The dams weren't taken down due to an ecological reason or to conservation reasons, it was only taken down due to the company's losing money. Doing the right thing for the completely wrong reasons.
We did this with the Elwha river in Washington. The Salmon returned, as did almost all the native species and the vital spawning grounds were restored. We have already proved that dam removal works, now all we have to do is save the fisheries
This doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Something is deeply wrong here with the logic and reasoning of dam removal. A dam is simply a tool for controlling water flow. It is in no way the fault of the dam that salmon stocks are down. It is water management, or the lack thereof, downriver that is the culprit. Too much water use, disparate water pricing between agricultural, industrial, and residential use. The never ending fights over water rights. These are the issues that must be addressed, which must include the needs of natural and commercial fish hatcheries. Removing a dam is pointless and takes away a valuable asset in water management and control. Foolish. (ps. duplicate post above)
So it has nothing to do with the environment, salmon, or the people that depend on the river, rather they are outdated and inefficient at producing electricity? That checks out.
Its a good start. But we need to somehow deal with all of the foreign commercial fishing boats, of the over harvesting that is done just outside of the international waters (12 miles) off our shores.
There are many reasons for the downfall of Chinook salmon, up and down the coast. Even in Alaska where dams do not exist. Let's look at the big picture.
You should look up Exclusive Economic Zone for starters, international treaties as well, then I'd love to see your "data" on the foreign overharvesting taking place of US shores.
Thank you for this story! I will be sharing it with my 5th graders tomorrow. They are following this project since I made them aware of the issue a few weeks ago we had a debate about whether the dams should be removed or not.
Um...kinda a moot point, given that the decision to remove the dams has already been made and the processes involved are already ongoing. What would have been more of a lesson to your 5th graders, IMO, is to debate the issue back when the decisions to remove the dams had not yet been made. That being said, I do applaud your bringing attention to the minds of our younger generations both the pros and cons, and the consequences, of what these types of major decisions entail. Critical thinking is not always a life skill taught in school these days.
😂Perhaps you should read up on the Klamath dam disaster. The removal results are an ecological disaster. All brought to you by crooked dems. Kids should know what happens when crooks are in charge.The California Globe.has been covering this. Utter destruction, death and fraud.
@@pilot41186 My comment deleted because the news story lied. Look at the California Globe newspaper online for results of what happened when they destroyed the Klamath dams. An Environ disaster.
I’ve fished the upper Klamath in all my videos and I can say it was the most beautiful place ever catching 20 trout watching fish eat on this river was amazing I love the Klamath river
This is an awesome story!! The State of Utah is looking at saving the Great Salt Lake, I hope that will happen! They also need to save the Bonneville Salt Flats since there is tons of salt being lost and not replaced naturally. We are our own worst enemy.
The main issue with the Great Salt Lake is the more than 1 million people that have moved to Utah in the past 20 years. Much of the water that used to feed into the Great Salt Lake is being diverted to supply water to this dramatic increase in population.
Yeah, there's something to be said for looking professional at work. I wouldn't wear dress shoes with sweats to work out at the gym, and I wouldn't wear tennies with a dress suit to my job on a national news show. There's also something to be said for norms.
I grew up in that area. There used to be far more rain fall and snow fall in the early 1980's. I have snowmobiled Northern Siskiyou County every month of the year in the early 80's. That will never happen again for decades.
The upper Klamath basin has been a hot spot for reduced precipitation recently. In effect, climate change has targeted this area. The conflict between farmers in the upper basin and biological needs will continue. Another aspect of the situation that doesn't get discussed.
God bless those who suffered from that dam, and all the other dams too. Water reservoirs can be built underground where evaporation isn’t an issue, also greenhouse gases from microbial organisms would be cut significantly.
I'm so grateful it finally came true the natives have been fighting for decades upon decades and generations upon generations to have that dam removed. I remember in 2002 when they shut off the water, and they killed thousands upon thousands of salmon , steelhead, and trout . I walked that river of death. All for greed . They need to shut down the salmon fisheries for a while until the population is at a substantial balance again.
65 were removed in 2022, 80 were removed in 2023. More are getting removed than installed. Potentially some 30,000 dams are past their prime and not doing much so about 1/3 of the current live dams might likely be on the chopping block eventually.
To be fair, my small supposedly progressive city in Maryland never asks us before destroying old trees that are healthy or diverting streams. It’s institutional culture. The management and bureaucratic class.
They say there was a time when salmon ran so thick you could cross the river and never touch bottom. The dam builders didn't care about the natives, in fact they did what they could, just like with the buffalo, to deny a native population of their main source of food. Maybe they're taking down the dams now for monetary reasons, but the chance now presents itself to restore a once bountiful river. I hope other projects will follow. Even places like the Salton Sea could spectacularly be turned into a healthy body of water if inlets and outlets could be connected to the Pacific. That would transform a whole section of the state into something productive rather than the wasteland we've let it become.
Lore... natives from Asia hunted to extinction and enslaved their enemies. They were not the benevolent people Howard Zinn portrays in Marxist history books
@@diyjeff1838 we need a healthy balance between the environment and power, including an upgrade to our outdated electric grid. Trump would provide none of that
@@lagodelbago democrats have done none of that. Infrastructure has completely been destroyed under democrat policies. Name one aspect of this country that has improved over the last 4 years.
Whatever the road to get here, this is encouraging news. Nature has the right to exist on its own terms, and for its own purposes. The proper role of human beings is to work in community with nature, not to master, plunder, exploit, and destroy.
Why did the dams start generating little power? That doesn't make sense. I've never heard that before. The amount of power a building generates isn't going to go down; the dams should generate the same amount of power the entire time.
Cost of upkeep to aging infrastructure does go up over time, so with a flat rate of energy generation and increasing rate of maintenance eventually they became economically unfeasible.
So true. It’s like the word “peruse” which means “to study intensely.” People use “peruse” as a synonym for “browse.” English is fast becoming a lost art.
After fifty five years I moved from California to Texas. When I crossed the Colorado River for the last time it looked like an open sewer. I never looked back.
Megatonnes of sediment builds up behind dams in few decades. Remove the dam and most of that will wash downstream, despite efforts to stabilize it with plants. It will smother spawning beds and do other damage, and while the river will-probably, eventually, mostly-clean itself, it only takes one year’s total failure to destroy a spawning run. Suggestion? Build one suction dredge that can be taken apart, transported by truck, and reassembled behind a dam scheduled for removal; we should be able to schedule dam removals so that one or two machines will do for all. Dredge most of the sediment out from behind the dam, and it will not be there to wash downstream. I don’t know where/how we dispose of all that, if it’s contaminated with agricultural and other chemicals-but then we don’t want to let that contaminate the downstream river bottom anyway. Where it is clean enough, it’s silt, very rich soil, and it could be sold to farmers or as a component of potting soil. There are no wastes, only un-utilized resources.
In the 40s the farmers started using ground water for crops and it was believed that the farmers would use too much water and there would not be enough water for humans and animals.How many people looked at the archived news to see what was happening around Klamath Falls before the dams the damns were built?
Salmon fry are released into most major CA salmon streams in order to assist their populations. Once the stream conditions have settled down, they will probably be planted by next year. Salmon fry are raised in hatcheries, often regulated/run by state fish & wildlife agencies, and are different from "farm raised" adult fish, which are often found in somewhat toxic environmental conditions, and are not supposed to be released into the wild.
Many of the dams in the Westren US were dumb from the start. Building dams for water storage and electricity is about a dumb as putting solar panels on land that can be used for Agriculture.
Nah they aren’t. The buildup of organic matter and anoxic conditions in reservoirs belches ungodly amounts of CO2 and methane into the atmosphere that would otherwise be deposited and sequestered in ocean floor sediments.
@dougadams9419 Not even close to the original numbers, but yeah, I get it. BTW, 90% of those 'domestic' buffalo are hybridized with cattle. Point is, we completely destroyed a way of life and means of survival for several cultures, just like we did with the salmon, yet some points are lost on others. BTW, I was just wondering how much of an uproar would be caused if we found out there were only 30,000 wild salmon left?
They said it was generating a very small amount of power and wasn’t cost effective. I’m not from the area but I assume had the dam been making money, the dam would still be there.
Upstream the newer more efficiently and better designed dams are doing their thing. The Klamath dam provides barely 1-2% of electricity and no water benefits for the surrounding community. With the dams gone...you'll have more natural land to enjoy nature.
@@Bardmusic66 Well a dam only has a shelf life of about 60 years. The new ones are more eco friendly but I’m sure at some point they’ll be phased out :). They are further inland and have less impact downstream. While removing all dams would be beneficial the ones closest to major rivers and oceans are priority removal due to the delicate nature at the water mouth. The salmon and trout that come into to spawn from the ocean and die only go so far into the head waters. And in the future dams may disappear altogether. There’s quite of bit of research going on with tidal energy and other forms of energy. The fact is energy makers want to make money. If they really wanted to be eco friendly or the government really wanted to look out for its’ citizens energy would be free in every home. Nikola Tesla gave us the blueprint for free energy. Perhaps even ancient societies did too…who knows. It was squashed for money making energy. At some point humanity needs to decide whether advancing itself is worth it or if money and power is worth it. Things could be made to last, the world could be in a better place but humanity must needs power and money so thus we plan obsolescence into everything.
The article didnr mentioned where the lost irrigation water and power generation will come from . The thousands living in the lake communiies are ruined.
Klamath produces like 1% of the electricity for the region. The aquifers generated by the dam actually didn't provide any irrigation or water for anyone. The reality is actually it's a money pit. And taking it down actually is less costly than maintaining it. They already built a new dam upstream that is more efficient.
There will still be irrigation water upstream for the Klamath basin. There was only a tiny amount of power coming from these dams, and the company switched to an alternate power source years ago. There are barely thousands (maybe hundreds) living in these lake communities. None of this was public land.... they all benefited from being near artificial lakes created by a PRIVATE company. The dam removal has been in well-known negotiations for over 15 years, and they've had many chances to sell or adapt. No one promised them a free private park for perpetuity, contrary to what they're crying to the media.
None of the "lake" communities even existed 100 years ago, while the communities of the native peoples indigenous to the Klamath River watershed existed for thousands of years prior to the dams being built. Do you really expect anyone to sympathize with the "lake" community folks when their "community" was built on the destruction of the communities of societies thousands of years older than theirs is returned to those indigenous peoples? Especially since those same indigenous tribes fought for decades, at tremendous expense, to have the dams (and lakes formed by the dams) to be removed, so as to restore their own communities? The "lake" communities had the same decades to fight against removal of the dams and the ruination of their relatively new-found "communities", and I have no doubt they did, at much expense to themselves. But in the end, it really wasn't about either the "lake" communities or the restoration of the salmon runs the tribes were culturally and sustenance dependent on. The decision to remove the dams was made by those who ran and maintained the dams (and the false lakes the dams formed) due entirely to economic reasons, based on federally mandated safety standards which would cost more to meet than the dams produced in revenue. There may have been, at some point in time, for the land owners of the "lake" communities to pool their collective resources and privitize the dams and the dams management, thereby retaining their entire way of life. Perhaps this option was explored, I don't know, but if so, I think it quickly became clear that a small group of landowners, even working collectively, and investing collectively, could in no way afford to either buy the dams, upgrade them to federal safety standards, and then keep them maintained. I'm truly sorry those land owners along the shorelines and surrounding areas of the false lakes are taking a beating, financially and otherwise, but the not-often-mentioned truth of the matter is that the decision to bring down the dams was made over a decade ago and it was made by the utility company that owns and operates the dams. What's taken so long to execute that decision after it was made is...how to do it with the least amount of damage to all concerned, and who will pay for the huge mess that bringing down the dams will leave behind. I have absolutely NO DOUBT that the input of the "lake" community was solicited and also no doubt their concerns were taken into account. Many, many different agencies were involved in deciding how to bring these dams down and input from all affected was considered before the process was arrived at. And yeah, there's gonna be a lotta hurt for a lotta folks and wildlife in the immediate aftermath. That has been recognized as unavoidable from the start. And yeah, it will create a media circus and a huge outcry from the "lake" community. This is the pain that is occurs when the mistakes of human hubris are corrected. I'm sorry, truly. But the river and all it's attendant environs will recover. And in a year or so, instead of being a "lake" community, you will be a "riverside" community, as you would have been, had the dams never been built in the first place.
@@jjrr2273 this is true, but I don’t live in Asia. There are some of the most advanced commercial vessels in the world complete with factory packaging ships right off of our shores.
No one really understands what their actions are going to do to damage the area. They are totally unaware of their actions. This totally sucks because it is more about irrational emotional beliefs vs logical reasons.
They didn’t care.
They didn’t give a dam.
They still don't
The dams weren't taken down due to an ecological reason or to conservation reasons, it was only taken down due to the company's losing money. Doing the right thing for the completely wrong reasons.
This 💯
Money talk the loudest. Its costs to demolish the dam. Let’s celebrate this anyway.
Still a victory, right?
That's false. It was native American fishing rights and its only happening because of a Yurok lawyer fighting hard for it.
@@Clark42EoC More like 28 dollars a pound rights
We did this with the Elwha river in Washington. The Salmon returned, as did almost all the native species and the vital spawning grounds were restored. We have already proved that dam removal works, now all we have to do is save the fisheries
That's wonderful.
It also raises water levels back to their natural levels.
This doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Something is deeply wrong here with the logic and reasoning of dam removal. A dam is simply a tool for controlling water flow. It is in no way the fault of the dam that salmon stocks are down. It is water management, or the lack thereof, downriver that is the culprit.
Too much water use, disparate water pricing between agricultural, industrial, and residential use. The never ending fights over water rights. These are the issues that must be addressed, which must include the needs of natural and commercial fish hatcheries.
Removing a dam is pointless and takes away a valuable asset in water management and control. Foolish.
(ps. duplicate post above)
How long did it take to restore the salmon population?
That is absolutely brilliant. I hope this one can also be a huge success.👏🏼
So it has nothing to do with the environment, salmon, or the people that depend on the river, rather they are outdated and inefficient at producing electricity? That checks out.
59% of Canada's power comes from hydroelectric power.
Its a good start. But we need to somehow deal with all of the foreign commercial fishing boats, of the over harvesting that is done just outside of the international waters (12 miles) off our shores.
There are many reasons for the downfall of Chinook salmon, up and down the coast. Even in Alaska where dams do not exist. Let's look at the big picture.
You should look up Exclusive Economic Zone for starters, international treaties as well, then I'd love to see your "data" on the foreign overharvesting taking place of US shores.
@@davidsalo8397 I think that was the point.
Sea Shepard to the rescue
Thank you for this story! I will be sharing it with my 5th graders tomorrow. They are following this project since I made them aware of the issue a few weeks ago we had a debate about whether the dams should be removed or not.
They posted this story on the internet to generate revenue. CBS News is profit driven media.
Um...kinda a moot point, given that the decision to remove the dams has already been made and the processes involved are already ongoing. What would have been more of a lesson to your 5th graders, IMO, is to debate the issue back when the decisions to remove the dams had not yet been made. That being said, I do applaud your bringing attention to the minds of our younger generations both the pros and cons, and the consequences, of what these types of major decisions entail. Critical thinking is not always a life skill taught in school these days.
😂Perhaps you should read up on the Klamath dam disaster. The removal results are an ecological disaster. All brought to you by crooked dems. Kids should know what happens when crooks are in charge.The California Globe.has been covering this. Utter destruction, death and fraud.
Proof teachers are flawed
@@pilot41186 My comment deleted because the news story lied. Look at the California Globe newspaper online for results of what happened when they destroyed the Klamath dams. An Environ disaster.
Thank You for all of your hard work. I'm so happy for you that it's finally happening.I wish you many years to enjoy the river you rescued.
Thank You Leif ❤
Business suit with tennis shoes…..
I bet you’re the type to have a disgusted look on your face and stare at someone for way too long because they have blue hair🤣
Nope. Sure you want to look good on camera…least he wasn’t wearing black knee-high socks and sandals.
@@IanCthrwd I’m sure if he looked unprofessional, someone would’ve told him before going in front of the camera.
Yes! The best is yet to come! Good reporting.
Kia Ora & Good Afternoon from Unsworth Heights, North Shore, Auckland, New Zealand ... Another Great Video Bro.
I’ve fished the upper Klamath in all my videos and I can say it was the most beautiful place ever catching 20 trout watching fish eat on this river was amazing I love the Klamath river
Tennis shoes ?
Tennis shoes are a thing, believe it or not😮
Thank God. Been wishing for this for decades.
This is so wonderful.
It's about time
"They would have known that had they asked us. But nobody asked us." May the salmon thrive once again. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
That's a big dam job.
I had a big dam job this morning.
It must have been all that fiber I had yesterday.
This is an awesome story!!
The State of Utah is looking at saving the Great Salt Lake, I hope that will happen! They also need to save the Bonneville Salt Flats since there is tons of salt being lost and not replaced naturally.
We are our own worst enemy.
The main issue with the Great Salt Lake is the more than 1 million people that have moved to Utah in the past 20 years. Much of the water that used to feed into the Great Salt Lake is being diverted to supply water to this dramatic increase in population.
Hydroelectricity is the cleanest and most affordable form of power in the world.
I guess we need to tear out all the dams and burn more coal.
Not
Thank God
Yeah Salmon $28 dollars a pound
what does that guy have to do with it?
Thank you Native people!
Power to the people!
Put on some dam dress shoes at work, Chad. Those sneakers look like you’ve been living in a van down by the Klamath.
Someone’s choice of shoes has really affected you. You need a hug?
Did someone say free hugs?! Count me in
Yeah, there's something to be said for looking professional at work. I wouldn't wear dress shoes with sweats to work out at the gym, and I wouldn't wear tennies with a dress suit to my job on a national news show.
There's also something to be said for norms.
@@mmca2622 it’s just a pair of shoes…
@@AAAAAAHHHHHHHH1 No, it's not. It's a pair of sport shoes in a professional work place. Appearances matter.
I grew up in that area. There used to be far more rain fall and snow fall in the early 1980's. I have snowmobiled Northern Siskiyou County every month of the year in the early 80's. That will never happen again for decades.
The upper Klamath basin has been a hot spot for reduced precipitation recently. In effect, climate change has targeted this area. The conflict between farmers in the upper basin and biological needs will continue. Another aspect of the situation that doesn't get discussed.
God bless those who suffered from that dam, and all the other dams too. Water reservoirs can be built underground where evaporation isn’t an issue, also greenhouse gases from microbial organisms would be cut significantly.
Please bring down the price of sushi. I love salmon
Go Fish.
Salmon sushi is my favorite. Yummy.
I'm so grateful it finally came true the natives have been fighting for decades upon decades and generations upon generations to have that dam removed. I remember in 2002 when they shut off the water, and they killed thousands upon thousands of salmon , steelhead, and trout . I walked that river of death. All for greed . They need to shut down the salmon fisheries for a while until the population is at a substantial balance again.
Good! Live in harmony with nature!
Klamath Lake has farming lobby runoff making it unsafe to swim in. That’s what’s coming down the river.
He said their best days are ahead of them....❤❤❤😊. ... FAITH HOPE LOVE
More dams need to be removed, especially in the PNW.
65 were removed in 2022, 80 were removed in 2023. More are getting removed than installed. Potentially some 30,000 dams are past their prime and not doing much so about 1/3 of the current live dams might likely be on the chopping block eventually.
exactly! we need more coal plants out here!
Great to see them undo the problems they created
To be fair, my small supposedly progressive city in Maryland never asks us before destroying old trees that are healthy or diverting streams. It’s institutional culture. The management and bureaucratic class.
the utility company was done with the four dams and were smart to get others to think it was their idea and made the rate payers pay $ 500 million.
A good story!
They say there was a time when salmon ran so thick you could cross the river and never touch bottom. The dam builders didn't care about the natives, in fact they did what they could, just like with the buffalo, to deny a native population of their main source of food. Maybe they're taking down the dams now for monetary reasons, but the chance now presents itself to restore a once bountiful river. I hope other projects will follow. Even places like the Salton Sea could spectacularly be turned into a healthy body of water if inlets and outlets could be connected to the Pacific. That would transform a whole section of the state into something productive rather than the wasteland we've let it become.
Lore... natives from Asia hunted to extinction and enslaved their enemies. They were not the benevolent people Howard Zinn portrays in Marxist history books
The rivers are the arteries of the planet and we’re clogging them
TRULY AND TOTALLY!!! Make America great again and give the land back to the people.
Which people?
If that is in reference to Trump, he wants to build more dams not tear them down.
@@lagodelbago hydroelectric damns are the best forms of generating clean power. Trump sounds smart.
@@diyjeff1838 we need a healthy balance between the environment and power, including an upgrade to our outdated electric grid. Trump would provide none of that
@@lagodelbago democrats have done none of that. Infrastructure has completely been destroyed under democrat policies. Name one aspect of this country that has improved over the last 4 years.
Glad they got their river back
That's the best news here in my life time Thank you America
Amazing
What does it mean for the flooding issues? Costs alot to put back.
Is that news cast person actually wearing sneakers with a suit? What a clown.
not really. why destroy an expensive pair of shoes?
Whatever the road to get here, this is encouraging news. Nature has the right to exist on its own terms, and for its own purposes. The proper role of human beings is to work in community with nature, not to master, plunder, exploit, and destroy.
"Soooo is this a damn damn or a god damn" - Beavis
Building and removing, both cost plenty. In the end, better to leave nature alone.
Yea let’s not ever build anything….
Why did the dams start generating little power? That doesn't make sense. I've never heard that before. The amount of power a building generates isn't going to go down; the dams should generate the same amount of power the entire time.
Cost of upkeep to aging infrastructure does go up over time, so with a flat rate of energy generation and increasing rate of maintenance eventually they became economically unfeasible.
Good on them for making it right
They are ZFG for 'doing right' they are 100% profit driven
Do Asian countries have any limitations or regulations on fishing? Maybe it's not the dam that is the problem.
Of course, Japan and S. Korea have it But China is in a fishing dispute with all countries facing its coastal borders
And the fish runs are dropping every year. To the point those fish will likely be functionally extinct...
@@thedivide3688 Not figuring in the "energy plant" disaster a few years ago. No one seems to want to talk about that.
Chinese dams have driven some species to extinction. Not necessarily the model country for environmental management!
The dams are not the problem. This whole thing is gaslighting.
Imagine how it would look in 50 years. Nature will clam back those effected areas
It's a dam shame they didn't listen but it makes for good dam story
Thank Goodness!! 🙌
What an awesome story to hear! Thank you so much for fighting that fight.
Each One Teach One🌎
Amazing to see. This is great.
Great story that I hope ends well.
Quit using decimated incorrectly!...unless its only reduced by 10% (Long Live The Klamath!!!)
So true. It’s like the word “peruse” which means “to study intensely.”
People use “peruse” as a synonym for “browse.”
English is fast becoming a lost art.
It will take a while for all the sediment build up to be flushed out, but restoration will happen eventually.
If we give this part of earth back to Mother, she'll fix it.
It has taken decades, but man can correct his mistake.
Do your part, stop eating fish
@@markdorman52 I don't eat seafood.
I love the weather
Thats awesome bringing back wildlife ❤❤
AMAZING story. And one of the best places to white water raft as well.
How disrespectful!!
Make America have Great Dad's again
Best wishes for the people who are dependent on the river and the surrounding area of it! This Earth 🌎 Day they can celebrate!
If water is still being diverted to farms, then won't the river still be at lower capacity?
After fifty five years I moved from California to Texas. When I crossed the Colorado River for the last time it looked like an open sewer. I never looked back.
They did not show any pictures of the massive amounts of silt that have been released, which have smother the river bottom and banks. Why not?
Irrelevant. Nature will take care of our ignorance
Damn...
Now just get rid of the hoover dam
Megatonnes of sediment builds up behind dams in few decades. Remove the dam and most of that will wash downstream, despite efforts to stabilize it with plants. It will smother spawning beds and do other damage, and while the river will-probably, eventually, mostly-clean itself, it only takes one year’s total failure to destroy a spawning run. Suggestion?
Build one suction dredge that can be taken apart, transported by truck, and reassembled behind a dam scheduled for removal; we should be able to schedule dam removals so that one or two machines will do for all. Dredge most of the sediment out from behind the dam, and it will not be there to wash downstream. I don’t know where/how we dispose of all that, if it’s contaminated with agricultural and other chemicals-but then we don’t want to let that contaminate the downstream river bottom anyway. Where it is clean enough, it’s silt, very rich soil, and it could be sold to farmers or as a component of potting soil.
There are no wastes, only un-utilized resources.
This turned into a disaster, did not accomplished the results predicted by our smart managers.
“We believe it may be the largest damn removal…”
Damn, they’re right… that’s a large removal.
Thank the Yurok tribe.
TRANSLATION fishing industry need twenty dollar a pound Salmon
Electricity is just a bonus. The dams were built for flood control.
You have it backwards Russell! It's the other way around, trust me, I live there and have worked on those dams for many years!😅
There are few people that live in the floodplain on the Klamath River downstream. No cities are at risk of flooding. Faulty argument.
As has been already stated- those dams were not used for water management.
In the 40s the farmers started using ground water for crops and it was believed that the farmers would use too much water and there would not be enough water for humans and animals.How many people looked at the archived news to see what was happening around Klamath Falls before the dams the damns were built?
Where can I get some dam bait???
Great News!
Why don’t you restock them? Add more babies to the river
Farm raised fish seem to react to the wild different than wild fish. In otherwords, farm raised fish to restock the rivers is a bad idea
@@jojopuppyfish nah, you add them as babies. There will be no diff
Salmon fry are released into most major CA salmon streams in order to assist their populations. Once the stream conditions have settled down, they will probably be planted by next year. Salmon fry are raised in hatcheries, often regulated/run by state fish & wildlife agencies, and are different from "farm raised" adult fish, which are often found in somewhat toxic environmental conditions, and are not supposed to be released into the wild.
"Climate Watch?'"....... Like watching snow melt
What an ironic choice of words! XD
Many of the dams in the Westren US were dumb from the start. Building dams for water storage and electricity is about a dumb as putting solar panels on land that can be used for Agriculture.
But hydro electricity is green energy, built by FDR ADMINISTRATION
Geothermal is also green renewable energy.
Yes but they have been all silted up reducing their ability to produce electricity
I’m confused what your point is?
It’s not green energy if salmon are dying
Nah they aren’t. The buildup of organic matter and anoxic conditions in reservoirs belches ungodly amounts of CO2 and methane into the atmosphere that would otherwise be deposited and sequestered in ocean floor sediments.
very good!
Now how about bringing back the buffalo as well?
@dougadams9419 Not even close to the original numbers, but yeah, I get it. BTW, 90% of those 'domestic' buffalo are hybridized with cattle.
Point is, we completely destroyed a way of life and means of survival for several cultures, just like we did with the salmon, yet some points are lost on others.
BTW, I was just wondering how much of an uproar would be caused if we found out there were only 30,000 wild salmon left?
So when the lights go out they'll wish they had the dams back.
The lake will now go away. Also does the damn not provide electricity? I'm not familiar with the area, just wondering.
They said it was generating a very small amount of power and wasn’t cost effective. I’m not from the area but I assume had the dam been making money, the dam would still be there.
Upstream the newer more efficiently and better designed dams are doing their thing. The Klamath dam provides barely 1-2% of electricity and no water benefits for the surrounding community. With the dams gone...you'll have more natural land to enjoy nature.
@@thedivide3688 and to my point, are there plans to remove the efficient dams upstream? I don’t know I’m genuinely asking.
@@Bardmusic66 Well a dam only has a shelf life of about 60 years. The new ones are more eco friendly but I’m sure at some point they’ll be phased out :). They are further inland and have less impact downstream. While removing all dams would be beneficial the ones closest to major rivers and oceans are priority removal due to the delicate nature at the water mouth. The salmon and trout that come into to spawn from the ocean and die only go so far into the head waters. And in the future dams may disappear altogether. There’s quite of bit of research going on with tidal energy and other forms of energy. The fact is energy makers want to make money. If they really wanted to be eco friendly or the government really wanted to look out for its’ citizens energy would be free in every home. Nikola Tesla gave us the blueprint for free energy. Perhaps even ancient societies did too…who knows. It was squashed for money making energy. At some point humanity needs to decide whether advancing itself is worth it or if money and power is worth it. Things could be made to last, the world could be in a better place but humanity must needs power and money so thus we plan obsolescence into everything.
The article didnr mentioned where the lost irrigation water and power generation
will come from . The thousands living in the lake communiies are ruined.
Klamath produces like 1% of the electricity for the region. The aquifers generated by the dam actually didn't provide any irrigation or water for anyone. The reality is actually it's a money pit. And taking it down actually is less costly than maintaining it. They already built a new dam upstream that is more efficient.
@@thedivide3688good info I thought they were getting rid of a water source
There will still be irrigation water upstream for the Klamath basin. There was only a tiny amount of power coming from these dams, and the company switched to an alternate power source years ago. There are barely thousands (maybe hundreds) living in these lake communities. None of this was public land.... they all benefited from being near artificial lakes created by a PRIVATE company. The dam removal has been in well-known negotiations for over 15 years, and they've had many chances to sell or adapt. No one promised them a free private park for perpetuity, contrary to what they're crying to the media.
None of the "lake" communities even existed 100 years ago, while the communities of the native peoples indigenous to the Klamath River watershed existed for thousands of years prior to the dams being built. Do you really expect anyone to sympathize with the "lake" community folks when their "community" was built on the destruction of the communities of societies thousands of years older than theirs is returned to those indigenous peoples? Especially since those same indigenous tribes fought for decades, at tremendous expense, to have the dams (and lakes formed by the dams) to be removed, so as to restore their own communities? The "lake" communities had the same decades to fight against removal of the dams and the ruination of their relatively new-found "communities", and I have no doubt they did, at much expense to themselves. But in the end, it really wasn't about either the "lake" communities or the restoration of the salmon runs the tribes were culturally and sustenance dependent on. The decision to remove the dams was made by those who ran and maintained the dams (and the false lakes the dams formed) due entirely to economic reasons, based on federally mandated safety standards which would cost more to meet than the dams produced in revenue. There may have been, at some point in time, for the land owners of the "lake" communities to pool their collective resources and privitize the dams and the dams management, thereby retaining their entire way of life. Perhaps this option was explored, I don't know, but if so, I think it quickly became clear that a small group of landowners, even working collectively, and investing collectively, could in no way afford to either buy the dams, upgrade them to federal safety standards, and then keep them maintained.
I'm truly sorry those land owners along the shorelines and surrounding areas of the false lakes are taking a beating, financially and otherwise, but the not-often-mentioned truth of the matter is that the decision to bring down the dams was made over a decade ago and it was made by the utility company that owns and operates the dams. What's taken so long to execute that decision after it was made is...how to do it with the least amount of damage to all concerned, and who will pay for the huge mess that bringing down the dams will leave behind. I have absolutely NO DOUBT that the input of the "lake" community was solicited and also no doubt their concerns were taken into account. Many, many different agencies were involved in deciding how to bring these dams down and input from all affected was considered before the process was arrived at. And yeah, there's gonna be a lotta hurt for a lotta folks and wildlife in the immediate aftermath. That has been recognized as unavoidable from the start. And yeah, it will create a media circus and a huge outcry from the "lake" community.
This is the pain that is occurs when the mistakes of human hubris are corrected. I'm sorry, truly. But the river and all it's attendant environs will recover. And in a year or so, instead of being a "lake" community, you will be a "riverside" community, as you would have been, had the dams never been built in the first place.
Sadly they don't care.
Take the gym shoes off you DB.
Now, to protect those salmon from Asia-based commercial fishing, which have zero catch limits.
Stop buying the product - the market ALWAYS has the last word
@@jjrr2273 this is true, but I don’t live in Asia. There are some of the most advanced commercial vessels in the world complete with factory packaging ships right off of our shores.
It will work until California redirects the water to southern California instead of the Pacific.
For whatever reason this is being done, it is a start. Bring back habitat for ALL of Nature.
Restoration of the Intended flow!
sucks that it was the fact that they were no longer making money that inspired this. humans man...
And then the beavers arrive and block the river again.....
Beavers don’t build permanent structures, and they certainly don’t build them across major waterways.
Nature has rules
Hope for the best.
The rivers will never be the same. If and when you take the Dam down. There is yo much silt being held by the dam.😮
Geothermal on Oregon's volcanic Cascade Mountains would substitute for the dams.
How things used to be. WOAH
What's this have to do with Climate Watch?
About time, clean that river up and get the fish running again, as they should
No one really understands what their actions are going to do to damage the area. They are totally unaware of their actions. This totally sucks because it is more about irrational emotional beliefs vs logical reasons.
What is going to damage the area?
I hope there's a lot of follow up videos on many different channels about this. Un DAMN all of these rivers. It's just the right thing to do.