Dam Removal on Klamath River has started

A small section of the Klamath River is free flowing for the first time in more than a century. The Copco Number 2 dam is the first of four dams being removed over the next year and a half on the river that spans the Oregon-California border. After the dams are gone, 400 miles of fish habitat will be reopened upstream. Mark Bransom is the executive director of the Klamath River Renewal Corporation, the non-profit managing the project. He says so far, crews are ahead of schedule.

“The idea is, look, let’s get this small diversion dam out the river before we initiate the drawdown so we don’t have this obstruction in the river and have to worry about bypassing the water and the sediment coming down from Boyle and Copco number 1.”

At about 35 feet tall, Copco number 2 was the smallest of the four dams. Reservoirs behind the remaining three will be drawn down starting early next year. Construction crews will start dismantling the cement and earthen dams in June.

Photo Courtesy of North Coast Journal