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Fishery council calls for removal of dams
Action proposed to restore Klamath River
salmon runs
Bob Krauter
Capital Press
California Editor
4/14/2006
One day
after it approved the smallest salmon fishery
season in the history of the West Coast, the
Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to
support the removal of four dams on the
Klamath River.
The council, in a letter to the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, recommended
decommissioning and removing four lower
Klamath River dams to restore habitat for runs
of Klamath salmon.
“When the council was discussing this issue,
we heard a lot about poor habitat conditions
for salmon in the Klamath River,” Don Hansen,
PFMC chairman. “We also heard compelling
testimony from many people – commercial and
recreational fisherman, environmentalists,
communities – calling for a solution to the
habitat problems there.”
The four dams, Copco 1, Copco 2, Iron Gate and
J.C. Boyle, are currently up for relicensing
by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The PFMC letter to the commission stated,
“Habitat and fish passage in the Klamath Basin
are significantly affected by the presence of
dams. Lack of fish passage at the Klamath
Project facilities blocks access to more than
400 miles of migration, spawning and rearing
habitat for salmon, steelhead and Pacific
lamprey.”
Siskiyou County Supervisor Marcia Armstrong
said it would be premature to decommission the
dams because of the substantial impact it
would have on her county and local residents.
“The hue and cry has been raised to tear down
the dams on the Klamath. Siskiyou County
believes that it would be rash to rush into
removal of the Klamath River dams,” Armstrong
said. “There are more than 1,600 property
owners around Copco Lake behind the lower
complex of dams. In addition to providing
low-cost renewable energy from hydropower,
these facilities provide roughly $750,000 a
year in tax revenue.”
Armstrong said there is no compelling data to
demonstrate that dam removal is the best
answer to assist in the recovery of fish. She
added that alternatives, such as fish ladders,
trucking and other means of bypassing the dams
have not received enough attention. She urged
new approaches to solving the problems on the
Klamath “before all of our economies
collapse.”
The council’s action on the Klamath River dams
came on the heels of its decision to close
most of the 700 miles along the Oregon and
California coast to commercial salmon fishing
for much of May, June and July.
Hundreds of people testified before the
council, including large numbers of commercial
and recreational fishermen. John Coon, deputy
director of the council, said they were able
to avoid a total closure with an emergency
rule that allows the fishery to remain open.
“The council really struggled with trying to
keep the infrastructure in place and to keep
the communities from dying on the vine and
still achieving a meaningful salmon spawning
escapement in the Klamath that would not
impact that stock in an overly negative way,”
Coon said. “But this was also a message that
‘we’re putting fish in that river and we want
water in the river.’ Maybe we will luck out
with Mother Nature this year, but we can’t
count on Mother Nature. We’ve got to clean up
the problems in that basin with the dams and
the diversions, and disease and so on.”
Roger Thomas, a member of the council and a
representative of the Golden Gate Fishermen’s
Association, a group that represents
commercial passenger fishing vessels that
serve recreational fishing interests, was
relieved by the decision.
“Looking from the standpoint of the fishery
that I am in, we are satisfied, but I have
many friends and members of my association
that also fish commercially and it is dire
straits for them, a serious disaster
economically,” Thomas said. “Lots of
facilities like ice plants and fuel docks in
the various harbors are going out of business
because they have fisheries that no fishermen
can fish in their particular area. Many of
these fishermen won’t be back next year
because of it. It is really a sad situation.”
For years, fishing and environmental groups
have blamed diversions of water for farming
and the operation of dams for harming fish
habitat in the river. Marcia Armstrong and
farming and timber interests have countered
the criticism with examples of voluntary
habitat restoration efforts of farmers and
ranchers, especially those in the Scott and
Shasta River Valleys of the mid-Klamath, which
is considered a prime spawning ground for
salmon.
Bob Krauter is the Capital Press California
editor based in Sacramento. Reach him via
e-mail at bkrauter@capitalpress.com.
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