Outdated Keno and Link River dams are impeding fish migrations

If you were hoping to see salmon in the Upper Klamath Basin, you are going to be disappointed, as the Keno Dam has a few problems. In fact, so does the Link River Dam. Not only is the Keno Dam more complex than the Link River Dam, it didn’t come with any instructions when Pacific Power handed the keys over last summer. The fish ladders are also inadequate to meet migrating fish needs, and moreover, it will cost taxpayers a boatload of capital to fix.

It all started on Halloween with comments from Bob Pagliuco of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), who mentioned in a Zoom press conference that the orifices in the fish ladder of the Keno Dam are too small to accommodate the larger-sized salmon currently making their way up the Klamath River. But that is just the start of the dam’s problems.  

Oregon Department for Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) fish biologist for the Klamath Basin, Ben Ramirez, said the dam was never designed for salmon and that holes in the ladder are for the c’waam and koptu suckers that lack the ability to leap over obstacles the way salmon and trout do. In addition to limiting the size of fish that can use the ladders, they also make flows out of the fish ladder insufficient to attract migrating fishes and, in fact, are on the wrong side of the river entirely. To date, no migrating salmon have been detected above the Keno Dam.

As to why this was not noticed or resolved prior to the removal of the four dams on the Klamath River, Pagliuco pointed to a July 2023 memo from ODFW that stated, “the ladder will not meet current fish passage criteria, and recommends a new fish ladder be constructed to meet the needs of migratory fish.”

According to the memo, the small fish holes are just the start of the problems. In April of 2023, ODFW officials studied the fish ladder and discovered the orifices were too small to fit larger-sized fish like adult salmon and lacked the adequate flow to attract the migrating salmon. However, the report stated that increasing flows through the dam’s fish ladder could be ideal for salmon but detrimental to the migrating c’waam and koptu.

“Some modifications could improve the passage efficiency for adult salmonids and lamprey but could further inhibit sucker passage by increasing water velocities at the fishway entrance,” it was stated in the memo. “Additional, lamprey-specific remediation will be required to ensure lamprey entering the fishway has a viable path upstream.”

Pagliuco said that smaller fish could still use the ladder as it is and that $1.9 million in funding was awarded to ODFW to conduct a feasibility study on how to improve the fish ladder at the Keno Dam. He also suggested that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) was not given much in the way of instruction on how to manage the dam when PacifiCorp transferred ownership, and much of the equipment needed to operate the dam was removed by the power company when they turned the keys over to BOR.

The Link River Dam, which was built in 1921, has been under the ownership of the BOR since that time, and the Keno Dam, constructed in 1966 to replace the Needle Dam, was transferred to the BOR on July 30 of this year from PacifiCorp. The transfer was part of the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement (KHSA), created to remove the four downstream Klamath River dams without Congressional approval. Unlike the Link River Dam, the Keno Dam holds no water but supports the Link River Dam to stop flooding downstream.

The BOR said in a written response to the Klamath Tribes News that “Reclamation received the 2023 ODFW memo that you are referencing. Unfortunately, we are not able to make any comments on the contents of that memo. We are also not able to comment on any ongoing actions being pursued by the Bureau at this time.”

To add insult to injury, water quality in Lake Ewauna and Upper Klamath Lake could further impede migrating fish. ODFW fish biologist for the Klamath Basin, Ben Ramirez, stated, “This is true for some of the years, but for salmon that are migrating in the fall and winter (like the current Chinook salmon in the basin), the water quality is not going to be a hindrance. The main issue would come with spring-run Chinook salmon that reach the upper basin later in the spring when the water quality may start to deteriorate. That means that for spring-run Chinook to succeed, they would need to leave the ocean and migrate up early in the spring to make it through the lake before the water quality becomes an impediment.”

However, due in part to poor seasonal water quality in Upper Klamath Lake, populations of c’waam and koptu are struggling to survive and are on the verge of extinction. The Ambodat staff have yet to observe any of the fall Chinook above Spencer Creek. The winter run of coho salmon also remains below the Spencer Creek dam.

Changing any water flow on the Klamath River could also have significant implications for area businesses like Columbia Forest Products. Pagliuco said the property issues above the Keno Dam mean that even a small change in water level can have big implications for the tightly knit network of businesses along the river.

However, a solution to the Keno Dam problems is not close. ODFW District Manager for Klamath and Malheur Watershed, Phillip Milburn, said nothing will happen for at least a year, and with c’waam and koptu facing possible extinction within five years, one wonders why this wasn’t addressed sooner.

Milburn said in an email response to the Klamath Tribes News that a grant to investigate the Keno Dam will not arrive until early 2025, and the evaluation process will take the next year to complete. “At the end of the community engagement process,” Milburn explained, “We anticipate the workgroup will advance a recommendation of a preferred alternative. Once a preferred alternative is identified a 30 percent engineering design will be developed, then the hard work of garnering the support and funding for implementation will begin. However, the final decision on implementation will rest with BOR as the dam owner.”

The Klamath Tribes staff of Ambodat maintain an ever-present eye on the waterways looking for salmon. Through a collaborative partnership between the tribes, the ODFW, and other partners, observers have employed a variety of monitoring strategies to better understand the distribution, abundance, and life history of any salmon that make it past the dam. They have also released 10,000 experimental Chinook smolts to better understand habitat use and identify passage or water quality barriers.

“We are hopeful to participate with the state of Oregon in performing a feasibility study to find the best solution for Keno Dam,” said Alta Harris, the interim director of Ambodat, “and we are hopeful that solution will include removal, but we want it done in the best way for the system and for future generations of fish.”

According to Harris, when the Keno Dam and Link River Dam were built, the builders dynamited large chunks of the existing reef that created Upper Klamath Lake. If the dams were to be removed without the reef’s restoration, the result would be an inevitable demise for some fish species by continuing the river. What’s more, the extensive network of drainage ditches that run throughout the basin would all have to be refilled to restore the massive marsh that once existed and protected the lake’s water quality.  

While the fall run of Chinook exceeded expectations this past year, coho returns are also impressing fish biologists. The Klamath Tribes continue to work with ODFW and numerous other partners to continue recovery efforts of anadromous species in the Upper Klamath Basin and restore the watershed once heralded as the Everglades of the West. And while the upper tributaries of the Klamath Basin, including the Sprague, Wood, and Williamson Rivers, are thought to be ideal spawning habitats for the newly arrived salmon, the fact remains that poor water quality in the Upper Klamath and Lake Ewauna combined with out of spec fish ladders and outdated designs of the two remaining dams, pose challenges to resolve these problems, and the clock is ticking down to come up with solutions in time to save c’waam and koptu from extinction.