Katie Schmidt is the associate director of the national dam removal program at American Rivers.
Katie Schmidt is the associate director of the national dam removal program at American Rivers, where she coordinates and implements the organization’s federal policy agenda for dam removal. She researched and wrote a guide to removing federally regulated hydropower dams as a fellow at American Rivers. She has also worked with American Whitewater, the River Management Society, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
Focusing much of her work on hydropower reform and hydropower dam removal, Schmidt develops tools and resources for dam removal practitioners, and is an advocate for the National Dam Removal Community of Practice. She holds a master’s degree in environmental studies from Virginia Commonwealth University with an emphasis in hydrology and natural resources policy.
The American Rivers dam removal team visited the Klamath River on Thursday, January 11, 2024, the first day water was released from the Iron Gate Dam reservoir in preparation for removing the Klamath dam. Based on the successes with other dam removals—from Oregon’s Sandy River to Washington’s Elwha and White Salmon—we expect the Klamath to come back stronger than ever.
In this conversation, Texas+Water Editor-in-Chief Dr Todd Votteler discusses the dam- removal movement with Katie Schmidt, Associate Director of the National Dam Removal Program at American Rivers.
In this webinar, Katie Schmidt of American Rivers presented the new Practitioner’s Guide to Hydropower Dam Removal and discuss critical elements of the policy and practice of removing hydropower dams, as well as the data and decision-making process behind successful projects. Learn when and how to get involved in the process, some key factors, and hear about specific case studies.
whitelistUser:WikiVisor
For Women’s History Month, Katie Schmidt, Associate Director of the National Dam Removal Program at American Rivers, reflected on what motivates her to continue advocating for healthy, free-flowing rivers nationwide.