The largest dam removal in the history of the United States is currently taking place on the Klamath River, which flows through Oregon and northern California.
The Klamath River has historically been a fishing area for indigenous tribes, which have largely been dependent on the river’s salmon.
However, a series of dams that were constructed on the river between 1918 and 1962 cut off the fish immigration routes, resulting in their population gradually degrading going upstream.
In 2002, this crisis reached a climax. Drought hit the region, and farmers were requesting more water to be dedicated to agriculture. This request was granted but led to very low water levels in the river and the subsequent washing up of dead fish, the population of which has been estimated to be as high as some 70,000.
The indigenous tribes have since been fighting for the removal of the dams on the Klamath River, which have been used for the production of hydroelectric energy.
In addition to this fight, the operating company had to upgrade their facilities to modern environmental standards at an economic loss or enter into a settlement agreement.
The agreement was reached and final approval for the demolition of four dams along the river came in 2022.
These dams were namely the Iron Gare, Copco No 1 and No 2, and John C Boyle, with Copco No 2, the smallest of the four, already demolished as of November 2023.
All the dams are expected to be demolished by the fall in 2024, while prior to this, they would have to be drained.
The project’s major milestone came on January 11 with the Iron Gate’s drawdown starting, while the process is expected to last two to three weeks.
Draining the remaining two reservoirs was expected to come in the following two weeks after the Iron Gate on, breaching one per week.
This process would result in some thousands of acres of land to resurface, while a vast operation has been set up to restore it with native vegetation by 2030.
It is expected that a great part of the local fish populations will be restored along with the re-establishment of about 400 miles of river’s path.
It is worth mentioning that some millions of cubic yards of sediment that has accumulated within the reservoirs all these years will also have to be removed.
Finally, two dams are going to remain on the Klamath River’s path further upstream.
The Klamath River has historically been a fishing area for indigenous tribes, which have largely been dependent on the river’s salmon.
However, a series of dams that were constructed on the river between 1918 and 1962 cut off the fish immigration routes, resulting in their population gradually degrading going upstream.
In 2002, this crisis reached a climax. Drought hit the region, and farmers were requesting more water to be dedicated to agriculture. This request was granted but led to very low water levels in the river and the subsequent washing up of dead fish, the population of which has been estimated to be as high as some 70,000.
The indigenous tribes have since been fighting for the removal of the dams on the Klamath River, which have been used for the production of hydroelectric energy.
In addition to this fight, the operating company had to upgrade their facilities to modern environmental standards at an economic loss or enter into a settlement agreement.
The agreement was reached and final approval for the demolition of four dams along the river came in 2022.
These dams were namely the Iron Gare, Copco No 1 and No 2, and John C Boyle, with Copco No 2, the smallest of the four, already demolished as of November 2023.
All the dams are expected to be demolished by the fall in 2024, while prior to this, they would have to be drained.
The project’s major milestone came on January 11 with the Iron Gate’s drawdown starting, while the process is expected to last two to three weeks.
Draining the remaining two reservoirs was expected to come the following two weeks after the Iron Gate, breaching one per week.
This process would result in some thousands of acres of land to resurface, while a vast operation has been set up to restore it with native vegetation by 2030.
It is expected that a great part of the local fish populations will be restored along with the re-establishment of about 400 miles of river’s path.
It is worth mentioning that some millions of cubic yards of sediment that has accumulated within the reservoirs all these years will also have to be removed.
Finally, two dams are going to remain on the Klamath River’s path further upstream.
Sources: www.sfchronicle.com, www.npr.org, www.aljazeera.com, arstechnica.com
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