Originally Posted by
Fishtopher
Great news for the Klamath. Hopefully with the states of CA and OR on the hook for liability, that will be enough for FERC to approve license surrender. This has been a long time coming.
This removal is unique in that the fish passage issues are not the biggest barrier to recovery. Fish passage improvements are just a bonus. Instead conditions created by the reservoirs has resulted in major water quality issues downstream. With the dams removed, scientists estimate up to a 10 degree drop in summer water temperatures on the mainstem. In addition, higher winter flows should largely eliminate the polychaete worm that serves as a host to C. shasta. This should help juvenile salmonids immensely since their mortality in recent years has been above 90%, mostly due to disease.
Another bright spot of removal is that it should largely eliminate the blue-green algae problem which has resulted in no contact orders for people living along the river.
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