dams

Dam removal continues to generate controversy in our region. Proponents see restored ecosystems and fish runs.

Opponents see diminished irrigation water for agriculture, and a loss of beloved recreational lakes. Peter Brewitt examines the politics of dam removal in his new book, Same River Twice: The Politics of Dam Removal and River Restoration.

The book looks at removal efforts of high and low controversy, from the Savage Rapids Dam on the Rogue to the Marmot Dam on the Sandy. 

The list of dams now removed from the Rogue River and its tributaries is getting longer: Gold Ray, Savage Rapids, Bear Creek, Wimer... and that's just a start. 

It didn't happen overnight, and it didn't happen without resistance. 

The major point: giving fish a chance to get upstream to spawn once again. 

The Rogue River Watershed Council plays a part in recent and planned dam removals. 

All eyes have been on the Oroville Dam of late, with its damaged spillway leading to evacuation orders for thousands of people. 

The problem there is a problem across much of California: an abundance of water. 

The problem was the opposite in recent years of drought, now many dams, Shasta Dam included, have had to ramp up water releases to leave room for the water from later storms. 

The Rogue River is a very different stream from just a decade ago. 

The removal of Savage Rapids, Gold Hill, and Gold Ray Dams from the river means it now flows freely from North of Shady Cove, all the way to the Pacific. 

But the Rogue River Watershed Council says there's still work to do, removing small dams and other fish obstacles from tributaries to the Rogue.  Newly-awarded grants will boost that work. 

  JeffX 7/7 @ 8:30: The efforts to improve living conditions for fish tend to focus on big dams, like the four proposed for removal on the Klamath River.  But changes to existing small dams can help as well.  

  The federal Bureau of Reclamation will upgrade the fish ladder at a small irrigation dam in Ashland this summer.  The project is part of a broader effort to make life better for fish throughout the Rogue River Basin.  BOR's Doug DeFlitch joins us. 

When the talk turns to removing dams from streams, the attention turns to the Klamath River. 

But while the long process of (maybe) removing four large dams inches forward, smaller projects are underway. 

WaterWatch of Oregon is one of several players working to remove a pair of small dams from Evans Creek, a tributary of the Rogue River. 

Land that was once meant to be underwater is now available for recreation by us land-based creatures.Elk Creek Dam north of Medford was never finished; it was eventually dynamited so Elk Creek, a Rogue River tributary, could flow freely once again.

It's not just the dams on the Klamath River that are the subject of scrutiny in Northern California.

The Karuk Tribe and an environmental group filed suit more than a year ago to change the way irrigation dams and diversions are managed on the Shasta River.

Subjects ranging from wildfire management to the fate of bats will be on the table at Bio Conf this weekend at Humboldt State University. 

If the nickname doesn't ring a bell, we're talking about Biodiversity Conference 2013, running October 4th through the 6th. 

We do not schedule guests for Wednesday at 8:30, because that's the time for VENTSday, your chance to vent (politely, please) on a pair of topics in the news.  We bring the topics, you bring the opinions.