[env-trinity] Humboldt County residents pick brains of Klamath River dam removal project leads

[Tom Stokely]

Humboldt County residents pick brains of Klamath River dam removal project leads

Klamath River project leads speak with public on timeline, impacts
By Will Houston, Eureka Times-StandardThursday, November 9, 2017The Klamath River is the site of what could be the largest dam removal project in the nation’s history, but there are still several hurdles to jump before the dams come down and many more if they do.Fortuna resident Neil Palmer was one of more than 40 people who attended an open house at Eureka’s Adorni Center on Thursday evening to learn more about the now 7-year-old project. Identifying as an avid kayaker and environmental buff, Palmer said he also owns a cabin on the south fork Trinity River where he is able to see spring-run salmon runs.One of the goals of the dam removal plan is to allow salmon and other migratory fish to return to their historic spawning grounds.“[The spring-run salmon] have to come all the way up through the Klamath and so I’m concerned about protecting them,” Palmer said. “I’ve been watching those fish for over 50 years and I’ve been concerned about their well-being and the sustainabilty of those. I can only think that making the Klamath River more natural can only help out.”Among the crowd were environmental advocates, students, fishermen, Humboldt County government officials and curious residents who were able to talk with consultants on the dam removal project, with topics ranging from timeline to river restoration to how much sediment would be released after the dams are brought down.Redwood Coast Montessori eighth-grade students Evelyn Wilhelm and Kaley Johnson attended to research for their Humboldt Healer projects where they focus on an issue within the county and determine ways they can help. Johnson’s project is set to look at how dam removal will affect wildlife while Wilhelm was researching about incorporating tribal ecological knowledge into projects.“We are a sustainable development-focused school and we are very interested in that,” Wilhelm said. “We do a lot of projects with that and we focus a lot on not just developing the world but sustainably doing it so we’ll have stuff for the future generations.”Leading the dam removal effort is the Klamath River Renewal Corporation, a private nonprofit formed last year by the dam removal proponents. The $450 million project seeks to remove four hydroelectric dams — Iron Gate, Copco 1 and 2, and J.C. Boyle — owned by the Oregon-based power company PacifiCorp by as soon as 2020 in order to improve fish passage and water quality for downriver communities. The dams are located in Siskiyou County and in southern Oregon.The decision to remove the dams was made as part of the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement, which was originally signed in 2010 by California, Oregon, tribal governments, the U.S. Interior Department, PacifiCorp, Humboldt County and other organizations. After the agreement failed to pass through Congress by 2015, the agreement was redrafted and signed in 2016 to instead go through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which will decide whether to decommission the dams.Klamath River Renewal Corporation Executive Director Mark Bransom said the major milestone they are working to hit this year is to submit a complete plan to the commission detailing exactly how the dam removal process will take place. But Bransom said there are several more regulatory steps that must be taken including conducting both state and federal environmental reviews, ensuring the project passes California and Oregon water quality standards and obtaining approval for the nonprofit to take control of the dams from PacifiCorp.Dam removal was only one piece of a larger Klamath Basin plan that sought to address longstanding water rights disputes between tribes and irrigators in the basin and address the needs of endangered fish species. Two agreements meant to address those issues essentially expired in Congress at the end of 2015, but there are efforts underway to bring them back.Interior Department Bureau of Reclamation deputy commissioner Alan Mikkelsen recently stated that he is working to bring all the basin stakeholders back to the table to draft a new agreement to bring before Congress.Bransom said that these efforts are encouraging.“We believe that dam removal is a necessary, but not efficient step to address the many complex challenges and issues in the Klamath Basin,” he said. “We’re hopeful Mr. Mikkelson has some success with those efforts.”Will Houston can be reached at 707-441-0504.
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