The largest US dam-removal effort to date has begun

The largest US dam-removal effort to date has begun
As US dams age, removal is always an option—and it can be done well.

ALKA TRIPATHY-LANG - 1/11/2024, 4:00 AM, Ars Technica

Wending its way from the Olympic Mountains to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Washington’s Elwha River is now free. For about century, the Elwha and Gilnes Canyon Dams corralled these waters. Both have since been removed, and the restoration of the watershed has started.

The dam-removal project was the largest to date in the US—though it won’t hold that position for long. The Klamath River dam removal project has begun, with four of its six dams—J.C. Boyle, Copco No. 1, Copco No. 2, and Iron Gate—set to be scuppered by the end of the year, and the drawdown started this week. (In fact, Copco No. 2 is already gone.)

Once the project is complete, the Klamath will run from Oregon to northwestern California largely unimpeded, allowing sediment, organic matter, and its restive waters to flow freely downriver while fish like salmon, trout, and other migratory species leap and wriggle their way upstream to spawn.

Article with maps and photos: https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/01/the-largest-us-dam-removal-effort-to-date-has-begun/

With one down, Klamath dam removal proceeds on schedule

By Juliet Grable (Jefferson Public Radio); July 16, 2023 6 a.m. Updated: July 18, 2023 11:17 a.m

Removing the Copco 2 Dam takes deconstruction crews one step closer to drawdowns of the remaining three reservoirs next January.

The first of four hydroelectric dams along the Oregon-California border has been removed from the main stem of the Klamath River. All that remains of the dam known as Copco 2 in Siskiyou County, California, is the headworks of a diversion tunnel adjacent to the now free-flowing river.

“As little as a month ago, it was a 35-foot concrete dam that spanned the entire width of the Klamath River right there,” says Mark Bransom, CEO for the Klamath River Renewal Corporation, which is overseeing dam removal.

From a nearby overlook of red volcanic rock, an excavator looks like a child’s toy as it chips away at the remnants of the concrete wall that was embedded in the river.

When complete, the overall project will be the biggest dam removal in U.S. history and will reopen 400 miles of fish habitat that was cut off for more than a century.

Deconstruction activities on Copco 2 will continue until September. Getting this first dam out of the way takes deconstruction crews one step closer to drawdowns of the remaining three reservoirs next January.

More article and photos at: https://www.opb.org/article/2023/07/16/klamath-dam-removal-copco-2/