Panel Discussion on Klamath Dam Removal Science and Monitoring

Video recorded 11/16/22

Left: Tommy Williams, NOAA, Right: RES/Resource Environmental Solutions geologist Dave Coffman  

 Here are a few quotes with some of the ecoterrorist  government agencies’  lies  about the “benefits” of Klamath Dam destruction experiment,  and horrific truths, and lack of information of what the outcome will be, by USGS, NOAA, Yurok Tribe, RES. Listen closely to this 1 1/4 - hour video.
 
“…there is a glutton of money out there to do some really cool stuff…” says Tommy, NOAA Fisheries, regarding “restoration” from the destruction of Klamath River Dams, communities, ecosystems, water quality, species, hatchery, Upper Basin irrigation water.  
   Mike Belchik, senior fish biologist for Yurok Tribe: “Now Keno dam is managed for water level only…to keep infrastructure working for the agricultural program…that’s no longer going to be the case. Keno is going to have to be managed for steadyish flow as the water level’s gunna be maintained. ..The day to day flows for lake levels or deliveries to agriculture…that has not been set…the Bureau of Reclamation …doesn’t have any of those plans…”
   Here are a few quotes with some of the ecoterrorist  government agencies’  lies  about the “benefits” of Klamath Dam destruction experiment,  and horrific truths, and lack of information of what the outcome will be, by USGS, NOAA, Yurok Tribe, RES. Listen closely to this 1 1/4 - hour video:
       The plan is to plant salmon and lamprey (fish parasite) in warm Klamath Lake to “restore” Klamath River “ water quality.
    RES/Resource Environmental Solutions geologist Dave Coffman: “…ultimate goal of achieving water quality…” (by destroying dams which will release 20 million cubic yards of sediment throughout the entire watershed, and  destroying the dams’ deep cold water lakes will result in pouring downriver  warm  Klamath Lake that historically was too mineral laden for horses to drink.)  “…we’re very excited …about what’s going to happen and the opportunities for data collection to see what truly happens when dams are removed…”
    ”We haven’t analyzed collections we have been collecting and tribes.  Hoping we can make priority to assess data we’ve already collected.”
   “USGS – “…hoping we’ll get some sediment flux estimates out…”
    “We really don’t understand what the potential for environmental flows are under optimized conditions…Is there more environmental flow?  We need to be thinking about flow for this restored river…that may be a missing piece of our thinking from the Upper Basin.”
   There are several reefs and falls under the dam reservoirs, one under Copco Lake more than 30’ tall.  Coffman answered a question:  “is there an effort to identify geographic features altered during dam destruction and possible restoration.”  “Not right now there’s not.  It’s more a wait and see what comes after and during dam removal…we talked about lava dams and reefs, falls and all these different things…”
   A question was asked: There are other reefs; are you going to blow them since they impede the fish? So you’re going to take out the dams but the fish can’t go up?
   Tommy Williams, NOAA: “…there’s no plan to blast everything that we perceive as a barrier. My profession did that all over the landscape starting in the 60’s and 70’s…we’ve done that experiment and it did work!
   Belchik, “…things that become exposed as the reservoirs are down will be handled…on a case by case basis.”
   Belchik: “Now Keno dam is managed for water level only…to keep infrastructure working for the agricultural program…that’s no longer going to be the case. Keno is going to have to be managed for steadyish flow as the water level’s gunna be maintained. ..The day to day flows for lake levels or deliveries to agriculture…that has not been set…the Bureau of Reclamation …doesn’t have any of those plans…”
   Coffman, “There are a number of other projects in the country…that are waiting to see how Klamath works out before the next steps are taken on those…”
   Coffman, “I’ve spent the majority of my career adapting for applied practice of scientific data collection to build a case for the benefits of restoration…”
   Coffman, “…while there is a glutton of money out there to do some really cool stuff…in the basin in particular, …If we can focus our efforts on…justification…on practical application of removing dams as benefits for results, outcomes, with a mind to the human environment and the underlying ecosystem responses…I think well get to see more related projects coming up very quickly.”  
    Williams: We need to get coordination on how to monitor fish in the Upper and Lower basins, tags moving across the landscape which we’ve never had before, how do we manage our data bases, how do we count salmon in the upper basin…
   ?  What happens if next five winters are very wet?”
    
Coffman: “We’re going around the clock to make sure this thing happens on the timeframe it’s been committed to.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFJdk4Q5dbE 

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