Tribes and environmentalist groups are celebrating the culmination of decades-long efforts to have dams removed on the Klamath River in the name of salmon and environmental restoration. In late March, the Klamath River Renewal Corporation officially broke ground on the plan to remove four dams on the Klamath River in Siskiyou County, CA, and in Klamath County, OR. The four dams comprise the Lower Klamath Hydropower Project, which was formerly owned by PacifiCorp.
Early on in the dam removal process, crews will upgrade bridges and roads to access the dam sites more easily and develop work sites.
The removals come following an agreement between PacifiCorp, the states of California and Oregon, the Yurok and Karuk Tribes, and environmental organizations. The dams are expected to be fully removed by the end of 2024 and will restore the 38-mile river to a “natural, free-flowing condition,” the Klamath River Renewal Corporation said.
A total of $450 million has been allocated to the project, with a little over half supplied by a California Water Bond, and the remaining $200 million from PacifiCorp.
The dam removal project has been controversial, with those in favor arguing salmon habitat has been negatively impacted by the dammed water, and opponents arguing removing the dam will cause property damage and loss, along with increased utility rates.
“These dams provide no irrigation for agriculture, are not operated for flood control, and generate very little power,” Klamath River Renewal Corporation Board President Brian Johnson claimed in a statement. “But they do play a huge role in the decline of Pacific salmon. This project aims to fix that.”
The Siskiyou County Water Users Association said removing the dams will have an adverse impact on the river quality, fishlife, wildlife and birdlife.
“Citizens in Siskiyou County and the surrounding counties, as well as the Southern Oregon Counties fronting on the Klamath, including the agricultural communities in the area, are opposed to dam removal by 80%,” the association said.
“The fact is that rural communities are under attack by the leftist governments such as California and Oregon. They are committed to destroying these rural areas.”
The Klamath River Renewal Corporation said the three larger dams will be removed next year, but restoration of the river will take longer.
Restoration work will be handled by Resource Environmental Solutions, which is an ecological restoration company based out of Texas. Dave Coffman, director of operations for the Northern California and Southern Oregon region, said at a virtual press conference held March 24 that dam removal can be a “little bit of a messy business.”
“We’re here to get reservoir sediment stabilized through reestablishment of native vegetation, provide some immediate, high-quality habitat for returning salmonids as they make their way through former dam footprints and into river channels where they haven’t been in over 100 years and really jumpstart the recovery of this landscape,” he said.
Crews have been collecting seeds of native plants to provide the foundation for sediment following the removal of the dams, and Coffman said they currently have about 17 billion seeds collected.
“As soon as the reservoirs are drawn down, we will immediately start the restoration process by seeding these areas,” Coffman said in a statement.
Wendy Ferris, a Klamath River Renewal Corporation board member, said at the press conference, “Governments came and went and elected officials came and went and activists came and went and although many of them are gone now, we’ve been able to accomplish this huge victory.”
Craig Tucker, natural resources policy advocate for the Karuk Tribe, said at the conference the project was the world’s largest salmon restoration project and that it “can’t come a moment too soon.”
“We expect there to be near-total closures of commercial Tribal and recreational fishing in the Klamath River and similar in the Sacramento system,” Tucker said. “So salmon are in dire straits and projects like this are exactly what we need.”
The Pacific Fishery Management Council canceled the salmon fishing season in California, which would have occurred through May 15, due to drought conditions and decreased salmon numbers. The council is offering three regulatory alternatives for the coming year’s season, which had a comment deadline of March 30. The council will meet in early April to determine the best course of action.
Suit over fish, whales
In other recent news, the Yurok Tribe, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations and the Institute for Fisheries Resources sued the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to ensure enough water will remain in the Klamath River to protect threatened coho salmon and endangered resident killer whales.
Reclamation reduced Klamath River flows below the mandatory minimum required to preserve coho salmon in February, the groups said, which will dry up habitat for salmon populations.
“The flow reduction is unacceptable and unjustifiable given this winter’s heavy rainfall,” said Yurok Vice Chairman Frankie Myers. “Dropping flows below the bare minimum is the nuclear option.”
Myers said the groups repeatedly asked Reclamation to take a “more measured approach to water management, but they refused to listen.”
The lawsuit claims Reclamation has failed to meet its obligation to protect salmon and orcas under the Endangered Species Act, and the groups seek to stop water deliveries for irrigation until the minimum water flow requirements are reached. — Anna Miller, WLJ managing editor
