Thursday August 15, 2024
Herald and News —
More than native plants are being planted where reservoirs created by the Klamath River dams once stood.
As part of the years-long restoration, crews are planting thousands of live trees. And they’re also using dead trees, which are referred to as “large wood” in river restoration jargon by the Klamath River Renewal Corporation, which is overseeing the removal of the dams and restoration. Dead trees are being placed in tributaries to the Klamath. The tree planting will happen November through January 2025, then resume in November 2025.
Helicopters placed about 60 large wood trees in the Spencer Creek area south of Keno in the footprint of the John C. Boyle Dam on Monday and in the Beaver Creek tributary below the former Copco 1 Dam on Tuesday. Placing of the large wood trees at other tributaries to the Iron Gate Dam and areas exposed by the now free-flowing river is expected to be completed this week.
“We are not planting any large trees,” clarified Dave Meurer, community affairs director for the restoration contractor Resource Environmental Solutions, emphasizing the difference between live and dead trees. “The trees that we are planting are smallish, bare root stock a couple of feet tall.”