After more than a century of dams blocking fish passage and altering river flows, it became clear that dams were contributing significantly to ecosystem and fish population collapse throughout the United States. New laws passed in the 1970s, such as the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act, helped to shift the discussion around managing natural resources to support native plants and wildlife while also maximizing beneficial uses for people.
Beginning in 1986, FERC mandated that dam management give equal consideration to fish and wildlife populations and habitat protection along with beneficial uses for people. Since that time, many old dams have been retrofitted to enable fish passage and flow management regimes have been updated to benefit wildlife with varying degrees of success. Even in dams with such retrofits in place, native fisheries often still struggle.
The FERC re-licensing process provides a platform to determine
whether a particular dam is doing more harm or good. Two of the five dams listed in the report are in the FERC process, the Klamath Dams (Iron Gate, Copco I and Copco II – being treated as one entity in the report) and Scott Dam. The remaining three dams were built for water storage and flood control but all are now obsolete.
Of course, even when dam removal is identified as the best path forward, the process is difficult and expensive. Sediment that builds up behind the dam, which can contain toxins like mercury, must be addressed. Water flows during the removal process must be managed to minimize harm to downstream habitat and to ensure that people and structures will be kept safe during and after removal. And the whole process takes time: once removal is identified as the best option, obtaining the necessary permits and funding, physically removing the dam, and restoring habitat can take years if not decades.
RESTORATION
Prospects of Dam Removal