Dam Removal on the Klamath River: A Vision for the Lower Snake River

News stories have recently featured the largest dam removal project so far in the United States on the Klamath River. As a result, a 420-mile stretch of the Klamath will flow freely for the first time in more than a century, finally providing salmon "their best shot at long-term survival in the river." While these articles highlight the promise of dam removal on the Klamath River, there are many striking parallels to the lower Snake River.

Like the Klamath, four dams on the lower Snake River have choked its flows, ruined water quality, and fostered toxic algae blooms that often made the river unsafe for people, their pets, and for summer recreation. Most importantly, like in the Klamath River, salmon populations in the lower Snake River have declined dramatically, some by over 95 percent, since the dams on the lower Snake were built. Snake River coho salmon were completely wiped out from the river before being reintroduced by the Nez Perce Tribe.

The historic and well-planned removal of the Klamath River dams is nearly complete. And it offers excellent insight into how we can recover the salmon runs that are the vital link to a healthy ecosystem and how a river-and communities-heal.

• The release of sediment build-up above the dams in the Klamath was timed to do the least harm to salmon and other native species in the river.
• Flushing out the sediment will ultimately help the river recover faster and function as it should.
• The fish that died during the removal of the Klamath dams were largely nonnative.
• Chinook salmon, or king salmon, in the Klamath are predicted to increase by as much as 80 percent within the next three decades.
• The restoration of land inundated by the dams for over 100 years with native plant species is well underway. It is being led by Tribes and providing local jobs. Most importantly, it promises a restored riverine ecosystem, something that has occurred rapidly where other dams have been removed, such as on the Elwha River.

The Snake River Canyon on the Bridger-Teton National Forest at Cottonwood in the fall. Credit: Darin Martens/US Forest Service

Key takeaways from the dam removal project on the Klamath River are a reminder of the promise that dam removal offers on the lower Snake River.

• Removing the four lower Snake River dams would reconnect endangered salmon and steelhead to 5,000 miles of pristine, high-elevation habitat-increasing the Columbia River Basin's resiliency in the face of a warming climate, and providing salmon and steelhead with a real chance to recover to healthy and abundant populations.
• NOAA determined dam breaching is "essential" and a "centerpiece action" to recover Snake River salmon populations in its Rebuilding Interior Columbia Basin Salmon and Steelhead report. This would be our best chance to make good on obligations to NW Tribes.
• We can affordably, efficiently, and urgently replace the energy, transportation, and irrigation currently provided by the four lower Snake River dams to modernize this infrastructure, create new jobs, and restore a healthy river and its native fish populations.

The Columbia Basin Salmon agreement puts in place the process and planning to assure we will responsibly remove these dams and replace their services. With ongoing support from our elected leaders, we have a plan where abundant clean energy, a strong economy and salmon can co-exist.

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