Organizations such as "Friends of the River" and a multitude of other NGO's and supposed non-profit corporations being used by profit making rafting corporations have virtually thrown almost everyone except individual kayakers off the rivers of the western slope of the equally unwise Schwartzenegger Sierra-Nevada CONservancy.
Friends of the River is a player in the background and I believe is influencing the Karuk tribe. However, the removal of the dams will actually destroy one of the best summer white water rafting experiences in the nation. They currently use release of stored water at one of the dams in Oregon to create a Class IV rapids.
The upper basin farmers are above the dams. They have provisions that affect them in the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement. The dams don’t really affect them, but once removed, the tribes and environmentalists hope the salmon will come up into the upper basin. The “irrigators” actually sold Siskiyou County out by supporting dam removal so they could get a break on energy and some other concessions.
The folks most affected are those who live around Copco and Iron Gate reservoirs. They will be living on a mud flat once the dams are removed. It will affect my downriver folks who will have sediment, dioxin and cyanide coming down their river. It also will affect the City of Yreka’s water supply, the Pacific Power rate payors and the people of California who will have to carry the bond to pay for at least $250 million of the costs. (The CDM report estimates that could be as high as a $billion.)