India, Nov. 4 -- In the western US, old dams have hindered the natural migration of salmon and steelhead, making it harder for them to reproduce successfully. This is evidenced by the case study in California where a small dam was removed from Cedar Creek. In 2022, California Trout (CalTrout), in partnership, pulled down a concrete dam measuring 8 feet from Cedar Creek, a cold-water tributary stream of the South Fork Eel River in Northern California.

The dam has impeded the movement of fish for well over 60 years and limited them from accessing about 9 miles of river upstream. After pulling down the concrete dam, adult chinook salmon were noted to spawn upstream of the previous location of the dam in December 2022. In August 2023, a snor...