For the first time in 112 years, Chinook salmon swim freely in the Klamath River after the removal of four large dams.
(Video: Kayah Ray)
Biologists from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) have spotted Chinook salmon at the site of the former J.C. Boyle Dam upstream on the Klamath River, as reported by Smithsonian on October 25. This dam was one of four that had obstructed the migration of salmon between the Klamath Basin and the Pacific Ocean. All four dams have recently been dismantled in the largest dam removal project in U.S. history, restoring the river to its natural, free-flowing state.
Initially, the biologists were uncertain if they had actually seen salmon. “We saw a large fish surface in the Klamath River the day before, but only saw its dorsal fin,” shared Mark Hereford, leader of ODFW’s Klamath Fisheries Reintroduction project.
Upon returning to the river segment, the team confirmed that it was indeed autumn-run Chinook salmon. This made them the first to spot Chinook salmon in the area since 1912.
The return of the salmon occurred less than two months after the dam removal project in California and Oregon was completed. This is the result of decades of advocacy efforts from conservation groups and several neighboring tribes—including Yurok, Karuk, Shasta, Klamath, Hoopa Valley, and others—who have strong ties to Chinook salmon.
Ron Reed, a member of the Karuk tribe and traditional fisherman, has been involved in the campaign supporting the dam removals. He believes that restoring the river will help restore the salmon population, and he is not surprised that they quickly returned to their ancestral waters after the project. Reed and many others can now return to their fishing traditions.
One of the first salmon returning to the Klamath River.
The dams, built from the early 1900s until 1962, contributed to algal blooms and disease, hindering the annual migration of salmon. By November 2022, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved a $500 million dam removal project. The first dam was destroyed in the fall of 2023. Starting in January of this year, the reservoirs of the remaining three dams were drained, and the infrastructure was dismantled. By the end of August, for the first time in over a century, the river flowed freely again.
Now that the dam system is gone, local tribes are excited to see the salmon return, able to swim for over 640 kilometers of river. Biologists believe the salmon spotted in Oregon likely swam about 370 kilometers from the Pacific Ocean to reach there. However, most scientists think it could take 3 to 5 generations for the Chinook salmon to fully recover in this basin.
