The Klamath Basin is on the cusp of the most ambitious dam removal effort ever attempted. If all goes to plan, efforts will get underway by next year to bring down the four aging hydropower dams that divide the basin in half. Are we ready for this?

There is urgent need for robust monitoring of the Klamath Basin dam removal. In a new and thoughtful CalMatters article, "Klamath Basin dam removal needs a science-driven oversight plan",  Jeffrey Mount and Peter Moyle propose four criteria to ensure a robust science and monitoring program guide the nations largest dam removal project. Ideally, the program would be hypothesis-driven, inclusive, well-led, and reliably funded. In comparing to other programs, suggestions are proposed in how the criteria might be achieved. Read the commentary at https://calmatters.org/commentary/2022/05/klamath-basin-dam-removal-needs-a-science-driven-oversight-plan/

Jeffrey Mount is senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California’s Water Policy Center. 

Peter Moyle is distinguished professor emeritus in the Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology and associate director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California, Davis.