… To many of its visitors, and the several hundred people who live along its 31-mile shoreline deep within the sprawling Mendocino National Forest, Lake Pillsbury is the region’s heartbeat. But Scott Dam, at the foot of Lake Pillsbury, and another, smaller dam on the river 12 miles downstream, have also become a headache for Pacific Gas & Electric Co., which owns both dams. And that’s creating a controversy that’s drawn interest from everyone from those who live on Lake Pillsbury, to North Bay communities whose water supplies are linked to both dams, to federal agencies now under control of President Donald Trump. … PG&E is on track to decommission those dams, and under a historic agreement reached earlier this year, both are being slated to be torn down in what would be the nation’s next big dam removal project, freeing up the headwaters of California’s third longest river to help revive its troubled salmon and steelhead trout runs.

Other dam removal and restoration news:

• KRCR (Redding, Calif.): Klamath River restoration revives historic fish habitats
• Jefferson Public Radio (Ore.): Healing through whitewater: Indigenous youth paddle the newly free-flowing Klamath River
• ICT: Yurok reclaim Klamath River land and celebrate Two-Spirit Pride
• Environmental Coastal & Offshore: Restoration of Klamath River tributaries begins as part of historic dam-removal project
• Carson Now (Carson City, Nev.): Marlette Lake Dam project underway near Lake Tahoe