After over two decades of advocacy and planning, the four hydroelectric facilities on the Klamath River are being removed in 2023-2024. Some significant improvements to the river are expected. The presence and impacts of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) will be reduced. Native salmon and lamprey will have access to a nearly two-fold increase in accessible habitat area. Other responses to the changing river are less certain, such as how post-dam water quality and flow management impact the health of the food web, or how decision processes influencing river health intersect across different cultures.
As the basin moves beyond dam removal, this project aims to provide a forum where diverse perspectives on water quality and river health can be represented in making management decisions.
Diverse perspectives and ways of knowing the river. A major theme of this project is evaluating the different ways people who know the river understand its health. We are thus engaging multiple groups in the basin as participants in this project, with the Yurok Tribe as full partners. The Yurok traditional homelands are at the mouth of the Klamath River, and their economic livelihood and cultural identity have been closely associated with riverine and nearshore fisheries. The Tribe are both steering project direction and represent one of the ways of knowing we will document. Other groups whose understanding of river health will be surveyed include recreational outfitters, multi-generational water users, fishers, and conservationists.
Broader outreach and engagement. To reach a broader audience and share resources about the river, we are developing a podcast on the dam removals, establishing a summer internship program with Tribal youth and university students, hosting field trips to the Klamath, and developing undergraduate curriculum about the dam removals.
Science contributions. This project will 1) produce new food web models on interactions among streamflows, water quality, primary producers, and fish disease risk; 2) document how different groups with extended experience with the river understand the role of water quality in river health; and 3) develop and apply different models of decisionmaking to examine how assumptions and information influence decisions.
