Thursday August 1, 2024
Herald and News —
The removal of four Klamath River dams, the largest dam removal in U.S. history, is on track to be completed by November and reportedly ahead of schedule.
The breaching of the John C. Boyle dam on Tuesday marked a historic achievement as the four dams on the Klamath River, including Copco 1, Copco 2, and Iron Gate, near completion. The $450 million project strives to restore the river and its ecosystem to its pre-dam condition with a focus on returning salmon, Chinook and coho.
If the reintroduction of salmon is successful, then it will provide once again an ancestral food source to the tribal communities that relied on the annual fish returns in the river as one of their first foods.
The Klamath Tribes voiced the need for the dam removals for decades, and now that the project is nearing completion, Klamath tribal leadership and employees in the Natural Resources and Ambodat Departments are working with various state and federal agencies and the Klamath River Renewal Corporation, which is overseeing the project, to assist in the many restoration projects such as revegetation, wetland restoration and the reintroduction of salmon.