustainable flood risk management and infrastructure; and using turbulent mixing to suppress harmful algal blooms. She currently serves on the Independent Scientific Advisory Board for Bonneville Power Administration’s Northwest Power and Conservation Council. Her teaching emphasizes design-based learning: river engineering, ecohydraulic engineering, and ecological engineering. She has also served as the PI of an NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program on ecosystem informatics for twelve years as part of a broader suite of activities aimed at advancing diversity in the STEM fields. She holds an M.S. in Civil Engineering and a Ph.D. in Biological Engineering from North Carolina State University.

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