For the first time in more than a century, salmon will soon have free passage along the Klamath River and its tributaries — a major watershed near the California-Oregon border — as the largest dam removal project in U.S. history nears completion.
Crews will use excavators this week to breach rock dams that have been diverting water upstream of two dams that were already almost completely removed, Iron Gate and Copco No. 1. The work will allow the river to flow freely in its historic channel, giving salmon a passageway to key swaths of habitat just in time for the fall Chinook, or king salmon, spawning season.
I hope someone is able to get this news to the salmon who have probably changed their habits over the last century.
Salmon are genetically habitual. They regularly beat themselves to death on the concrete foundations of dams trying to climb up a river that isn’t there, and have been doing so for a hundred years.
When the Elwha dam in Washington was removed, it took less than 3 years before the salmon run returned to the river upstream. It won’t take much time at all.
That’s good to know. I guess that’s what thousands of years of doing the same thing will do to you.
Yep. They really can’t do anything else.
They have been going up the river the whole time but stopped at the dams. Now they can go up to all the nooks and crannies farther up than previous.