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Details of the
proposed Hart Bypass
By LEE JUILLERAT
H&N Regional Editor
November
25, 2008
Siskiyou
County officials think
alternatives to dam removal
should be considered,
including a 12-mile fish
bypass that would follow
existing streams from below
Iron Gate dam and connect
with Copco Lake.
It
would require building a short
canal between two of the
streams.
The
plan, called the Hart Bypass, is
in a congressional briefing
paper, “Solutions and
Alternatives for
the Klamath River”, issued by
the county in August. It would
allow fish to bypass the
Irongate, Copco 1 and Copco 2
dams. The fourth dam in the
proposed agreement is J.C. Boyle
in Klamath County.
Other
alternatives
The paper also details
other alternatives.
For cold-water
fisheries, the paper says
propagation alternatives, such
as those used in Alaska, have
been
ignored. It also urges further
study of transporting, or
trucking, smolts (young salmon).
Further study of fish diseases
and fish populations also is
needed, county officials said.
“Despite press reports
to the contrary,” the paper says
of a 2004 National Research
Council Committee report, “we
have nothing that would indicate
that a dramatic increase in
salmon and steelhead
populations will occur following
the removal of the dams.”
Siskiyou
County officials also think
other issues need to be
considered, such as developing a
water storage project at Long
Lake in Klamath County and the
potential impact on fisheries if
an estimated 20 million cubic
yards of sediment behind the
four dams is released.
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