Tag: dam removal
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Dammed hot: California’s regulated streams fail cold-water ecosystems
by Ann Willis, Ryan Peek, and Andrew L. Rypel Given the current drought, it’s no surprise that California’s dams are struggling to provide cool water habitats to support native freshwater ecosystems. But what if they were never able to support them under any conditions? New research shows how current stream management fails to provide the…
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Time to revisit economics of dam removal
By Sarah Null In California, we ask water managers to do the near-impossible task of managing rivers for both environmental and economic objectives, which are often at odds. Where we have repeatedly failed to stem or reverse environmental problems, environmental regulation can drive water management. California’s Bay Delta – a water source for 25 million…
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The UnDammed
Jeffrey F. Mount, Founding Director of the Center for Watershed Sciences, University of California – Davis I had the great pleasure of being up in the Olympic Peninsula for the Elwha Dam removal ceremonies a few weeks ago. With the Native American tribes singing songs to welcome the salmon back, and innumerable dignitaries pontificating and…
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Coho in Crisis, Part 2: Saving coho, saving salmon, restoring streams
By Peter Moyle In my last blog, I provided evidence that coho salmon were headed for extinction in California. Here I discuss why and what we can do about it. The over-riding cause of coho decline is 150 years of land abuse in fragile coastal watersheds. This abuse is from logging, farming, grazing, mining, urbanization,…
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Coho in Crisis, Part 1: The decline toward extinction in California
By Peter Moyle In case you hadn’t noticed, one of California’s most spectacular fish is leaving us. The coho salmon, silvery favorites of fishermen and essential components of our coastal rainforest ecosystems, are headed for extinction in the state. This projection was made abundantly clear, at least to me, in a recent (August 16) State…