Ten things to know about the Klamath dam removal

Along the Klamath River, which runs from Oregon to the California coast, the largest dam removal project in U.S. history was completed on October 2. This milestone has large implications for endangered salmon, other wildlife, entire ecosystems and the people living in the area. 

Here are ten key facts about the Klamath dam and the decision to take it down: 

What led to the decision to remove the dams? Originally, PacifiCorp wanted to relicense the dams, but the presence of endangered salmon would have required new fish ladders to help salmon and other fish move up and down the river. In the end, the energy company agreed to remove the dams and handed the process to the Klamath River Renewal Corporation. 

The salmon all but disappeared. After the construction of four dams, which were constructed between 1911 to 1962, the number of chinook salmon making the trek up and down the river plummeted. Fall chinook salmon migrations down the river dropped by 90% and spring chinooks headed upstream dropped by 98%.

400 miles of free flowing river. The removal of the 4 dams means that the entire river is naturally flowing, as well as its tributaries. This provides approximately 400 miles of salmon territory, which not only helps chinook salmon but also coho salmon, steelhead trout, lamprey eels and more. Comparing populations before dam construction and after, lampreys saw a 98% drop in numbers, coho salmon a reduction of more than 52%, steelhead trout a drop of 67%… and on it goes. 

A salmon superhighway. The Klamath River was once the 3rd largest salmon producing river on the West Coast. The Yurok people relied on this salmon and celebrated their return to the river every year. 

Dam removals are part of a larger movement. Because more is known today about the harm that dams cause, and because dams built long ago are now decaying, the Klamath effort joins more than 2,000 dam removals that have been completed in the United States. Pennsylvania leads the way, with 390 dam removals as of 2023. 

Tribes have been crucial in this effort. Protests, testimonies and lawsuits from tribes were aimed at restoring the land and wildlife. Without the work done by tribes “to point out the damage that these dams were doing, not only to the environment, but to the social and cultural fabric of these tribal nations, there would be no dam removal,” said Mark Bransom, chief executive of the Klamath River Renewal Corporation.

Only a fraction of PacifiCorp’s energy was produced by these dams. At full capacity, these dams produced less than 2 percent of PacifiCorp’s energy. The dams did not provide drinking water, irrigation or flood control.

It’s been a long time coming. The original agreement to begin the dam removal project was signed in 2010. Preliminary planning began in 2011, and the various companies, agencies, nonprofits, tribes and more have done the work since then to complete this $450 million project. 

The dams are gone, but the work goes on. Although the dams have been removed, work is underway to restore the Klamath River and the once-submerged land to how it looked prior to the dam’s construction more than 100 years ago. Nearly 17 billion seeds will be planted and monitored. Helicopters will fly in hundreds of thousands of trees and shrubs. 

This is the largest dam removal in U.S. history. By the end of next year, more than 400 miles of river will have opened up for wildlife as a result of the Klamath dams coming down. In comparison, the 65 other other dams removed in the U.S. last year restored 430 miles of river combined. 

In Oregon and Washington, where the Snake River feeds into the Columbia, there’s a growing movement calling for the removal of four problematic dams – again to save the salmon, as well as Southern resident orcas that are starving without stable access to their favorite food (Spring Chinook salmon). 

Here’s to hoping that the Klamath dam removal inspires and tells the story of a river returned to its former glory, so that it may be done again elsewhere.