A river enters the photo at the top right of the image, meandering through the accumulated sediment of what was previously Copco Lake, created by the Copco Dams. The river proceeds to cut its way through the craggy landscape that is covered in light green and brown vegetation. Numerous scars on the landscape indicate where rainwater collects and descends to the river The river enters another silty basin that was the Iron Gate Reservoir

Drawdown of Klamath River Reservoirs

Human-made lakes along the western U.S. river were drained as part of the world’s largest dam removal project to date. View the full story

Credits: NASA Earth Observatory / Michala Garrison