To celebrate its first five years of work, Open Rivers Fund—a program of Resources Legacy Fund, launched in November 2016 with a 10-year, $50-million investment from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation—worked with film director Jason Jaacks to produce a documentary highlighting several dynamic dam removal projects and partnerships that are reshaping waterways across the American […]
Category: Featured
Restoring the Klamath River: Science informs where future runs may go
On November 17 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued the Final License Surrender Order for the Lower Klamath River Hydroelectric Project. With this final regulatory hurdle now crossed, the Klamath River Renewal Corporation and its local Tribal and nonprofit partners can remove the four lower Klamath River Dams located on both sides of the […]
Supporting Community and Citizen Science at the Elwha ScienceScape Symposium
Acoustic Tagging to Prepare for the Return of Klamath Spring-Run Chinook Salmon
For more than a century, four large dams on the Upper Klamath River have blocked spring-run Chinook salmon, steelhead trout, Pacific lamprey, and other species from their native spawning grounds. The absence of those species has affected the biology of the river and the culture of the communities along it in Northern California and Southern […]
Surveys show support for Nelson Dam removal and tips on talking about dams
Nelson Dam, a century-old concrete structure that outlived its usefulness, spans the Naches River in Yakima, Washington. It blocks fish passage for much of the year and presents safety risks for the City of Yakima. After years of planning, Nelson Dam is coming down this fall. Earlier this year, when the dam’s fate was still […]
Real collaboration and real progress: the Bear River watershed
Earlier this summer, I spent three days on an inspiring tour of the Bear River watershed, hosted by Open Rivers Fund grantee, Western Native Trout Initiative (WTNI). WNTI is a collaborative partnership of public agencies, conservation-minded organizations, and private individuals focused on protecting 21 species of native trout and char across 12 western states—including the […]
Infrastructure Bill Includes Strong Measures to Help Fish and Wildlife
Restoring waters & building momentum: 4 years of the Open Rivers Fund
A free-flowing river has an aura of inevitability. As creeks and small streams merge into one, the river finds its way. Left to its own devices, it goes where gravity says it must – scouring its own banks, starting course changes when obstructed, and moving material to rebuild its bed. On its way, gaining volume […]