FILE: The JC Boyle Dam, pictured here in September 2023, will be removed along with three other dams along the Klamath River.
Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB
On the Oregon-California border, four Klamath River dams are coming out in the country’s largest-ever dam removal project. It will reopen hundreds of miles of salmon habitat and restore thousands of acres of land, some of which could be returned to Native American tribes. It’s giving some along the river new hope — and leaving others, like farmers, uncertain about their future.
OPB science editor and reporter Cassandra Profita brings us the history behind the dam removal project: why the dams were created in the first place, the water politics of the region and how residents of the basin are waiting to see what the dam removals will do to the landscape.
Listen to all episodes of The Evergreen podcast here.