YREKA - Iron Gate Dam rises 173 feet above the icy blue Klamath River, a hulking mass of red rock that could become the first major monument to fall in a campaign to undo a century-long effort to tame Northern California's wild rivers.

At Iron Gate, the surrounding Siskiyou landscape just below the Oregon border is spare, the blasts of wind blowing across the reservoir are bone-chilling, and below the dam, millions of fingerlings are growing in a hatchery built to replenish dwindling salmon runs.

Iron Gate's wintertime isolation, however, is just a reprieve from a gathering environmental storm that by spring could sweep through North Coast communities and the vast vineyards across Wine Country.

The dam, built 44 years ago to regulate flows on the Klamath, is the biggest target yet of a national movement to remove dams with the goal of restoring wild fish runs. The outcome could influence the future of dams and man-made diversions along the Eel and Russian rivers straddling Sonoma and Mendocino counties.

"If Iron Gate comes down, the effects will be far-reaching," said Pam Jeane, deputy chief engineer of operations for the Sonoma County Water Agency.

The decision could ripple down the Russian River system, encouraging the same kind of environmental scrutiny of projects created over a 100-year span to provide extra water for agriculture and growth from Ukiah to Santa Rosa.

The time to decide Iron Gate's fate is fast approaching, with regulatory review, congressional action and an unprecedented push from local political leaders, environmentalists and Indian tribes. It's being closely watched as the test case that could lead to razing more hydroelectric and flood-control dams across Northern California.

Classic water war

All the elements of a classic Western water conflict have emerged: endangered and threatened fish species, the needs of four tribes that consider the river and its salmon sacred, downstream fishermen dependent on salmon for their livelihoods, and upstream farmers who rely on hydroelectric power to run their irrigation pumps and on the dam to store water.

For leaders of tribes that have fished salmon along the Klamath for thousands of years, dam removal is critical to efforts to restore the overall health of an ecosystem that's the size of a small state.

"If the dams don't come down, we face the extinction of a fishery vital to our culture since time immemorial," said Ron Reed, a Karuk fisherman and tribal biologist.

But some Siskiyou County political and agricultural leaders, and residents who live near the popular reservoirs behind the dams, are fighting back.

Siskiyou County Supervisor Marcia Armstrong said she's worried about losing $750,000 in annual tax revenue from the power-producing dams. Armstrong also said hundreds of property owners along the Klamath fear plummeting land values if the dams are removed and reservoirs drained.

Bob Davis, a retiree who has lived 25 years overlooking the Copco reservoir upstream from Iron Gate, said the region is a fishing and wildlife paradise. "If the dams go, that's gone," he said.

Other critics believe science doesn't support the dam removal push.

"There's no compelling data or studies to demonstrate that dam removal is the best answer to assist in the recovery of fish," Armstrong said.

In winter months, the fish hatchery below Iron Gate rears 6 million Klamath king salmon yearlings in an attempt to replace the fish that once migrated freely.

Iron Gate is the first in a string of dams that corral a 60-mile stretch of the upper Klamath River that originates in southern Oregon. It's one of six power-producing dams constructed between 1908 and 1962 as part of the federal Klamath River Project to provide water and power for a 250,000-acre swath of rich farmland along the California-Oregon border.

Before the dams, wild fish including chinook, coho and silver salmon had access to 600 more miles of upstream habitat.

License up for renewal

Iron Gate's 50-year federal license to generate power is up for renewal, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is under mounting pressure to deny the application from PacifiCorp, the Oregon utility that runs the dam and is owned by billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

A determination could come as early as this spring, when the agency concludes hearings on whether to relicense Iron Gate for power production, demand PacifiCorp spend up to $200 million on a "truck and haul" program to get spawning salmon around Iron Gate and the three other Klamath dams, or tear them down.

Even politicians in Humboldt County, where the Klamath flows into the Pacific, are calling for the dam to be torn down, a position that would have been unthinkable a decade ago.

Humboldt County Supervisor Jill Geist, who described the dams as "archaic," called for their removal following a mid-November federal hearing in Eureka that attracted a standing-room-only crowd of more than 350. There was no expressed opposition to tearing down the dams.

However, supervisors in Siskiyou County want to keep the dams intact. And PacifiCorp says the push to tear the dams down could bring more downstream environmental harm than good with the release of tons of built-up sediment.

There would be lost hydroelectric power production, enough for 70,000 homes. But it's a fraction of PacifiCorp's overall electrical output and could be replaced by a gas-fired power plant the company is considering for the region.

Similar issues swirl around water supplies and power generation facilities in Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake counties.

The implications for regional water users flow all the way from two water supply dams on the upper reaches of the Eel River -- Van Arsdale Dam in Mendocino County where water is diverted through a mile-long tunnel into the Russian River; and Scott Dam, which forms Lake Pillsbury in Lake County.

Environmental groups, North Coast fishing interests and the Round Valley and Yurok tribes are behind a Klamath-style campaign to remove the two upstream dams so historic salmon spawning grounds can be restored.

If that were to occur, Russian River flows could be dramatically reduced, creating a ripple effect that could curtail water supplies from Ukiah to Healdsburg, Santa Rosa, Petaluma and Marin County.

That shortfall, in turn, could further intensify the competition for Russian River water to sustain fisheries, benefit agriculture and fuel development.

The 'Klamath factor'

Mendocino County water users, who have limited Russian River rights, are also wary of the "Klamath factor."

"Right now, the Klamath issues seem far removed from us. But it's only a matter of time," said Mendocino County Supervisor Mike Delbar.

Delbar said while the political, cultural and environmental dynamics surrounding the Klamath, Eel and Russian river watersheds may differ, the potential precedent of removing Iron Gate and the other dams is troubling.

"We don't want to go there," Delbar said.

Common issues in the dam debates involving the Klamath, Eel and Russian rivers include declining fish populations, local fishing interests who depend on the salmon for their livelihoods, Indian tribes that rely on the fish as both food and tradition, and stepped up regulatory efforts to ensure water quality.

The Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations -- the West Coast's biggest fishing group -- has joined the take-the-dams-down campaign. Joining the Klamath movement are national environmental groups, including American Rivers and the Sierra Club.

Zeke Grader, executive director of the fishermen's association, said the effects from the Klamath dams are an "ongoing disaster."

"Among the many dams that should come down to restore our fisheries, these are the worst," he said.

The National Marine Fisheries Service has recommended that removing the Klamath dams would be the "best alternative" under consideration by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Near extinction levels

Some Siskiyou County water leaders fear the Klamath has become the "poster child" for national advocacy groups in favor of tearing down aging dams.

"There are powerful, well-financed sources outside the region who are pushing hard," said Rick Costales, a Fort Jones resident and former chairman of a local watershed council.

He described the dam removal clamor as a "very big experiment with a very uncertain outcome."

State and federal wildlife agencies argue that the rate of Klamath fish returning to spawn is near extinction levels, which led to a 700-mile ban on chinook salmon fishing along the California and Oregon coasts earlier this year.

Backers of removing Iron Gate blame decades of lower downstream flows and rising water temperatures for the big slump in Klamath salmon populations. They especially note the 2002 spawning season, when as many as 68,000 spawning salmon died along the middle stretch of the Klamath, apparently in part from warm-water-induced diseases.

All sides agree that whatever the Iron Gate outcome, it's likely to shape the debate on aging dams and their effects on the North Coast, and across the state and nation.

You can reach Staff Writer Mike Geniella at 462-6470
or mike.geniella@pressdemocrat.com.

WHAT'S AT STAKE FOR NORTH COAST

Under scrutiny: Van Arsdale Dam in Mendocino County; Scott Dam in Lake County.

Under review: Mile-long tunnel that siphons Eel River water into the Russian River.

Issue: Restoring historic salmon spawning grounds

Advocates: Environmental groups, fishing interests and native tribes.

Consequences: Possible reduction in Russian River flows; curtailed water supplies.

Implications: Greater competition to sustain fisheries, supply agriculture and meet growth demands.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted
material  herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have
expressed  a  prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit
research and  educational purposes only. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

Source:  http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/

20070121/NEWS/70121002/1033/NEWS01