Wednesday April 6, 2022
KTVL —
The Siskiyou County Water Users Association is throwing its opposition against the removal of four dams along the Klamath River. Built as part of a mostly-defunct hydroelectric project, the dams are being considered for removal to prevent toxic algal blooms and restore heavily declining salmon populations. The dams do not provide irrigation.
Richard Marshall, president of the SCWUA believes that the dams don’t need to be removed to improve salmon populations.
“The money that’s being spent to do this would be much better spent for everybody if they would work on improving the downstream capability for salmon production,” said Marshall.
The thrust of Marshall’s argument lies in his belief that salmon populations did not historically travel far enough up the Klamath River to be impacted by the dam’s presence. To support this, Marshall cites California Oregon Power Company (COPCO) vice president and chief engineer JC Boyle’s writings published in the 1970s.