One dam removed in southwest Montana in 2023
EBS STAFF
A Feb. 13 American Rivers press release stated that 80 dams in total were removed across the U.S. in 2023. The removals reconnected 1,160 free flowing river miles.
“These projects reestablished migration corridors, made natural and human communities more resilient to climate change, improved access to habitat to promote biodiversity, eliminated safety hazards and maintenance costs, enhanced access to rivers for local communities, reestablished natural processes for healthy rivers, and many other benefits,” the release stated.
Among the list was the removal on California’s Klamath River, beginning the largest dam removal project in the country.
Since 1912, 2,119 dams have been removed across the U.S. So far in Montana, 18 dams have been removed in that time period.
American Rivers plans to further this effort, restoring habitats, ecosystems and allowing rivers to flow more freely in the future. “We will be working with this community to build out strategies to get to 30,000 dam removals by 2050,” the release stated.
