KRRC Chief Executive Officer Mark Bransom recently sat down with The Dove to share an update on the Klamath dam removal project and to answer some frequently asked questions. Check it out!

We are often asked whether the KRRC project is intended to introduce salmon to new areas, or reintroduce them to their historic range. We recommend reviewing this recent article in the Capital Press:

“Salmon bones found in archeological sites in the Upper Basin at known Klamath Tribes fishing sites were analyzed. The samples ranged in age from post European contact to over 5,000 years old. DNA sequencing revealed the presence of both spring and fall chinook. This supports the assertion that not only did salmon make it to the Upper Klamath Basin, multiple seasonal runs made it.”

Read more here: www.capitalpress.com/opinion/columns/commentary-salmon-migrated-past-klamath-falls-before-dams/article_795b0546-004c-11ec-a5aa-6b3995b0048a.html ... See more

Recently, the San Francisco Business Times honored Laura Hazlett as one of the “Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business.” As the Chief Operations Officer and Chief Financial Officer (COO/CFO) for KRRC, Laura is a critical leader in the effort to carry out the largest dam removal and river restoration project in US history. Laura has blazed new territory in the field of environmental restoration. Physically restoring the Klamath River and bringing back salmon runs that hover on the edge of extinction is complex enough, but the fiscal, contracting, insurance and risk management issues associated with the effort are unprecedented in scope and complexity. KRRC is pleased that Laura has received this prestigious and well-deserved award. ... See more

“Is there evidence that Klamath salmon historically made it into southern Oregon?”

Indeed there is. A paper presented to the Oregon Historical Society is rich with such evidence, and includes this material: “In 1846, at what was to become Linkville and is now known as Klamath Falls, Oregon, western explorer John C. Frémont recorded that his party obtained salmon from one of the Indians, a chief. He thereby became the first known non-Indian to report salmon at the outlet of Upper Klamath Lake. Over the past century and a half, anadromous fish migrations have ceased entirely to reach the location where Frémont traded with the Klamaths for salmon, and in the Klamath River as a whole, migrations have declined dramatically. It is estimated that Klamath River migrations of fall- and spring-run Chinook salmon have been reduced by over 90 percent from those in the early twentieth century.”

A key goal of the KRRC project is to help bolster these sharply reduced fish runs. It is time to bring the salmon home again.

Read more at: klamathrenewal.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/16-08-23-Hampton-Oregon-historical-society-paper.pdf ... See more

The Ford Motor Company produced its first Model T on October 1, 1908. The Copco Dam was completed in 1921, when Ford was still building the Model T. The technology of automobiles and energy production has come a long way in the last century. Cars are far more efficient today and produce far less pollution. Likewise, utility providers have found ways to produce energy without fouling the water or decimating salmon runs. Removing the four Klamath Dams is good for the environment, for endangered species, for local communities, and for everyone who wants to see a revitalized river. Learn more at klamathrenewal.org. ... See more