The state Department of Fish and Game has announced the funding as the final piece of a two-decade long effort to make it easier for salmon and steelhead to migrate upstream to their spawning beds.
Eight dams along Battle Creek, built in the early 1900s, diverted water to power houses that generate electricity for 15M Pacific Gas & Electric customers from Eureka to Bakersfield. PG&E said the utility will replace the lost power with other sources but will keep three dams in operation.
Removing five dams and adding fish ladders to the other three will open 68km of spawning and rearing habitat to wild salmon and steelhead. But critics say the project doesn't go far enough because the best fish habitat sits above the dams that will be left in operation.
