Alternatives exist to removing dams

Linthicum represents a diverse community some who have been duped by the social engineering of the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, now the Klamath Basin Monitoring Program.

While Senator Linthicum has advocated for a holistic perspective on our river, those with a career in dam removal continue to ignore and simplify the complexity of the issue. They ignore the reality that there are many alternatives to the two extremes. There is this one-size fit all reference to simply flushing sediment down many miles of river habitat with cold water. This may work on shorter rivers with higher gradients that are not fed by hyper-eutrophic lakes. There is ignorance that fish parasites flourish with high water and are limited by naturally occurring low flows.

The dam removal group wants to conduct a huge experiment on our Klamath River. They have very limited experience and are unable to accept concerns or concepts that include hydropower on the river.

The importance of hydropower is diluted while current hydroelectric development in the world mimics the size of what is on our river. Perhaps reference to the powerful advocacy of designing our river management that embraces migrating fish and provides clean hydropower will help us abandon a polarized argument to fractured communities. While some in our community agree that we disagree, the slow march of the social engineers continues with the help of a biased media.

The dam removal argument has become a distraction from a small part of our society that is pushing us away from the basis of our rural economy, natural resource management.

William D. Kennedy

Klamath Falls