Taking no action would consist of activities conducted if no federal action or funding were provided. If the No Action Alternative is selected neither NRCS nor the Forest Service would take any action towards remediating Clear Branch Dam and the dam would remain in place and continue operating under current conditions, subject to the interim risk reduction measures required by FERC.

NRCS would not fund the necessary dam remediation, and the Forest Service would not take action to approve MFID’s pending special use permit application. As such, a condition of the existing special use permit would require removal of all infrastructure owned by MFID from National Forest System lands, including the dam, diversions, and pipes. The site would be restored to a natural condition.

The proposed action would include structurally remediating the dam to address excessive seepage and meet current dam safety and environmental compliance standards of NRCS, Forest Service, FERC, and other regulatory agencies. The proposed action includes measures to address flood conveyance, seismic hazards, fish passage, and water quality improvements. Specifically, the proposed action includes two agency actions: (1) NRCS’s proposed funding to remediate the structure (extending the life of the dam approximately 75 years) and (2) the Forest Service’s proposed issuance of a special use permit to authorize the remediation of the structure and the ongoing operation of the dam and related infrastructure for 30 more years. This alternative also includes several connected or related actions, such as re-routing portions of the Laurance Lake Road (National Forest System Road 2840) on National Forest System lands, road maintenance, temporary road construction, extracting rock material to reconstruct the dam, and developing staging areas. Under Alternative 3, rock material extraction of up to approximately 500,000 cubic yards and processing will be analyzed under two distinct scenarios. In the first scenario, rock material would be extracted from Eliot debris field and processed on site, which occurs on National Forest System lands. In the second scenario, rock material would be extracted and processed off-National Forest System lands and transported to the project area. Alternative 3 may include amendments to the Mt. Hood National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan, as amended by the Northwest Forest Plan.

This alternative would replace the storage provided by Laurance Lake (formed by Clear Branch Dam) with a new storage reservoir on Dog River, decommission Clear Branch Dam, restore the dam site and former reservoir pool to pre-dam conditions, and construct a new run-of-river diversion on Clear Branch and conduit to tie the new storage reservoir into MFID’s conveyance system. This alternative would also transfer existing storage water rights for Laurance Lake to the new storage reservoir (subject to approval by the Oregon Water Resources Department) and convey water via a combination of new pipe and existing pipe from a new run-of-river diversion on Clear Branch near the existing Clear Branch Dam. The new reservoir would be located on National Forest System lands and Hood River County lands. The new Clear Branch diversion would convey water to the new storage site year-round and would fully replace the existing storage. The new storage reservoir would be used as usual for irrigation, hydropower, and all other MFID uses. The existing live flow water right at Clear Branch would continue to be fully utilized under existing water rights. No new storage or live flow water rights would be obtained. This alternative includes two proposed agency actions: (1) NRCS’s proposed funding to build the new dam and all associated construction activities and (2) the Forest Service’s proposed issuance of a special use permit to authorize the new project and ongoing operation of the new dam for 30 years. This alternative also includes connected or related actions, such as transportation improvements, temporary and permanent road construction, extracting rock material to construct the dam, developing staging areas, and recreational development. This alternative may include amendments to the Mt. Hood National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan, as amended by the Northwest Forest Plan.