-
The Elwha River: A wild ride through a decade of dam removal
A connected river is good for nature, period. And because we are a part of and depend on nature, it is good for humanity too.
John R. McMillan, Science Director, The Conservation Angler All photos provided by John McMillan “The river will never recover!” This is one of the responses I've seen in recent months from skeptics of the historic dam removal project currently underway on the Klamath River – the largest such project ever to date. This claim is…
-
Bringing the salmon home
On the border of Oregon and California, the largest dam removal ever attempted, anywhere on the planet, is underway on the Klamath River.
When the dams come out, the Klamath will come back. May 2024: The Klamath River dam removal is well underway. The smallest of the four dams to be removed, Copco 2, is already gone. The reservoirs behind the three remaining dams – Copco 1, Iron Gate, and JC Boyle – were drained this winter and…
-
Klamath Reservoir Drawdowns: Short-term Costs for much larger long-term gains
The Klamath dam removal process is well underway and has received a lot of attention - both positive and negative. In some cases, outright misinformation has been spread by opponents of dam removal. As this massive restoration project unfolds, it is a great moment to provide an update and highlight how extensive project planning has…
-
FERC plans sells Kennebec’s endangered Atlantic salmon short
This week, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission released a Draft EIS affecting four hydroelectric dams on Maine’s Kennebec River. The FERC recommendations amount to incremental improvements over what is now a dire situation for Atlantic salmon in the Kennebec. We have tried the incremental approach before on rivers like the Connecticut, Merrimack, Saco, and Androscoggin.…
-
Free the Eklutna River
The Eklutna People envision a thriving fishery accessible by all. Right now, we have the power to return a salmon producing stream back to Southcentral Alaska. The effort to restore the Eklutna River has reached a pivotal moment, with the operators of the Eklutna Hydroelectric Project now accepting public comments on their draft Fish and…
-
Klamath Reservoir Drawdown Begins
The world’s largest dam removal project takes another step forward as the reservoirs behind Iron Gate, Copco 1 and JC Boyle Dams begin to be drained In the middle of January, early in the morning on a cold winter’s day, the process to reconnect the Klamath River took another huge step forward. Crews opened the…
-
The Way Forward for the Eel River
PG&E’s decommissioning plan for the Potter Valley Project on California’s Eel River would remove all in-river facilities and make it the longest free-flowing river in the state On November 17, six weeks after the last remnants of the Copco II Dam on the Klamath River were removed, the Pacific Gas and Electric company (PG&E) announced…
Category