American Whitewater today warned that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s (BOR) planned high‑volume water release from its Keno Dam on February 20, 2026 poses a serious public safety risk to people on and along the Klamath River in Oregon and California.
BOR has announced that it will conduct a sediment flushing release beginning early the morning of February 20 that will rapidly increase river flows by approximately 4,000 cubic feet per second. The sudden release is expected to raise river levels by roughly four feet in little more than one hour immediately downstream of the dam, with even greater increases anticipated later in the day in confined downstream reaches in both Oregon and California.
