I suppose there are those for and against. I'm excited to see what comes after the dams go... I hope me knees still work to be able to make a few epic Klamath trips in the coming years.
https://caltrout.org/news/pacificorp...h-dams-removal
It's exciting I can't wait to see how this changes things!
This is huge! I can hardly wait
"Lord help me to be the person my dog thinks I am"
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Very exciting they found a way around the wrench FERC threw into the process. It did push the timeline back, but not so far, if I stay fit and keep rowing, that I will still have a shot at steelhead where a bass pond once was and rowing through the old dam sites.
Andy
I think the one thing that is exciting is that World wide they are removing dams now and lots of stream restoration too.
I watch a lot of YouTube video and there are many of small dam removal with stream reservations to follow.
They are making many new wetlands and reclaiming marshes now too.
This has to be very good for the environment in many ways.....
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Also interesting is the "Fish Screen" system `developed by the Hood River Farmers' Co-op and licensed to the Farmers Conservation Alliance-- basically an extended and modernized "fish ladder". FCA already has 50 installations, the largest of which is the recently completed Truckee River fish screen which now allow Lahontan Cutthroat to move from Pyramid to Lake Tahoe.
The uniqueness seems to be making the fish "ladder" a lot longer which allows a gradual elevation and a patented method to direct fish to use the fish channel (ladder). Uses approximately the same amount of water as a fish ladder, so no real change to the dam, water level or the water diverted for irrigation.
Again, so far the Truckee is the largest river on which this has been installed. IF this "Fish Screen" can be used in large scale dams, it could provide faster solutions while eliminating most of the objections that removing dams face. It seems to be a workable solution for the huge dams on the Columbia, Snake and all the tributaries.
The need to acquire land to put in the longer fish channel would encounter obstacles and objections-- but those should be far less than the objections that dam removal faces. And the overall cost would be peanuts compared to removing a dam and compensating all the land owners, farmers, etc, etc, etc...
Jim
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.
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”
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Excited about this but there is 100 years of sediments behind those dams including some toxic mining waste. Its going to take time for the river to recover. Also I hope the tribes/locals are going to benefit from the remediation and restoration work.
Some good vids on the Elwha after dam removed. this one is interesting.
https://youtu.be/Pm9PBumcLzc
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