Free Republic

A well-funded environmentalist group played a key role in the push to remove dams in the Pacific Northwest’s Klamath River ahead of premature deaths of thousands of salmon. American Rivers — an organization that has received millions of dollars from left-of-center environmentalist grantmaking organizations in recent years — was “the orchestrator of the Klamath dams removal project,” according to Siskiyou News, a local outlet in Northern California. The drawdowns of several reservoirs pursuant to the scheduled removal of four dams in the river preceded the deaths of “hundreds of thousands” of young salmon in the waterway, according to Oregon Public...

A former top aide to then-Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is at the center of a controversy over a suspended federal water-conservation program. Rebecca R. Wodder, a senior advisor to the Interior Secretary on rivers, declined to appear before the House Natural Resources Committee Wednesday afternoon. As the hearing began, a white placard bearing Wodder’s name in black type was placed at the eastern end of a mahogany table and in front of an empty chair. “Unfortunately, the Department will be unable to send a witness to the hearing,” committee spokeswoman Mallory Micetich said an Interior Department official told the committee....

When the steel claw of an excavator slashes into the berm of the Great Works Dam on Monday morning, it will mark the start of a multimillion-dollar project to allow endangered and dwindling species to return to their historic spawning grounds along Maine’s longest river, the Penobscot. When the project is done - scheduled for 2015, after an additional dam is razed and another bypassed - it will open access to 1,000 miles of habitat for the native fish, including endangered Atlantic salmon and short-nosed sturgeon that journey from the Gulf of Maine to breed in the cold, fresh waters...

57 Dams in 16 States to be Removed in 2003 Says American Rivers 8/19/03 2:45:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk and Environmental Reporter Contact: Serena McClain, American Rivers, 202-347-7550; Helen Sarakinos, River Alliance of Wisconsin, 608-257-2424; Leon Szeptycki, Trout Unlimited, 703-284-9411 WASHINGTON, Aug. 19 /U.S. Newswire/ -- 57 dams in 15 states and the District of Columbia are scheduled for removal in 2003, continuing the strong trend in recent years for restoring rivers and improving public safety by removing stream blockages. Each summer, American Rivers surveys government and private conservation organizations to determine how many dams and other obstructions...