keep false hope out of dam issue klamath mausshardt expert dennis lynch 100915

Blasting four dams out of the Klamath River will improve water quality and better regulate stream temperatures, according to water experts.

At a three-day 2015 Oregon Lake Association Conference held last weekend, Dennis Lynch, associate regional director of the U.S. Geological Survey, said estimated costs for removing the four dams is just shy of $300 million in 2020 dollars.

Lynch, who has studied Upper Klamath Lake and the Klamath watershed for more than 20 years, provided opening remarks and a primer on the Klamath water settlements Saturday morning. The conference was held at the Klamath Yacht Club.

�I probably have the rare distinction of being the person who has spent more time under Upper Klamath Lake than anybody else on the planet,� Lynch said.

He also oversaw preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement and dozens of Klamath River federal studies related to developing a plan for dam removal, according to conference documents. Lynch�s work included determining the potential effects dam removal could have on the environment and local communities.

Lynch said a cycle of Basin-wide water-related �rotating crises� are what triggered the creation of a suite of agreements cemented in the Klamath Water Recovery and Economic Restoration Act, Senate Bill 133.

The bill encompasses the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement (KBRA) and the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement and the Upper Klamath Basin Comprehensive Agreement. The comprehensive bill aims to create a host of benefits for Basin stakeholders, including reintroducing salmon to the Basin�s upper reaches and improving riparian habitat by removing four dams � the J.C. Boyle, Iron Gate, Copco 1 and Copco 2 � from the Klamath River.

The four dams are owned and operated by PacifiCorp, the parent company of Pacific Power.

He noted that two endangered sucker species � Lost River and shortnose � inhabit Upper Klamath Lake and endangered coho salmon inhabit the Klamath River. The dams do not provide fish passage and more than 300 miles of spawning habitat has been cut off from salmon species since the early 20th century.

Scientists concluded about 13 million cubic yards of material is lodged behind the four dams, almost all of it fine grain, according to Lynch.

Lynch said instead of dragging the demolition on for three or four years and having blasts of sediment flowing downstream each year, scientists want to take all four dams down in a single year, so the pulses of sediment behind the dams only affect one cohort of fish.

�About half of it would likely transport downstream during the drawdown process. Because it�s so fine grain, almost all of it would end up in the ocean in the first year,� he said.

Scientists designed the water drawdown and dam removal to occur in winter to protect coho, which peak in the river system in late-September and early October.

Lynch said short-term impacts to coho will be minimal. Less than 10 percent mortality is expected for coho and fall and spring chinook, according to Lynch.

Dam removal expert: Do it in one year. Sediment is best washed out in winter by Lacey Jarrell, Herald and News 10/6/15

Dam removal expert: Do it in one year. Sediment is best washed out in winter
by Lacey Jarrell, Herald and News 10/6/15