The Iron Gate Dam, one of four dams on the Klamath River, will be removed in 2023. It will be the largest dam removal in U.S. history.

For Pachomio Feliz, the waters of the Klamath River and Pacific are life. He’s a member of the Yurok Tribe.

“This is our lifeblood,” he said. “Without the river, we’d be dead.”

The Klamath River runs from southern Oregon to the Pacific Ocean in California.

Along the way, there are four dams holding back the river’s natural flow. The dams were originally built to produce electricity and regulate water levels on the river. Environmentalists in the area say those dams are harming the river’s health.

“It has huge impacts. It has impacts on water quality, huge impacts on river systems and the basins where they’re placed,” said Jim McCarthy, an activist working for WaterWatch, a group in Oregon that advocates for river and water health.

WaterWatch, and other groups, have been advocating for dam removals around the U.S. for decades.

“I think what people don’t realize is there are a lot of dams in the country, over 90,000,” said Brian Graber, who works for the group, American Rivers.

According to the group’s most recent dam report, 85% of the country’s dams are over 50 years old, which is the average life expectancy for most dams.

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