(water splashing) - Hard forward, go, go, go, go!

Whoo!

(rafters laughing) - [Narrator] Summertime whitewater rafting on the West Coast doesn't get much better than this.

- Woohoo!

- [Rafter] Okay, forward on.

- [Narrator] But it's not natural to have so much water flowing down the Klamath River in August.

This rafting trip is only possible because of water released upstream from JC Boyle Dam.

- This is an artificial experience on a modified river.

The dam is holding back water in the night, it's releasing water during the day, and we're riding on that bubble.

- [Narrator] If all goes according to plan, that bubble will be gone by next year along with JC Boyle Dam itself.

It's one of four Klamath river dams the utility PacifiCorp decided to take out, along with Copco 1, Copco 2, and Iron Gate dams.

They're all blocking salmon from swimming upstream and they'll all be coming out next year in the world's largest dam removal project.

Longtime river runner Bill Cross is eager to see them go.

- We have a dam upstream from us and three dams downstream from us.

In the future, when the dams come out, there will be new stretches of river upstream and downstream from here and a fully connected river from top to bottom.

- [Narrator] But when the dams come out, there will only be about half as much water in the river in late summer, not nearly enough for a big raft to make a trip like this.

That's a big blow for rafting guide, Bart Baldwin, whose business depends on summertime trips that will no longer be possible.

- I feel like I'm losing a good friend.

(chuckles) I just, I've run this river a lot and it's my favorite.

Right now, this is it, this is the biggest bang for your buck that you can get in the summer, 95 degrees, 72 degree water, 42 named rapids, and they're long and exciting and explosive and that's pretty unique.

- [Narrator] The Klamath Dam removal project took decades to get approval, in part because it's controversial.

Supporters say it will bring cleaner water, with less of this white foam and fewer harmful algae blooms.

They both worsen with the combination of stagnant reservoirs and agricultural runoff.

- So right over here on the bridge, we'll show you what I like to look at.

- [Narrator] Dam removal will open up new habitat for salmon.

That's what Karuk tribal leader and traditional fishermen Troy Hockaday has been fighting for.

During spawning season, he comes to check on the salmon at the confluence of the Klamath River and the Scott River tributary.

- So the salmon will pull up here until it's time for 'em to get up the river when they know they have to go.

To see these fish right here, right now gives me hope.

Now the hope is for them to get to where they have to go to spawn.

- [Narrator] Removing the dams will reopen 400 miles of salmon habitat, including a lot of spawning grounds the fish haven't been able to reach for more than a century.

There's no guarantee the salmon will thrive in this drought-stricken basin.

But Troy is hopeful.

- Fish is our life, especially on the Klamath River, our life and our culture.

My goal is to fight for those fish and keep fighting for 'em until I can't fight anymore, as to where I can have my grandson, who's one years old today, to be down there fishing, and say, "Here, Grandpa, here's a fish."

- [Narrator] PacifiCorp spokesman Bob Gravely says the cost of upgrading the dams to allow salmon to swim upstream was far more than the cost of taking them out.

- These are electricity producing dams.

Unlike some of the other dams people are familiar with, these are not really flood control dams, they're not used for irrigation water.

- [Narrator] So removing them won't really change the ongoing fights over water scarcity in the basin.

- One of the problems on the Klamath is, you know, there's just lots of demands for a certain amount of water and those disputes will continue after dam removal.

(birds chirping) - [Narrator] Francis Gill and Danny Fontaine are worried about losing the lake their community is named after.

They're longtime residents of Copco Lake, where about 75 houses line the reservoir, and they wanna see the place thrive in the future.

That's why the couple recently bought this store and started renovating it.

- We're reopening it, but it used to be open, and it was like the hub of the community back then so we're hoping we can bring that back.

- [Danny] The rafters used to get out here and the previous owner said they had 300 people here in one day.

- I don't know if we can do it all by ourselves, but it'd be nice to have like donuts and coffee in the morning, and.

- We're trying to make it into an old, like an old general store from way back in time, you know?

Just to bring out the feeling of the community.

- [Narrator] The problem is they can't get anyone to tell them what to expect from the bare land and the river that'll be their new neighbors.

- But yeah, we have these three docks that we're gonna lose, we won't be able to launch boats anymore.

People are angry and sad because we're suffering a loss and we're going through this grief process for like for 21 years up here.

- [Narrator] Danny says his job as a real estate agent is harder now.

Copco Lake homes could see damaged water wells and unstable ground when the reservoir is drained and all the sediment stored up behind the dams starts flowing downstream.

This is what it looked like when Condit Dam was removed from the White Salmon River in Washington.

- Nobody knows what it's gonna be like, so when you're trying to sell a home to somebody and you can't tell them what they're buying, it creates a big challenge.

- Now he has to disclose, "Well, your well may dry up or your house may fall off a cliff.

Oh yeah, by the way, the lake's going away in a few months too, welcome."

- [Narrator] The emptied reservoirs will need a lot of restoration work and some of it has already started.

(weed whacker roaring) Workers with local tribes are cutting down weeds and collecting native seeds so they can replant the bare land that's currently underwater.

- It feels like I'm really making a difference.

We're working right now to get these invasive species out of the way so we can give the native plants a fighting chance to grow and do good.

- [Narrator] Gwen Santos is overseeing the massive job of restoring more than 2,000 acres around the reservoirs and dams.

- After dam removal, we are responsible for putting the river and the ecology and the environment back to a functioning ecosystem.

When do you think they'll be fully leafed out?

- I was hoping this week.

- Oh.

I think this is the largest project that any of us have worked on ever.

Right now, you're looking at a lake.

So what I imagine is, as we can see the Chaparral on the hillsides is for that to continue, kind of move into a grassland system.

And then, we see a flowing river that meanders, has some ripples and will be a really pleasant area to look at.

- Last brush.

I'm gonna hope we can crash through on this line.

- [Narrator] Bill Cross has been imagining that restored river too.

- There's one now, flaps are down, landing gear, making the final approach, oh yes.

- [Narrator] A few months after our whitewater rafting trip with Bill, we hiked with him to the top of these basalt cliffs, an area known as Ward's Canyon.

This is where he's most excited to see the river reemerge.

- [Bill] I've seen pretty much every inch of the Klamath and this is the most spectacular canyon on the river.

- [Narrator] The river channel here used to be filled with rushing water, but it was drained when they built Copco 2 dam.

- The first time in a century it'll have flow permanently restored to it.

- [Rafter] Woohoo!

- [Narrator] A few years ago, Bill had a chance to preview what it will look like after dam removal when PacifiCorp diverted water into this channel to simulate future flows.

- Wow.

- [Narrator] During that test run, he got to raft the stretch of the river.

- It was just spectacular to be swept right under that 200-foot high wall.

Wow.

And it's fun whitewater, but the setting is just exquisite.

There's nothing like this on the rest of the Klamath.

My history with river running and river conservation goes back to a time when we were losing rivers on a regular basis to dams, and to have lived long enough to reach a point where we're actually removing dams and restoring canyons is something I never thought I'd live to see.

(people chattering) - So we're fileting fish up to cook it traditionally on sticks.

Then, we'll stake it up.

And this is tradition passed down from the beginning of time, you know, this is how our people cooked fish.

Boom, there it is.

- [Narrator] For indigenous cultures that depend on salmon, removing the dams brings tremendous hope for restoring these fish - [Kenneth] All right.

- But for now.

- You ready?

- [Narrator] Troy Hockaday is still waiting.

- The dams are gonna come out, but I'm not gonna celebrate until I see an excavator on top of the dam moving that rock, and once that day happens, then you'll see me jump up and down and scream and holler to the creator about what's happening.

But until that day, I mean, we still got a little more to go, but that's the day I'll celebrate.

- Getting inspiration for your next adventure, it's kind of why you're here, right?

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