Government and company officials in California and Oregon have reached an agreement to remove four large hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River in the hopes that it will restore the river’s historic fish runs.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) called it “one of the largest river restoration efforts in the nation.” Removal of the dams, three in California and one in Oregon, is scheduled to begin in 2020.
The agreement was signed at the mouth of the Klamath last week by California Governor Jerry Brown and Oregon Governor Kate Brown, as well as Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, NOAA Administrator Kathryn Sullivan, and the president and CEO of Pacific Power, the private utility company that owns the dams.
“This historic agreement will enable Oregon and California and the interested parties to get these four dams finally removed and the Klamath River restored to its pristine beauty,” Gov. Jerry Brown said in a statement.
The hydroelectric dams were built along the Klamath River almost a century ago, blocking wild salmon and steelhead trout from reaching southern Oregon Klamath Tribes that have depended on them for thousands of years. Proponents of the agreement argue that removing the dams and restoring hundreds of miles of river to its natural condition will help save fisheries and protect the environment for California, Oregon and sovereign Native American tribes.
