San Clemente Dam Removal Update - Year 3

This is the final video in this series as we document the final phase of the San Clemente Dam removal. In this video, we will get an overview the dam's history as well hear from many of the folks who played key roles in making this a successful project. There's also some cool time-lapse footage of the dam removal and the river reroute work. Enjoy!

[@cedricchuigo6235]

I haven't seen this video in years and don't know if anyone will see this post but I was the Site Superintendent for years 2 and 3. It was a pretty amazing project from the logistics of maintaining river flow during the duration and getting all the materials, manpower, and equipment to accomplish this project. Each year we were only allowed to be in the river area from April until October.

[@muddobber6863]

The video would have been much better if they had shown more of what you were doing and none of the government officials talking about how awesome they are.

[@adrianwapcaplet2773]

Lots of commenters have missed the fact that unlike the Elwha, they couldn't simply let the river wash the sediment away, due to fish concerns and downstream development since the dam was built. They had to carve a new channel to bypass the accumulated sediment. I agree the engineered riverbed looked a bit artificial and ridiculous, and I'm sure the engineers planned it to be temporary, knowing that one series of winter storms would scour a more natural-looking riverbed. Looking at the latest Google Earth overview, it seems that's exactly what has happened.

[@patrickr9606]

I worked on this project and saw it’s completion after I retired. Yes, the river will reset itself but you need to start somewhere. There was no “blow and go option” but wait for the Klamath Dams to come down next!

[@IcelanderUSer]

Wow, what an amazing job they did restoring that river. I can’t wait to see how it looks when nature fully reclaims the surrounding lands. This is what happens people work together to accomplish great things.

[@myplane150]

From a long time Monterey County resident... thank you, folks. This really looks great and I cannot wait to hike it sometime in the next year or two. Well done!!!

[@Joshua79C]

Enjoy it while it lasts, would have saved you residents a lot of money doing the way as the Elwha and Glines was removed and let nature do the rest. This man made solution of rerouting is not going to end well, does not even allow boating!

[@Arturo-sm1tb]

@@Joshua79C Boating on a wild and scenic river for habitat restoration? Not the purpose, plenty of other places for that.

[@Edcognito]

It's amazing the number of qualified project engineers that comment on these videos...

[@jasminelindros8923]

Wow, you're stupid.

[@rssdesignsinfiber]

Yea! This Dam Removal looks like a great example of Collaboration resulting in a healthier River that Nature will shape into the future - glad to hear it will benefit both fish and the red-legged frog!

[@Joshua79C]

Except the part they reroutes part of it and not doing like the Washington state Elwha dam project, they could have removed it in stages over the time it took them to reroute that stretch of river and let nature take its course back naturally.

[@awizardalso]

I did look this up on Google maps and from the aerial photo view, it looks like the sediment bed has trees and vegetation growing where it was. Nature takes care of itself.

[@oscarmendez590]

Great project and a great video. California is an awesome place!

[@pflashrich]

I think the Condit dam removal project got it right. Remove the dam allowing the river to remove the sediment naturally, let the river fix itself. The fish and habitat came back naturally.

[@Stubbee]

Absofrikkenlutely. What a waste of money to cut a new path and landscape it.

[@Edcognito]

Different conditions call for different solutions.

[@DavisMinhpham]

I agree with you, but I think I have read that the plan for the silt beds left behind did not adequately plant the remaining silt with plant material and the wind was raising vast dust storms. I don't know if the problem has been rectified or not.

[@Joshua79C]

Elwha dam removal is the best example and way to remove such tall damns, a testament to removing in stages over a course of three years stopping to allow spawning to take place and let the river takes its NATURAL course. Not this BS "lets cut a new path" crap.

[@alex-marquette]

definitely they got it right. However back in 2003 when the planning began that wasn't something that was thought of at the time. So there's that.

[@63256325N]

Every unused, obsolete dam in the US should be removed ASAP IMO. Thanks for the video.

[@calebz1448]

Only over a certain size would be more feasible and logical. I have many small old mill dams on creeks and streams around me in the ozark hills of Missouri and some are historic sites where conservation department stocks trout into the springfed stream only made big enough for sustainable habitat by the mill dam since that stream hits a bigger, warmer creek in only 2 miles but because of the dam there is trout habitat. I guess that could fall into useful but there are old half collapsed dams that fish can travel through if they really want to that do no harm and the intact ones are so old they have gradual enough spillways for eager smallmouth

[@borderreiver3288]

great to return it back to nature...the river will sort itself out....

[@Arturo-sm1tb]

What a great success story.

[@td-12kx53]

Very interesting!

[@njm3211]

I'd like to see how it's looking in 2020. Hopefully the river made a few corrections during flooding and riverine vegetation has taken hold.

[@muddobber6863]

It looks like a regular river. goo.gl/maps/Vv8zZYk6dW6xB5EU7

[@oleg19667]

A better quality video than the first two in the sequence.

[@caamwater]

Thanks!

[@simonstanford-davis9743]

Looks really natural !

[@Nick-vl7lk]

Wow, the way government develop rivers. Please see some of the chalk stream restoration projects in the UK.

[@ChrisCoombes]

It's great but my preference would have been for it to look a bit more chaotic rather than so ordered.

[@flailios]

Chris Coombes I was just thinking that. It's very linear & "designed". Hopefully, that design was just to control the sedimentation issue in that area and nature will assume the role of "lead designer" once the balance of sediment flow returns.

[@DavisMinhpham]

about the appearance. give it a couple of years and the regrowth of the plant material will soften the "regularity" of the newly configured stream bed.

[@keithsage1593]

If I were a fish I would love this river..

[@seansimons7043]

Dam removal for the win!!

[@mysticvirgo9318]

One really good flood and that "restoration" will be ripped out and the river will end up doing what it wants in any case. Nature will always find her own way when left to her own resources

[@Barleywine14]

Go look at it on Google Maps. Rocks are all strewn about like a flood has already destroyed the area.

[@EricH_1983]

@@Barleywine14 Ha just looked, nature teared it a new one..

[@Arturo-sm1tb]

Nothing could ever be worse than a sediment retaining dam blocking water flow.

[@Here_Today_]

the river can live again!

[@Arturo-sm1tb]

Now there are 5 other major dams that need to go. Eel River, Klamath, et al.

[@dundonrl]

you could have hired the British Air Force, they have great experience in removing dams. (look up The Möhne and Eder dams) just took a few seconds to destroy them..

[@robert3302]

And killed all the people downstream. We are not at war with the Carmel Valley.

[@Joshua79C]

Elwha in Washington state is the best example of proper dam removal and letting natures do the rest naturally.

[@australiawilliam3326]

Hi,beautiful good job worth every dollar.

[@1winlock]

I'd like to know the cost of dredging vs. dam removal and river restoration.

[@user-dq2ly5ut9j]

It's fucking Beautiful

[@drinny26]

What does it look like today? Please do an areal view it would be cool to see.

[@NicolaiAAA]

I did what someone else did in the comments and looked up the aerial view on Google maps. Look up the dam and then you can see how the river has changed. Basically it give a middle finger to all the pretty step-ponds they made and now the rocks are all over the place.

[@stephanweinberger]

@@NicolaiAAA Still the artificial steps where necessary in the beginning to prevent the river from washing out too much material at once.

[@rickprewer8889]

I'm glad they took it down, but man the area looks so unnatural.

[@johnwitte551]

give it time mate the pools will fill with sediment runoff over the next few years. In ten years time you wouldn't know

[@keithjohnson7677]

A good jop.

[@patrickboehner4383]

It's almost like.. in time it will look more natural then man made. Do you want a healthy river system or instant beauty (as instantly beautiful as any drained receiver ever looks, with lots of destruction down stream)...

[@texp87]

I work operating equipment building wetlands and work on all kinds of water habitats. Right now we are removing a dam and re-naturalizing the stream below the dam. But the difference is you wont know we were even there when we are done. This is the most ridiculous looking man made river I have ever seen. This doesn't look good at all. But what would you expect when a bunch of city people from California did it.

[@Joshua79C]

All I have to say is they should have done it the way it was with the Elwha, let nature correct our past mistakes during and after we remove the obstruction. As many other smaller dam removal did the same and just let the flow naturally reassert itself.

[@tylerboone2786]

Winn87 I do the same thing, and couldn’t agree more. It looks like some engineer just printed it out on a computer and that’s what they build.

[@rexjohnsonjr]

A temporary condition....

[@acjohn6995]

It's probably an agreement with the union to get these people free work, though it appears unnecessary. Everybody needs to get their cut of taxpayer funding.

[@rapid13]

Stick to driving your dozer and let the people who actually know what to do make the decisions. This isn't dynamite fishing.

[@eddybetanya]

River will do what it wants regardless of all your meetings opinions and schemes and endless talking.

[@lag9765]

Thank you for all that you do... Now it is time to remove the dam on Auburn Creek in the town of Lincoln, California better know as the Hemphill dam which was built without the proper permits and in clear violation of the law. The Nevada Irrigation District has snubbed the public in its demands to remove the dam and could care less about the law... It's all about the money with NID despite their claim to be great stewards of the land.

[@annakaplan9693]

Im here after reading how to do nothing by jenny odell!

[@patrickzink2191]

Yea that looks so natural just take the dam out and let the river do the rest

[@UncleKennysPlace]

In some cases that will work. In this case, and most others, it will not, for reasons such as erosion paths and sediment movement.

[@davidsharpe7644]

It's a manufactured river.

[@snickerdoodle1361]

I especially liked the parts when the broad wasn't talking.

[@waynebrown1609]

amazing , but i think its ugly .

[@bozobaz30]

Looks absolutely awful but at least the end goal is the same

[@operationscomputer1478]

stop watching from 5:44 onwards - its a pile of talking heads patting themselves on the back

[@IcelanderUSer]

Operations Computer Yes because what you do for a living is so much more interesting I’m sure. You’re just jealous that good people can actually do things in the environment that actually benefits the planet. Instead of complaining about the world, and god knows what else, and tearing people apart which I’m sure you’re good at.

[@lockburner2000]

These people could f-up a wet dream!!

[@the_king__of_the_world]

This was a perfect way to replenish California fresh water needs for both a fresh water reservoir for drinking water and watering down forests fires

[@arturasnesakysiu1684]

Instead 1 dam they builded 30 more, all these steps for fish is same as 30 big dams

[@lorettarussell3235]

Looks like a nice man made "fish ladder" Now if this worked well as planned could be model for others of needed in future. If previous fish ladders were built like this maybe they would have worked better. But is not better than nature?

[@journeymann1878]

All of our dams need to be removed. We need to live within our natural environment. The Hetch Hetchy needs removal as well.

[@Bluetoothedshark]

Should have nature cut its own path, all respect for doing the right thing and restoring the natural flow of the river, but you should not have given the designer a ruler.

[@alex-marquette]

I mean the project for removal began planning in early 2000's at that time no one had thought that the river would be able to wash that amount of sediment away. Now after projects like Condit and Elwha it has been shown that the river can move the sediment of that amount back so that's the easier way.

[@nobodycares902]

Everytime a dam is removed in California, a water pipeline from the water shed of another state needs to also be removed. California's dependance of out of state water needs to be removed. The only new habitat is the new developers that will move in and destroy the enviorment wit new housing developments. Money drives California!!!

[@Joshua79C]

Would you care to give us a two year update on this man made pos river recourse? Instead of following the Elwha and Glines removal they went and did this man made eyesore for the benefit of just two species of aquatic life, not even any benefit to boaters who may want to have used it!

[@info781]

I have watched about 50 dam removal videos, so I feel I have the expertise to quarterback this thing post-mortem. If we have to remove every dam like this we won't be able to remove more that 50 dams a decade. Between all the talking heads and the placement of every single rock and pound of sediment, this thing is a great example of too much money and too many people.

[@Boban1968]

Please help Serbian Rivers from Death

[@bar10dr]

In before a year of floods will tear through that thing lmao

[@nativetexan5457]

That is ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE. You laid down what looks like a park instead of truly restoring the river to its natural state. Leave it to California to fxxk things up in an attempt to make it better. SMH

[@LordByron2752]

Native Texan fish spawn in those pools of water.thats the whole reason they did this for fish to repopulate the river.

[@KB4QAA]

@@LordByron2752 It looks man made. All cookie cutter straight and identical in every part. A terrible job of recreating a natural habitat. Many other dam projects have done wonderful jobs.

[@ExploringCabinsandMines]

But it feeeels good.

[@fakeusa]

Looks like a freaking amusement park ride, terrible, let nature carve the riverbed.

[@nickbreen287]

We're going to remove dam and allow the river to flow naturally...... re-routes river into totally man made section.....

[@robertrockwell7581]

i'm for removing all dams in this country even Hoover dam. we have screwed these rivers up enough but this looks horrible it is not natural. let mother nature have back what was there before the dam.

[@johnkeviljr9625]

It does not look natural at all. What does it look like now, four years later? Have the fish returned? Sounds like a lot of patting each other on the back.

[@wingrovedl]

And what was the cost to the tax payers?

[@flailios]

wingrovedl is that your only concern, or was that a legitimate question?

[@wingrovedl]

Yes it was. But now my "Concern" is why you would ask me about my concerns, about a project that I have to help pay for and get none of the benefits as the locals will be. You want it, YOU pay for it. Money is not "Free" as you might think !

[@robert3302]

But wait till a tornado wipes out your mobile home and you go crying to FEMA.

[@rexjohnsonjr]

Far less than what it cost to build.

[@rexjohnsonjr]

Nothing compared to the costs of the dam.

[@SonnyRice]

i think it was a bad idea to remove the dam they could have inlarged the capacity buipt a fish lader and stored much needed water supply also controlled water flow so that water could flow year around to the ocean

[@streetpunxucr45]

+Sonny Rice ... that sounds good on the surface but if you actually take the time to look deeper ... you will find that these things were considered but didn't work out in the long run ... #1) it was over 90% full of sediment. this means that it actually held very little water AND would fill up again with sediment... the amount of sediment behind the dam was so great that removing the sediment would be too expensive #2) there WAS a fish ladder but because of the very tall height of the dam, few to no fish made it past the dam. #3) the dam was ready to collapse. It was very old and could have easily buried homes and people underneath sediment and water if it ever collapsed during a strong earthquake... #4) and there ALREADY exists a dam just a few miles up stream that isn't filled with sediment that the city uses for water... there are many more reason why it was a smart decision to remove this dam ... but I think I've made it clear why it was smart to have it removed. Cheers!!!

[@robert3302]

If you actually read the story you would know that the reservoir was silted up and held very little water. My mother used to live in the Carmel Valley and I visited the dam often. There was never much water in it, and usually no visible water at all.

[@ScottRoney]

Fish ladders have been proven to be ineffective in ameliorating the problems dams pose to the lifecycle of salmonids. The real problem is allowing salmon fry to return to the oceans. Sorry, but fish ladders don’t do the job.

[@TheDAT9]

As lot of California BS going on here.

[@typhoon320i]

What this video seems to be about is: Can you believe we got this project done in California. I mean we are talking red tape coming out your ass, for years and years, and tens of millions of dollars, before you can even get a feasibility study done.

[@dps6198]

Mother Nature is shaking her head wondering why the hell human keep interfering with the work that she does so well. This the ugliest habitat restoration I've ever seen my life. They should have just left it alone and allowed nature to recover on its own.

[@larrabeejl]

Congratulations you removed 1 big dam and put back 40 little dams. It looks like a HOA project.