AMERICAN NEWS Feb 28, 2024
Gavin Newsom dismantles dams to protect salmon, destroys their spawning beds in the process
The Klamath River is now full of destroyed salmon spawning beds and pollution including decomposed algae, organic deposition, chemicals, and fine silt which is killing its ecosystem.
Katie Daviscourt
Seattle WA
Feb 28, 2024
California Gov. Gavin Newsom backed the controversial proposal to remove four Klamath River hydroelectric dams along the California-Oregon border. Now, the same fish he swore to protect could be killed in the process.
The dams had been breached on claims that it would help salmon migrate, but the Klamath River is now full of destroyed spawning salmon beds and pollution including decomposed algae, organic deposition, chemicals, and fine silt which is killing its ecosystem, according to a report from the California Globe.
Additionally, dead endangered steelhead trout and other species have been rising to the surface of the Klamath River, and the river's conditions have made it unlikely for any juvenile salmon to survive.
Environmental organizations and tribal groups had been putting increasing pressure on Gov. Newsom to act to "save the salmon." Newsom caved to the pressure and devised a plan to tear down the dams that keep salmon from migrating back to streams to lay eggs. Activists blame the four dams as a cause of drastic declines in the fish population, specifically salmon that travel upstream to rivers to spawn.
https://thepostmillennial.com/gavin-newsom-dismantles-dams-to-protect-salmon-destroys-their-spawning-beds-in-the-process