A project to reconnect the Klamath River to the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge has completed its first design phase. The partners presented the concept at a public meeting at Oregon Tech on Tuesday night.
“There’s been enough engineering, modeling, and ingenuity to help us understand that this is a possibility, and we can move forward,” said DJ Bandrowski, civil engineer and program manager at the Yurok Tribe.
The Lower Klamath Lake Reconnection Project would allow water to ebb and flow between the river and the refuge, emulating how the ecosystem functioned before it was altered for agriculture. Partners say restoring the connection would provide reliable habitat for thousands of migratory birds.
They are evaluating five designs and will select one to carry forward. The next design phase is expected to take about two years and cost an estimated $3 million dollars. So far, partners have secured approximately $900,000.
Scott White, general manager at Klamath Drainage District, has been pushing for the reconnection since the refuge went completely dry in 2021.
“You couldn’t hear wingbeats; you couldn’t hear quacking; you couldn’t hear any birds,” White said. “It was like ‘Silent Spring’.”
The district initiated a conversation with the Yurok Tribe, and the partnership grew from there. The working group also includes the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Modoc and Klamath Tribes, and several other agencies and organizations.
Partners say reconnecting the river and refuge could also create fish habitat for salmon and suckers, improve water quality and make the ecosystem more resilient to drought.
The plans call for fish screens to keep salmon and other fish out of irrigation canals. Since four dams on the Klamath River were removed, salmon have been finding their way into irrigation infrastructure.
The project would use existing and new infrastructure, potentially including a fishway that would let fish safely swim between the river and refuge.
Mike Belchik, senior water policy analyst for the Yurok Tribe, called the project a “six-way win.”
“It would restore the hydrology and ecological function of Lower Klamath Lake,” Belchik said.
The Yurok Tribe has provided technical expertise, including detailed mapping of the project area using lidar. Hydraulic modeling is helping the partners understand how water would move under different circumstances.
The reconnection project is one of several collaborative restoration projects taking shape across the Klamath watershed in the wake of dam removal.
“People are writing the next chapter of the Klamath, and this is one piece of it,” Belchik said.
