Wallowa Lake - Dam

Dam

The lake's natural outlet to the north, closest to the town of Joseph, was the site of a private dam constructed in 1918 for irrigation, and raised to a 35-foot concrete gravity dam in 1929. No hydroelectric power is generated. It is owned and operated by a non-profit of local irrigation consumers, Associated Ditch Companies of Joseph.

In 1996 the United States Bureau of Reclamation and the Oregon Water Resources Department identified deficiencies in the safety of the aging "high hazard" structure. In 2006 state and federal money was appropriated for rehabilitation and a reconstruction which may allow a migrating fish passage, specifically for re-introduced coho and sockeye salmon.