The Red River is one of the Midwest’s most valued whitewater rivers, attracting paddlers with its scenic wooded banks and accessible rapids. It is recognized in regional guidebooks as a popular run for intermediate and advanced paddlers and is one of only eight Midwestern rivers featured in the international guide World Whitewater. The Lower Red River is home to the Weed Dam (FERC Project 2464), located at the put-in for the Lower Red section. The dam’s small powerhouse includes a 500 kW GE generator and a 120 kW Electric Machinery generator, producing a modest amount of electricity. Together with the Upper Red Lake Dam (FERC Project 2484), these small projects produce less than 1 MW of power.
Historically, the Weed Dam was operated in a peaking mode, releasing water to meet electricity demand rather than maintaining a steady flow. While this occasionally produced strong flows for paddlers, it created uncertainty for boating and stressed fish and aquatic habitat. The original 1965 license required run-of-river operation, meaning outflows should match inflows, but this requirement was not consistently followed. In response to concerns from the Wisconsin DNR, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and local constituents, the Village of Gresham revised dam operations in June 2004 to comply with run-of-river requirements.
In 2010, Gresham Municipal Utilities filed to relicense the Weed Dam, beginning a multi-year process to examine future operations and alternatives for these small hydro projects. American Whitewater submitted early scoping comments highlighting the Red River’s regional significance for whitewater recreation and requested participation in all consultations. We emphasized the importance of the Red River Walk-In Site, located immediately downstream of the Weed Dam, as the primary put-in for the river’s most popular whitewater run, and recommended that the utility engage local paddling clubs and river-based businesses throughout the relicensing process. Further comments submitted in 2014 supported modest improvements to recreation facilities, public access to real-time downstream flow data for boaters, and evaluation of eventual dam removal. American Whitewater also recommended that Gresham establish a decommissioning fund to ensure that removal decisions could be made based on environmental and practical considerations rather than financial constraints.
In February 2017, FERC issued a new license for the project (162 FERC ¶ 62,174), which included a requirement for a Recreation Plan formalizing the management of the Red River Walk-In Site as a put-in for whitewater boaters that was subsequently approved in March 2018 (162 FERC ¶ 62,174). The 1-acre site, owned by the Village of Gresham, had originated as a user-developed informal facility and was formalized with gravel parking during the previous license. It serves as a canoe and kayak put-in, an undesignated swimming area, and a place to enjoy river views. The Recreation Plan requires the site to continue being operated and maintained, including the swimming area, put-in, parking, and tree berm. A picnic area was developed prior to license issuance, and directional signage directs paddlers to the launch site while separating boating from swimming areas. The Plan also addressed shoreline erosion by closing and fencing an informal beach access site across the river from the Walk-In Site, with signage directing users to the official Red River Walk-In Site and explaining that the closed area is undergoing revegetation. A gravel path now connects the parking area to the canoe/kayak launch, and the site’s amenities have been upgraded to support safe and enjoyable recreational use. While no new downstream gaging station was required, paddlers can monitor conditions at a nearby USGS gaging station upstream to plan whitewater trips, as the river now operates consistently in run-of-river mode.