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In this March 4, 2020, photo, a mural depicting traditional fishing methods used by the Karuk tribe to harvest salmon brightens the side of a food market in Orleans, Calif. A plan to demolish four dams on the lower Klamath River has sharpened a decades-old dispute over who has the biggest claim to the river's life-giving waters. The project, if it goes forward, would be the largest dam demolition project in U.S. history and reopen 400 stream miles of potential salmon habitat that's been blocked off for more than a century. Numerous tribes in southern Oregon and northern California, including the Karuk, are pushing for the dams' removal to save dwindling salmon populations in California's second-largest river. (AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus)

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Largest US dam removal stirs debate over coveted West water
March 29, 2020 8:18 a.m.

Largest US dam removal stirs debate over coveted West water

KLAMATH, Calif. (AP) — The second-largest river in California has sustained Native American tribes with plentiful salmon for millennia, provided upstream farmers with irrigation water for generations and served as a haven for retirees who built dream homes along its banks.