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BumRushDaShow

(137,638 posts) Sun Sep 1, 2024, 12:28 PM Sep 1

The largest dam removal project in the US is completed - a major win for Indigenous tribes

Source: CNN Climate

Published 6:00 AM EDT, Sun September 1, 2024

Construction crews removed the top of the cofferdam that was left of Iron Gate Dam, allowing the Klamath River to run in its original path for the first time in nearly a century near Hornbrook, California, on Wednesday.
Carlos Avila Gonzalez/Hearst Newspapers/San Francisco Chronicle/Getty Images

CNN — The largest dam removal project in US history is finally complete, after crews last week demolished the last of the four dams on the Klamath River. It’s a significant win for tribal nations on the Oregon-California border who for decades have fought to restore the river back to its natural state.

The removal of the four hydroelectric dams — Iron Gate Dam, Copco Dams 1 and 2, and JC Boyle Dam — allows the region’s iconic salmon population to swim freely along the Klamath River and its tributaries, which the species have not been able to do for over a century since the dams were built.

Mark Bransom, chief executive officer of the Klamath River Renewal Corporation, the nonprofit group created to oversee the project, said it was a “celebratory moment,” as his staff members, conservationists, government officials and tribal members gathered and cheered on the bank of the river near where the largest of the dams, Iron Gate, once stood. Federal regulators approved the plan to raze the dams in 2022. The next year, the smallest of the four dams, Copco No. 2, was removed.

Crews then began releasing water from the dams’ reservoirs at the beginning of this year, which was necessary before dismantling the last remaining dams. The river system has been steeped in controversy: During the recent historic Western drought that dried up the Klamath Basin, an intense water war pitted local farmers against Indigenous tribes, government agencies and conservationists. But anxiety turned to joy for the Indigenous people who have lived for centuries among the Klamath and its tributaries.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/01/climate/klamath-dam-salmon/index.html

REFERENCE - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143298154

14 replies

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The largest dam removal project in the US is completed - a major win for Indigenous tribes (Original Post) BumRushDaShow Sep 1 OP

This is wonderful. This makes me very happy. This is a gift to our grandchildren. Botany Sep 1 #1

Totally and unhesitatingly agreed! calimary Sep 1 #4

Joe is the first President I know about speaking of or have his people speak of ecological restoration. Botany Sep 1 #5

Great news. Next on the list: the 4 on the lower Snake, though at this point, unlikely. yonder Sep 1 #2

A win for nature also Clouds Passing Sep 1 #3

Finally some good news for first nations. mahina Sep 1 #6

I am torn on this sabbat hunter Sep 1 #7

I am guessing that there are other sources of water BumRushDaShow Sep 1 #8

Seems to me it would HAVE TO be done differently. calimary Sep 2 #10

I'm guessing it's a win also for people who enjoy salmon as a meal. RandomNumbers Sep 2 #9

Still 2 more dams on the Upper Klamath before Klamath Lake. maxsolomon Sep 3 #11

Based on this BumRushDaShow Sep 3 #12

Oh, that looks like I'm wrong. maxsolomon Sep 3 #13

They may want to see how this works out BumRushDaShow Sep 3 #14

Botany

(71,768 posts)

1. This is wonderful. This makes me very happy. This is a gift to our grandchildren.

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

Sun Sep 1, 2024, 02:36 PM

Sep 1

Joe Biden’s administration has helped in this process too. A river flowing free to the sea
brings sediments, nutrients, and cooler waters upstream and from the ocean the salmonoids
return upstream bringing the energy of the oceans and where the ocean tides meet the river
there will be estuaries which are very productive ecosystems and much CO2 is fixed too.

Joe and his people are simply the best. One of Joe’s 1st hires was a Nobel prize winner from
California to advise him on any of his hires that were science based and in his dam removal
projects you can see it big time. They want to do all the rivers in Washington, Oregon, and
Idaho too.

calimary

(83,433 posts)

4. Totally and unhesitatingly agreed!

Reply to Botany (Reply #1)

Sun Sep 1, 2024, 03:06 PM

Sep 1

Botany

(71,768 posts)

5. Joe is the first President I know about speaking of or have his people speak of ecological restoration.

Reply to calimary (Reply #4)

Sun Sep 1, 2024, 03:16 PM

Sep 1

This is a game changer. Some little kids will be able to see tidal pools, killer whales, and
collect some shellfish in and around the new Klamath River Estuary. A salmon that made
it upstream to spawn might feed an otter and or an eagle or fertilize a tree.

yonder

(9,890 posts)

2. Great news. Next on the list: the 4 on the lower Snake, though at this point, unlikely.

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

Sun Sep 1, 2024, 02:44 PM

Sep 1

Clouds Passing

(989 posts)

3. A win for nature also

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

Sun Sep 1, 2024, 03:05 PM

Sep 1

mahina

(18,636 posts)

6. Finally some good news for first nations.

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

Sun Sep 1, 2024, 03:33 PM

Sep 1

Thank you.

sabbat hunter

(6,881 posts)

7. I am torn on this

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

Sun Sep 1, 2024, 06:42 PM

Sep 1

On one hand I am glad that First Nation people got the original path of the river restored, salmon can swim up stream again, etc.

On the other hand dams are an important source of clean hydroelectric energy, that can be used by everyone, including First Nation people.

BumRushDaShow

(137,638 posts)

8. I am guessing that there are other sources of water

Reply to sabbat hunter (Reply #7)

Sun Sep 1, 2024, 07:53 PM

Sep 1

and using more modern hydroelectric plants. These were old dams and in some cases, due to the drought conditions out there, actually exacerbated the problem. Some more from the article -

(snip)

Manmade dams, warm water and prolonged droughts have profoundly altered the river and the ecosystems that rely on it, including most importantly, the salmon population. Beginning their lives in freshwater systems, like the Klamath River, then traveling out to the salty ocean and back again to their spawning grounds, the chinook and coho salmon face a mix of dangers.

In 2002, a viral outbreak due to warm temperatures and low water killed more than 34,000 fish species, primarily the chinook salmon on the Klamath River. It was a turning point for the Yurok and other tribes in the basin, who regard the salmon as culturally and spiritually significant, to push for the dams’ removal.

The utility company PacifiCorps — a subsidiary of Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy — built the dams in the early to mid-1900s, without tribal consent, to generate electricity for parts of the growing West. But the dams severely disrupted the lifecycle of the salmon, blocking the fish from accessing their historic spawning grounds.

Then there’s the climate crisis: Warm water and drought-fueled water shortages in the Klamath River killed salmon eggs and young fish due to low oxygen and lack of food and allowed the spread of viruses. Julie Alexander, senior researcher at Oregon State University, said even without climate change, dam installations still alter the flow regime of rivers, which then changes the water’s temperatures since reservoirs act as thermal units that get warm in the summer. “This tends to exacerbate pathogens and concentrates the fish so they’re more on top of each other, so you have directly transmitted parasites that can kind of jump from fish to fish,” Alexander told CNN.

(snip)

Because today we know more about "climate change" and seasonal patterns, should a dam be needed, it would probably be done far differently to take into account the newer data on annual precipitation (and any snow melt from feeders), in order to determine what is needed to maintain the system.

calimary

(83,433 posts)

10. Seems to me it would HAVE TO be done differently.

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Reply #8)

Mon Sep 2, 2024, 12:37 PM

Sep 2

ESPECIALLY with what’s being forced on us by climate change.

RandomNumbers

(18,059 posts)

9. I'm guessing it's a win also for people who enjoy salmon as a meal.

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

Mon Sep 2, 2024, 11:50 AM

Sep 2

As I do.

I'm primarily thrilled about it for all the environmental reasons and the indigenous cultural aspect. But also happy that this should contribute to a more sustainable population of wild-caught salmon for those who like to consume it.

maxsolomon

(34,493 posts)

11. Still 2 more dams on the Upper Klamath before Klamath Lake.

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

Tue Sep 3, 2024, 03:04 PM

Sep 3

At German Corner and Keno.

Plus the one at the outlet of the lake at Klamath Falls.

BumRushDaShow

(137,638 posts)

12. Based on this

Reply to maxsolomon (Reply #11)

Tue Sep 3, 2024, 03:36 PM

Sep 3

https://klamathrenewal.org/the-project/

It doesn't look like those were in the project plan (at least yet) -

Main project site - https://klamathrenewal.org/

maxsolomon

(34,493 posts)

13. Oh, that looks like I'm wrong.

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Reply #12)

Tue Sep 3, 2024, 04:00 PM

Sep 3

the JC Boyle Dam is near German Corner.

So, the Keno Dam - which is the lower end of the "Keno Canal" - maybe it's not a barrier to fish passage?

BumRushDaShow

(137,638 posts)

14. They may want to see how this works out

Reply to maxsolomon (Reply #13)

Tue Sep 3, 2024, 04:39 PM

Sep 3

and how the flow progresses before considering any other phases.

Sometimes natural erosion and even the existence of natural dry gullies after many decades, might alter the planned the water flow, including creating additional smaller tributaries, so it's probably helpful to let it run and see what happens (especially since it has been a century since the water flowed naturally).

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