Klamath dams

Water quality levels on the Klamath River are continuing to improve amid dam deconstruction work, according to the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Deconstruction of Iron Gate dam, the lowest of the four dams along the Oregon-California border, has begun.

By the end of the week, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife will have released 90,000 yearling coho as well as 400,000 Chinook salmon fry into the Klamath River.

The Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors recently proclaimed a local emergency related to concerns about heavy metals being present in the Klamath River. California's regional water board says those worries are overblown.

On Tuesday, the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors proclaimed a local emergency and requested that the governor proclaim a state of emergency based on water quality concerns in the Klamath River as four dams are being removed.

Large numbers of young Chinook salmon were found dead two days after being released from a state hatchery. But biologists say river conditions were okay and they were shocked by the die-off. The suspected cause is pressure changes in a Klamath dam tunnel.

With the drawdown of three reservoirs complete, the Klamath River is flowing more or less within its historic channel.

Construction crews blasted a hole in the Copco No. 1 dam on Tuesday. It’s the final dam of four that will be removed in the hydroelectric reach of the Klamath River this year.

In the coming weeks, water will be let out from behind the three remaining dams on the Klamath River. A century's worth of sediment that has piled up behind the dams will also flow downriver.

Members of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe on Washington's Olympic Peninsula harvested about 200 coho salmon from their home river in October. That marked a milestone for river restoration a decade after two dams on the Elwha River were dismantled. It could also offer a window into the future of the Klamath River, as four dams there are being removed.

Researchers at Oregon State and three Northwest tribes say removing Klamath River dams will flush out hot spots of bacteria and parasites harmful to fish.

As four aging hydroelectric dams are demolished, tribes and communities along the Klamath River wait anxiously to see what the future holds. “Once a river is dammed, is it damned forever?” experts ask.