Worth Fighting For

Some of my happiest moments in life have been spent on beautiful rivers with my fly rod in hand. The Klamath, in northern California, is one of those places.

I landed my first steelhead on the Klamath on a trip with my college roommate more than 40 years ago. I’ve become a lifelong river advocate and steelhead junkie. I marvel at the intelligence of this fish, as well as the beauty of their habitat.

I remember landing a 12-pound female steelhead on a great northern river, looking eye-to-eye with her as I removed the fly, and then watching her swim away to complete her journey. At that moment, I felt completely connected to the place, the fish, and my sport. Rivers are special places where we can connect with ourselves and the creatures who occupy them.

Block chain

Dams on rivers have become a known threat to the survival of fish like salmon and steelhead. They block access to criticallyimportant upland watersheds, where spawning and rearing takes place. Dam removal is now on the agenda for recovery. In the last 10 years we’ve had the Elwha River dams removed in Olympic National Park, on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, and three dams taken off of the Rogue River, in Oregon. Magical fishery changes have happened since those dams were removed (although questions remain why so few chinook salmon are reaching the upper river).

Sadly, population declines are reality today for salmonids nearly everywhere they historically exist. Climate change, increased water diversions, poor water quality and high water temperatures are driving them to extinction. Dams make upstream migration of adults and downstream movement of young fish to the ocean nearly impossible.

History channel

Today in California only one major salmon river, the Smith, remains open from source to sea. More than 400 major dams impede the state’s other rivers. Historically, California was a major salmon and steelhead state. Two of the three most productive rivers in the U.S. were located there: the Sacramento/San Joaquin system, and the Klamath River. Only the Columbia/Snake system out-produced these giants.

In the past, the Klamath contributed more than one million spawning adults each year, but today we have only 20,000-40,000 spawners, 70 percent of which are of hatchery origin. A thriving commercial fishing industry existed along the pacific coastline of California, with an estimated 1,100 boats fishing salmon. That industry is all but gone today. In addition, salmon were the cultural center point of many Indigenous communities in all three Pacific coast states. The tribes along the Klamath—Karuk, Yurok, Klamath, and Hoopa—call themselves Salmon People because the fish are such a huge part of their life, culture, and history.

Diversion

1905 was the year the Klamath Basin Project was authorized—the year in which all of the historic changes began. The first delivery of water to agriculture was in 1907. 1917 marked the year that homesteads were authorized in the basin, and the Copco 1 dam was built in 1918 as the first in a sequence of power dams. 1925 saw Copco 2 become operational, and J.C. Boyle, the most upriver dam, was completed in 1958. The pulsing of flows for electricity generation made the river unsafe, so Iron Gate Dam was installed in 1962 to regulate flows. Federal and state law did not require fish passage. From 1917 to the present, anadromous fish had no access to the entire upper Klamath Basin, equating to more than 400 miles of lost spawning and rearing habitat. These projects completely destroyed the fishery.

Opportunity knocks

In 2005, the four dams of concern on the Klamath—Iron Gate, Copco 1, Copco 2, and J.C.Boyle (see map)— were up for relicensing under the Federal Power Act. The federal law says every 30 to 50 years dams must be relicensed and meet current standards of operation and environmental needs. The relicensing process allows the public and impacted citizens to be involved; it opened the door for dialogue on how the dams would operate. Starting in 2003, the Northern California Council, Federation of Fly Fishers (now Fly Fishers International) joined other parties in negotiations.

PacifiCorp, the company that operated the dams, was owned by Scottish Power. They they wanted to relicense the dams as they were. In 2005, Berkshire Hathaway, chaired by American business magnate Warren Buffet, purchased PacifiCorp. Importantly, updated environmental requirements now mandated fish passage—policy which provided opportunity to request dam removal as the best (and least costly) way to come into compliance. But PacifiCorp was against removal. The power company was not interested in removing their power generation facilities. A two year dialogue commenced.

Unalignment

The vision put forward by the NGOs and Tribes included a free-flowing river where fish could make it back into the 400-plus square miles of spawning and rearing habitat which had been blocked for more than 100 years. PacifiCorp did not share that vision. Our job was to convince PacifiCorp that the concept we laid out was the best alternative for them, their rate-payers and for all the other stakeholders involved, including four major Native American tribes.

Negotiations lasted for 20 years. Early on, PacifiCorp was resolute about keeping the dams. We spent untold time and resources evaluating what it would cost PacifiCorp to upgrade their system. Fish passage alone, we learned, would cost $350 million. Upgrading turbines and other infrastructure would cost tens of millions more. After innumerable discussions, the company was convinced they could not run the system in a profitable way and agreed to discuss dam removal. This moved us into a new reality where dam removal might be possible. Next was the question of lake sediment toxicity. We requested funding from the California Coastal Commission to evaluate sediment toxicity, and to our great relief, it was clean. That opened the door for more serious discussion to move our vision forward.

Murky waters

Besides sediment toxicity, another concern had always been available water flows for the river. In the early 1900s, the Bureau of Reclamation replumbed the entire Klamath basin, removing what was known as Lake Ewauna, a 94,000-acre marsh which emptied into Lower Klamath Lake.

This was the most prolific waterfowl and bird breeding area in the western U.S. The Bureau of Reclamation’s Klamath Project transformed the watershed so farming was made possible. That transformation altered water flows in the river forever.

Today, the Klamath Project still diverts much of the Klamath River for agricultural use in the basin. What’s left over goes down the river for fish, tribes and towns. Water flows can be restricted to agriculture to protect Endangered Species Act-listed fish: coho salmon, Lost River suckers and shortnosed suckers. The Klamath Project remains a significant source of conflict.

Two-pronged approach

In 2008 it was decided to develop two agreements, the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement (KBRA) and the Klamath Hydropower Settlement Agreement (KHSA). The KBRA was to focus on all the upper basin’s needs: electricity, water for agriculture, water storage, fishery needs in the upper basin (suckers) and the habitat restoration work required to provide better river flows. The KHSA was to focus on an agreement to remove the dams. In 2010, we reached a settlement on both, and the agreements were signed by all parties. The KHSA required PacifiCorp to contribute $200 million for the cost of removal, and California would pony up $250 million—$450 million in total.

The KBRA required federal funding support from Congressional legislation. For five years, the Republican Party blocked that legislation, resulting in the KBRA’s termination in 2015, leaving only the KHSA. The KBRA was renegotiated

in 2015 and an updated KHSA was signed. Dam removal would move forward, but without the supporting foundational agreements on water distribution outlined in the KBRA.

In 2015 the Klamath River Renewal Corporation (KRRC) was formed. The KRRC was created to take over ownership of the Klamath project and remove the dams. It will also oversee seven years of restoration work on the river after the dams are out.

Breaking point

In 2000 we were on the verge of a final settlement when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) transferred the license to operate the dams from PacifiCorp to KRRC. However, in violation of the KHSA agreement, the FERC kept PacifiCorp on the license. FERC was not convinced that the $450 million was enough to take out the dams. This led to PacifiCorp threatening to terminate the agreement. Months of negotiations began, and on a phone call with signatories, their lawyers explained how they faced too much liability during dam removal. An elder from the Karuk Tribe interrupted them.

“You are killing my people,” she said. “You’ve spent years talking about money and costs, all the while we’ve been patient and waiting. You’ve killed our fish, and you are killing our tribe.” She was in tears, but continued. “If you lost $200 million in liability it would be a drop in your bucket. Stop the liability talk and get on with agreeing to remove the dams. You are killing us!”

The partner NGOs, tribes and even the governors of Oregon and California then wrote letters to Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett, asking him directly to move forward on agreeing to dam removal. The possibility of large liability costs was small, we argued. Our pleas motivated Mr. Buffett to direct PacifiCorp to “get it finished.” PacifiCorp then committed to contribute an additional $25 million if California and Oregon would do the same, adding $75 million more to facilitate dam removal. FERC then transferred the license, without PacifiCorp.

Momentous moment

Today, a final Environmental Impact Report has been completed, and Clean Water Act certifications have been signed off on by both California and Oregon. On November 17, 2022, the license to operate the Klamath Project was surrendered to KRRC, the last significant action needed for dam removal to start in 2023. Dam removal is finally a reality. Copco 1 is scheduled to come out in 2023, and the other three dams will be removed by October 2024—the dream we envisioned so long ago has come to fruition.

Life long learnings

In the fight to save the Klamath River, we have learned many lessons, but three truisms rise above the rest. The first is that it takes dedicated people—people who care about the future enough that they’ll go through whatever it takes to accomplish what is initially thought to be impossible. Dedicated people can do almost anything that they set their minds to.

Secondly, as our stakeholders will attest, it’s important to never give up. Whenever a problem arose, those of of us working for dam removal were committed to finding a way forward. And we did. We made friends with perceived enemies, created bonds between tribal partners and other NGOs, and worked to better understand the needs of the other side. The goal was to return the river to its natural state and give the fish a chance to find their way to stability and health. We vowed we would do that, while addressing the needs of agriculture and others who required the water and river. We didn’t get all we wanted, but we’re hoping the fish get all they need. Time will tell. Finally, we learned that without advocacy, nothing gets done. Advocacy is activity that pushes others to think differently. Without that constant push, no change to the Klamath River would have transpired. We scrummed with media, provided community briefings, met with boards of supervisors, attended meetings, gave presentations, met with enemies, filed legal briefs, filled out regulatory-mandated reports, worked with federal and state agencies, scientists, politicians and lawyers. We traveled often and spent thousands of hours on the phone, writing emails, on FaceTime and Zoom. It was a labor of love, for our planet and this watershed. Constantly pushing was critical. I feel strongly that free flowing rivers are worth fighting for. When opportunities like the Klamath come along, don’t be afraid to step into the breach. Know that it will take time, energy and commitment, but that our collective future depends on finding better ways to manage the land and water we live on, and with. We owe it to future generations to find balance and harmony with the natural world.

Dr. Mark Rockwell

After retiring, Mark became VP of Conservation for the Northern California Council of FFI. Following his return from a lobby trip to D.C. on Snake River dam removal, he was invited to be the California Organizer of the Endangered Species Coalition, working to stop the Congressional effort to rewrite the ESA . He began working on Klamath River dam relicensing in 2003, signing the original KBRA & KHSA agreements in 2010, and the current revised KHSA in 2015. It’s been a 20 year collaborative effort to provide the opportunity for the Klamath to return to its historic greatness. Mark has been married 53 years and has 3 children.