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Siskiyou County Water Users Association oppose removal of Klamath Dams


FILE - This Aug. 21, 2009, file photo shows an algae bloom in the reservoir behind Iron Gate Dam on the Klamath River near Hornbrook, Calif. Officials from Oregon, California and the Obama administration are scheduled to sign a pact Wednesday, April 6, 2016, agreeing to seek permission to tear down four hydroelectric dams that are blamed for killing fish and blocking their migration. (AP Photo/Jeff Barnard, File)
FILE - This Aug. 21, 2009, file photo shows an algae bloom in the reservoir behind Iron Gate Dam on the Klamath River near Hornbrook, Calif. Officials from Oregon, California and the Obama administration are scheduled to sign a pact Wednesday, April 6, 2016, agreeing to seek permission to tear down four hydroelectric dams that are blamed for killing fish and blocking their migration. (AP Photo/Jeff Barnard, File)
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The Siskiyou County Water Users Association is throwing its opposition against the removal of four dams along the Klamath River. Built as part of a mostly-defunct hydroelectric project, the dams are being considered for removal to prevent toxic algal blooms and restore heavily declining salmon populations. The dams do not provide irrigation.

Richard Marshall, president of the SCWUA believes that the dams don't need to be removed to improve salmon populations.

"The money that's being spent to do this would be much better spent for everybody if they would work on improving the downstream capability for salmon production," said Marshall.

The thrust of Marshall's argument lies in his belief that salmon populations did not historically travel far enough up the Klamath River to be impacted by the dam's presence. To support this, Marshall cites California Oregon Power Company (COPCO) vice president and chief engineer JC Boyle's writings published in the 1970s.

"[COPCO's] comments and studies that they made at that time, the 1850s, were that the salmon didn't go up past Wards Canyon," Marshall says. "The salmon never went up there, and the salmon won't go up there."

Marshall did not specify how Boyle, born in 1887, would have formed his understanding of 1850s salmon runs, nor did he indicate what types of studies the power company might have done in the early 20th century on the Klamath River. COPCO was formed on February 21, 1873 and did not begin working on the dams until 1903 through 1962.

Decades of quantitative research show the direct impacts of the Klamath Dams on the salmon's genetic resilience and the decline of the population. The salmon populating the Klamath River are crucial to Yurok, Klamath, Shasta, Karuk and Hoopa cultures and ways of life, and tribal members have been advocating for the removal of the dams since the 90s.

In addition to the SCWUA, the Jackson County Commissioners reiterated their position from 2018 after reviewing Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's environmental impact statement and announced their formal opposition to the dams' removal. Rather than push back directly against FERC's research, however, the commissioners argue for keeping the dams so the reservoirs can be used to fight fires.

Marshall is not optimistic that public opposition from his group and others will successfully stop the project from moving forward. The Klamath River Renewal Corporation estimates it will cost $450 million dollars to remove the dams.

"It's an untried situation," he said. "And no one knows when those fish are gonna come back."

The public comment period for FERC's draft proposal for the dams' removal is open until Apr. 18. If the plan is approved, the work to remove the dams will begin in late 2023.

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