Oregon place note · History and culture
Foster Reservoir reveals a linked South Santiam landscape
Foster Lake is a multipurpose reservoir behind Foster Dam and the downstream re-regulating project in the Green Peter and Foster system.
The central place or history detail is durable. Access, hours, and local conditions may still change. Last reviewed against the listed sources August 12, 2026.
Foster Reservoir gives Linn County an engineered landscape with a river running through its identity. The Oregon Blue Book names the reservoir as a county point of interest.
USGS locates Foster Lake near Sweet Home and Foster. It identifies the lake as a multipurpose reservoir impounded by Foster Dam on the South Santiam River. A second USGS account places the lake in the paired Green Peter and Foster system.
Foster is the downstream re-regulating project in that complex. That position turns the lake into a visible link in a larger South Santiam arrangement, not an isolated patch of water. The county landmark and the river system are two views of the same Linn County landscape.
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Pair the Oregon Blue Book's Linn County profile with the two U.S. Geological Survey records for the lake, dam, river, and linked reservoir system.
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Last reviewed against the listed sources: August 12, 2026.
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