Unique Opportunities to Learn, Network with other Attendees, and See Hydropower in Action!
To attend one or more of these tours, you’ll need to purchase a ticket when you register for Clean Currents.
Cowlitz River Tour
Monday, October 7, 2024
7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Registrants are Limited to 50 participants
Cost to Register: $100
Includes transportation to and from the Convention Center and Lunch
Hosts: Tacoma Power
Focus for This Tour
Tour Highlights
- See and hold live salmon at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery and learn about fish passage and fisheries programs on the Cowlitz River.
- Stand on top of the tallest dam in Washington State, Mossyrock Dam – 1 foot taller than the Space Needle in Seattle from bedrock!
- Enjoy a picnic lunch at Mossyrock Park just outside the town of Mossyrock, Washington
- Tour Mossyrock Powerhouse, home to two large hydro generators
Irrigation Meets Small Hydro Tour
Monday, October 7, 2024
9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Registrants are Limited to 30 participants
Cost to Register: $75
Includes transportation to and from the Convention Center and Lunch
Hosts: East Fork Irrigation District, Farmers Conservation Alliance, and Farmers Irrigation District
Official Tour Guide: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Jed Jorgensen
Focus for This Tour
- A vast, century-old network of earthen canals remains the most common way irrigation water is delivered to farms in the western U.S. Many canals have reached the end of their useful life, requiring significant and costly annual maintenance to remain in service. Many of these canals lose 15 to 30 percent or more of their water to seepage or evaporation. This water loss exacerbates drought challenges for both farmers and rivers.
- Modernizing these irrigation canals by piping can create opportunities to conserve water, save energy, and install conduit hydropower projects to generate renewable electricity.
- That’s what’s happening in the state of Oregon … just a 1.5-hour drive from Clean Currents 2024!
Tour Highlights
- Learn how ongoing piping project are conserving water, with both agricultural and environmental benefits.
- Visit one irrigation conduit hydropower projects in the Hood River Valley. (NOTE: this project is one of several that, in aggregate, generate over 15% of the county’s electricity.)
- Enjoy a picnic lunch with fellow tour participants in beautiful Tucker Park just outside the city of Hood River, Oregon.
Bonneville Lock and Dam Tour
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
7 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Registrants are Limited to 50 participants
Cost to Register: $50
Includes transportation to and from the Convention Center
- Non-U.S. Citizens: June 26 (requires submittal of identification documentation to NHA – details and instructions provided upon registration)
- U.S. Citizens: August 30
Hosts: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Focus for This Tour
Tour Highlights
The 3-hour tour of the iconic Bonneville project will include visits to the navigation lock, Powerhouse 1 including the powerhouse floor, and the Bradford Island Visitor Center and fish ladder.
