Southern California Set to Build New Dam in National Forest

Southern California is not known for its wilderness areas, more for its rampant suburban sprawl, and yet one of the last islands of wilderness is being recommended to be the site of a 240 feet tall dam and 30 miles of 500,000 volt transmission lines. The Nevada Hydro Company has received the go-ahead from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) with plans to flood Decker Canyon within the Cleveland National Forest, and pump the water upward through underground tunnels to an elevated reservoir. The water will then be run through generators to produce electricity to meet the growing Southern California and Nevada energy needs.

This project, known as the Lake Elsinore Advanced Pumped Storage (LEAPS), has been in the works for nearly a decade, and the decision to choose the Decker Canyon location came after trouble getting approval to flood Morrell Canyon, adjacent to Decker Canyon. Morrell was seen to be more ecologically sensitive to Decker Canyon, and the FERC has approved the location change. With the location change came an increase in the dam's height, to the equivalent of a 24 story building, an eyesore indeed in an area known for its natural Southern California wilderness. In fact, three years ago, the National Forest Service recommended that both Decker and Morrell Canyons be designated as wilderness and thus protected from all future development.