That's exactly what was said. It'll clear once the ground is stabilized with vegetation. 18 months seems like plenty of time for exposed lakebed to regrow
die-off in the Klamath is unique in that it’s due a native parasite that thrives in the conditions that the impoundments create but climatic and water use factors also heavily impact the situation so there’s no guarantee removal will create timely change, but it’s the best shot we have
I think you’d be surprised with how quickly a river can restore itself when it has the opportunity. Various geomorphic and habitat features will naturally develop, and fish will be able to find pockets that are suitable.
It’s not exactly the same but the White Salmon had a dam removal.
https://www.opb.org/article/2021/10/16/with-condit-dam-removed-10-years-ago-hopes-have-flowed-with-the-restoration-of-the-white-salmon-river/
I don’t have a good link, but a good example are Washington rivers post mt st Helen’s. It seemed that ash would choke the river for generations, yet the ecosystems recovered remarkably quickly.
Not the same as a dam removal, but shows how river ecosystems are quite resilient
The Toutle River is definitely a different situation. The NF has the sediment retention structure (SRS) that is pretty much impassable to fish. The Army Corps is currently considering raising the SRS height because so much sediment is still coming off the volcano. Without the SRS, the sediment would actually "choke" the river for generations, but this isn't a detriment to fish- just the humans that live in the floodplain downstream (Toutle, Castle Rock, Longview).
The SF Toutle, which did not take the brunt of the eruption unlike the NF, has indeed turned into a great salmon-bearing river again, but it took 1-2 decades to stabilize. The intensive salvage operations (i.e. removal of all the wood that was dumped into the river/floodplain) carried out by Weyerhaeuser and WA DNR post-eruption definitely did not help floodplain recover and stabilize in a timely fashion.
Considering this is the largest dam removal in US history whatever happens in the next decade is historical. So no, there aren't any examples because this project is making history.
I covered the story all the way from the earliest project scoping letters and turbidity was always going to be an issue.
Sediments and gravels were always expected to shift and change in spits and spurts until the riverbed was fully established before it could successfully support a viable spawning ground.
Throughout the project, people blindly stated the shortest time as the actual time needed.
This lapse in realistic thought is so commonly observed in humans as to be a trope.
The clearest example is when an individual is seriously injured in some sort of calamity. The doctor says it will be at least a year before the person can begin physical therapy. The person begins telling people they will be fully healed in a year. Obviously that doesn't reflect reality, but the expectation is ingrained. When the person isn't fully recovered in the time they claimed over the unchanged recovery prognosis, claims of fault and failure abound.
Simply put, it's going to take the time it takes to recover. The Klamath river was seriously injured and is going to need a few years to recover from decades of repeated injuries.
I can't wait for all the shocked Pikachu memes when all the communities down steam get flooded because all the flood management has been removed. Especially in a time of massive climate change. There was a reason dams were built and it wasn't to harm fish.
Yeah and that reason sure wasn’t for flood control. They didn’t provide any flood mitigation for the river. It’s a long known fact that they produced hydropower and that was their only purpose
They weren’t built for flood control either, genius. Maybe take a look at the climate of the region and upstream and walk your comment back. There’s no communities to speak of either. Get your map out, find where these dams were, and then follow it down stream. How far did you have to go before you found a town? Yeah.
Most of these dams don't even have fish ladders. The goal wasnt to harm fish, but there is a language chasm between these dam's simply "harming fish" and "eliminating fish runs"
Deb Haaland talks about the project in her recent New Yorker profile as one of the biggest challenges she’s faced.
With the amount of sediment we’re seeing and die off in the river 18 months to a fully restored salmon run seems……..ambitious
Maybe I misunderstood, but I thought it was ~~12-18~~ 18-24 months for the water to clear up?
18-24 months was the estimate given in the video
That's exactly what was said. It'll clear once the ground is stabilized with vegetation. 18 months seems like plenty of time for exposed lakebed to regrow
die-off in the Klamath is unique in that it’s due a native parasite that thrives in the conditions that the impoundments create but climatic and water use factors also heavily impact the situation so there’s no guarantee removal will create timely change, but it’s the best shot we have
I think you’d be surprised with how quickly a river can restore itself when it has the opportunity. Various geomorphic and habitat features will naturally develop, and fish will be able to find pockets that are suitable.
Any historical examples of this successfully taking place on similar rivers with similar goals?
The Elwha River dam removal is another great example.
I remember they were shocked by how fast the Elwha discharged the sediment and Salmon showed up within months.
It’s not exactly the same but the White Salmon had a dam removal. https://www.opb.org/article/2021/10/16/with-condit-dam-removed-10-years-ago-hopes-have-flowed-with-the-restoration-of-the-white-salmon-river/
I don’t have a good link, but a good example are Washington rivers post mt st Helen’s. It seemed that ash would choke the river for generations, yet the ecosystems recovered remarkably quickly. Not the same as a dam removal, but shows how river ecosystems are quite resilient
The Toutle River is definitely a different situation. The NF has the sediment retention structure (SRS) that is pretty much impassable to fish. The Army Corps is currently considering raising the SRS height because so much sediment is still coming off the volcano. Without the SRS, the sediment would actually "choke" the river for generations, but this isn't a detriment to fish- just the humans that live in the floodplain downstream (Toutle, Castle Rock, Longview). The SF Toutle, which did not take the brunt of the eruption unlike the NF, has indeed turned into a great salmon-bearing river again, but it took 1-2 decades to stabilize. The intensive salvage operations (i.e. removal of all the wood that was dumped into the river/floodplain) carried out by Weyerhaeuser and WA DNR post-eruption definitely did not help floodplain recover and stabilize in a timely fashion.
The White Salmon River and the Elwha River both recovered remarkably quickly.
There were salmon going past the former Elwha dam sites right after dam demolition was completed. Nobody expected that
The Sandy River dam removal was successful.
Considering this is the largest dam removal in US history whatever happens in the next decade is historical. So no, there aren't any examples because this project is making history.
I covered the story all the way from the earliest project scoping letters and turbidity was always going to be an issue. Sediments and gravels were always expected to shift and change in spits and spurts until the riverbed was fully established before it could successfully support a viable spawning ground. Throughout the project, people blindly stated the shortest time as the actual time needed. This lapse in realistic thought is so commonly observed in humans as to be a trope. The clearest example is when an individual is seriously injured in some sort of calamity. The doctor says it will be at least a year before the person can begin physical therapy. The person begins telling people they will be fully healed in a year. Obviously that doesn't reflect reality, but the expectation is ingrained. When the person isn't fully recovered in the time they claimed over the unchanged recovery prognosis, claims of fault and failure abound. Simply put, it's going to take the time it takes to recover. The Klamath river was seriously injured and is going to need a few years to recover from decades of repeated injuries.
Nothing new they killed everything below Green Peter trying to "help" the fish
I like to think that future downstream floods will be blamed on climate change and not the fact that you removed the dam…. double winning
I can't wait for all the shocked Pikachu memes when all the communities down steam get flooded because all the flood management has been removed. Especially in a time of massive climate change. There was a reason dams were built and it wasn't to harm fish.
Yeah and that reason sure wasn’t for flood control. They didn’t provide any flood mitigation for the river. It’s a long known fact that they produced hydropower and that was their only purpose
Also, there is still a dam upriver/lake!
They weren’t built for flood control either, genius. Maybe take a look at the climate of the region and upstream and walk your comment back. There’s no communities to speak of either. Get your map out, find where these dams were, and then follow it down stream. How far did you have to go before you found a town? Yeah.
Most of these dams don't even have fish ladders. The goal wasnt to harm fish, but there is a language chasm between these dam's simply "harming fish" and "eliminating fish runs"