As work begins on the largest US dam removal project, tribes look to a future of growth
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- Опубліковано 6 вер 2024
- (29 Sep 2023)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hornbrook, California - 17 September 2023
1. Various Iron Gate Dam
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Bransom, CEO, Klamath River Renewal Corporation:
"We're in the process of removing the Iron Gate Dam and three other dams here on the Klamath. A year from now, the Klamath will be a free flowing river through this hydroelectric reach for the first time in over 100 years."
3. Various hydroelectric equipment at dam
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Bransom, CEO, Klamath River Renewal Corporation:
"These dams were built to produce hydroelectric power. They don't store water for municipal or agricultural uses, and they're not operated to provide any flood control benefits, simply to use the water to spin turbines to generate electricity. The electric company that previously owned the dams made a decision that they did not want to continue to operate them and entered into a settlement agreement in 2016 that resulted in the transfer of the facilities to the renewable Corporation for purposes of removal."
5. Blueprint showing tree planting plans once dam removed
6. Reservoir which will eventually be eliminated
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Dave Meurer, Director, Resource Environmental Solutions:
"We want to stabilize the soil. We want to get things growing. We will also be helicoptering in trees."
8. Various Copco Dams in process of being removed
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Sami Jo Difuntorum, Cultural Preservation Officer, Shasta Indian Nation:
"The time that the dams were built and the area inundated, some of the land was taken by imminent domain, but our people were displaced from this area."
10. Various reservoir above dam
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Sami Jo Difuntorum, Cultural Preservation Officer, Shasta Indian Nation:
"To me and to our tribe. That's that's what justice looks like. You know, it's a return of our homelands."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chiloquin, Oregon - 18 September 2023
10. Creek feeding into Klamath River
11. Fly fisherman in creek
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Don Gentry, Natural Resources Specialist, Klamath Tribes:
"Some of our people say we're here because those fish were here. You know, it helped us survive the ages."
13. Various creek where tribes hope salmon return
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Don Gentry, Natural Resources Specialist, Klamath Tribes:
"To restore the salmon, it may take really concentrated efforts, some hatchery supplementation before they finally can maintain their own populations, spawning naturally and reach harvestable levels. The biologist said, what happens if even a one salmon comes up here, you know, after the dams are removed? You know, in early years, that would be a pretty amazing."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hornbrook, California - 17 September 2023
15. Various lakefront homes which may lose waterfront views
STORYLINE:
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.
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The removal of the dams makes me extremely happy for the tribes, the fish, and the environment, but it takes more than removing dams to restore the river. Streams and tributaries must also be protected. Beavers must be re-introduced so they can create wetlands that will shelter and protect young fish, provide habitat to countless other species, restore groundwaters, and provide clean, cool water to the river in the hot, dry months of summer. Without that protection there will continue to be problems with fish survival and water quality. It is a huge job. I hope the tribes and others dedicated to the river will be successful.
The first dam has been removed and fish now have the opportunity to swim upstream, so I hope someone will report frequently any information about fish migrating beyond that dam site. I am eager to hear that salmon and steelhead are finding their way past that site.
The recovery plan is extensive. They have take all that mention and put it in with the plan.
what a disgrace. 100 years of damage to indigenous people and their land. at least its going now.
The Electric company's finally realizing that dams are bad for the environment 😂😂
Sort of like picking up the pieces of a broken mirror to look into...
They took The Dams out. Now the Klamath River smells like a sewer. It's Killed every thing In it. There won't be any Fishing in River for decades.
I hope they Really Know what they were doing. 😢
I have been all along the River. What stinks is the lakes that still have most of the sediment on the banks. The river is fine. Less than ten miles down stream you would not know the dams had been breached.