As work begins on the largest US dam removal project, tribes look to a future of growth

[Judi Lynn]

ADAM BEAM
Sun, July 30, 2023 at 11:05 PM CDT·6 min read

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The largest dam removal project in United States history is underway along the California-Oregon border — a process that won't conclude until the end of next year with the help of heavy machinery and explosives.

But in some ways, removing the dams is the easy part. The hard part will come over the next decade as workers, partnering with Native American tribes, plant and monitor nearly 17 billion seeds as they try to restore the Klamath River and the surrounding land to what it looked like before the dams started to go up more than a century ago.

The demolition is part of a national movement to return the natural flow of the nation's rivers and restore habitat for fish and the ecosystems that sustain other wildlife. More than 2,000 dams have been removed in the U.S. as of February, with the bulk of those having come down within the last 25 years, according to the advocacy group American Rivers.

The removal of four hydroelectric dams along the Klamath River is the movement's greatest triumph and its greatest challenge. When demolition is completed by the end of next year, more than 400 miles (644 kilometers) of river will have opened for threatened species of fish and other wildlife. By comparison, the 65 dams removed in the U.S. last year combined to reconnect 430 miles (692 kilometers) of river.

More:
https://news.yahoo.com/begins-largest-us-dam-removal-040549088.html

[pfitz59]

1. the Atlantic salmon would benefit

from the removal of many waterwheel dams on smaller rivers back east.

[KT2000]

2. Our dams

in the Pacific NW were removed and it has been a fascinating thing to watch. For 100 years, the salmon would crash into the first dam because there did not put in salmon ladders. After the dams were removed, in no time at all, the salmon swam upstream to their spawning grounds. It must be in their DNA to know where to go after 100 years.
Other wildlife quickly found the freed rivers.
Beautiful thing.

[Duppers]

4. Wonderful.

Mother nature is indeed a beautiful thing…..
With the exception of how nature programmed us greedy, shortsighted humans.

[hatrack]

8. IIRC, when the Elwha dams came down, all five salmon runs were back w/i 2 years

So, yes, more of the same, please!!

[KT2000]

9. Yes - that is the one

another benefit was that the silt was allowed to go to the beach which turned it into a sandy beach instead of a rocky one.

I supposed there will be more findings because the river has research plots. I was in the post office when someone came in with 5 gallon buckets of rocks from the river headed for Yale or Harvard, can't remember. All the dams will be a field day for research.

[hunter]

3. This dam pictured is the Iron Gate Dam opened in 1964, if anyone wants to look on the map.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/41%C2%B056'02.0%22N+122%C2%B026'07.0%22W/@41.933889,-122.435278,2449m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d41.933889!4d-122.435278?hl=en&entry=ttu

Good riddance.

[mopinko]

5. well, that's gonna change things.

that’s a lot of water. and it’s covering a lot of land. what happens there?

[hunter]

7. The major problems occurred in the dry season when the reservoirs went stagnant and toxic.

Even a trickle of water down an unimpeded river bed is better than that.

[2naSalit]

6. There are...

Four more on the Snake river that have needed to go for as long as I can remember. I'm glad that one is going, finally.