Killing The Klamath River

[oc1]

Where we gon git all de e-lec-tricity we's used ta usin?
Will the kilowatt-hour price go up? Alternative sources?

Yeah, it's ironic how the hydro power is being trashed while the world looks for alternatives to fossil fuels.  When they started building hydro dams around the turn of the century there weren't so many people and having a couple of light bulbs in the house was a huge improvement in quality of life. 

[Bill B]

We have 2 dams in SoCal slated for removal.  I hope they are watching what's happening up north.


Malibu Creek Dam

https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=28459

Matilda Creek Dam

https://matilijadam.org/about/

[Keta]

The Malibu Creek Dam has been a useless POS for many decades, I will look into the other.

[Gfish]

Didn't know Steelhead were that far South. Heard about their range North increasing up in Alaska. My guess would be numbers/river, not so much new to a river system.

[whalebreath]

Didn't know Steelhead were that far South. Heard about their range North increasing up in Alaska.

Some say that apart from humans Rainbow Trout are The Most Prolific Invasive Species Planetwide.

[jurelometer]

Didn't know Steelhead were that far South. Heard about their range North increasing up in Alaska.

Some say that apart from humans Rainbow Trout are The Most Prolific Invasive Species Planetwide.

Steelhead are naturally occurring in Southern California.  With the increasing number of drought years and hotter summers, survival at this southern end of the their range doesn't look good.  As Greg noted, fishermen recognize a northward shift of some species on the USA West Coast, but don't know what the scientists think about all this, and whether this includes steelhead.

I would't use the term "most prolific invasive species" for Rainbow trout. Prolific refers to fertility and reproduction rate.  You might have  an argument for one of the more widely distributed invasive fish species, if we keep score by countries and not square miles. 

Here is where the scientists keep score:

https://www.iucngisd.org/gisd/

I counted something over 80 countries for introduced Rainbow Trout, but kinda doubt that they are going to be a big problem in places like French Polynesia.

-J

[jurelometer]

More good news: Now hundreds of spawners just a month or so after final dam removals.

https://apnews.com/article/klamath-dam-removal-salmon-spawning-4240169b4bfa327a6a67383ab536e971

I am relying mostly on scientific reports and national news media.  The local news media up there is mostly a source of toxic waste, making it impossible to get a reliable local perspective. While I am probably not in the same camp as Lee on the recovery program, I am appreciative of reading the firsthand observations from someone who lives there and knows the watershed.

If you believe the local tribes and the scientists, things are working out as good/better than projected at this stage. But they are also saying that it is still way too early to know much for sure.  And we are talking decades here, not a season or two.

Keeping my fingers crossed...

-J

[Keta]

I am pro recovery but not happy with what they did to the river below Irongate.  The lower 3 dams did not produce as much as the upper dam, JC Boyle, and it was a peaking dam with large daily swings in the surface elevation.  It had the only fish ladder of the 4 dams and had some redband trout (not stocker rainbow) but was infested with non indigenous bass, yellow perch, bullhead and I think some idiot put goldfish in it.  The river was diverted at the JC Boyle Dam into a canal and penstock to the powerhouse and less than 10% went in the river bed and down the canyon.  The canyon between the dam and powerhouse has several springs that cooled what little warm water they let "escape" to perfect temperature for redband trout.  It was a young persons spot to fish due to the deep and steep canyon walls but it was full of smallish, 18"-24", trout.  It is now filled with the river that exceeds 70° by July, but the fish can stack up at the springs.  Unfortunately stacking up will make them easy targets.

Getting rid of the dams was a good thing.

[foakes]

When I was much younger, and not very smart —- I would hunt bear around the North side of the Klamath.

In the afternoon, arounds Scott's Bar where I was camped —- I would fish for Steelhead and Salmon.

Last time up there was in '76.

Best, Fred

[Keta]

I usually hunted fully clothed, especially in Alaska.

[Keta]

I saw a drone video of salmon in the lower 200 yards of Spencer Creek, 50 yards of it being the former bottom of JC Boyle Reservoir.  It looked like several dozen fish stacked up below a section too shallow to pass over.  With the rain and melting snow they should be able to continue upstream but the water is cold now.  The lower few miles is good spawning habitat, the next several miles is soft bottom and marshy with willow lined banks, good rearing habitat as long as the water temperature is cool enough.  If they can get past the mid section there is several miles of good spawning habitat until they will be blocked by a culvert under a road that is not fish friendly.

[Swami805]

Matliha dam is up above Ojai, part of the Ventura river. I went to high school in Ojai in the early 70's and we'd go up there and do what high school kids do. Never fished that area, never looked fishy. It didn't hold much water and don't know why it was there. Good riddance

[Keta]

There was a minor high water event on the Klamath 12/29 that most likely moved silt downriver but I doubt the clay has not moved.   The Sprague River,  the main tributary of the Williamson River, is flooding but Upper Klamath Lake is buffering down Stream flow.