For over a century, the Klamath River has been incomplete. As it has winded from the deserts of south-central Oregon to the temperate rainforests of California’s North Coast and emptied into the Pacific Ocean, its star residents have been largely absent. Chinook salmon, also known as king salmon, once surged upstream in groups over 100,000; this yearly migration to cooler waters is necessary to lay their eggs, and the young fish that hatch there eventually make their way back to the open ocean (Upper Klamath-Trinity, 2017). The 20th-century construction of multiple hydroelectric dams, however, cut these salmon off from 420 miles of breeding grounds (NOAA Fisheries, 2024). These barriers completely wiped out upstream populations and reduced downstream abundance to less than 5 percent of historical numbers (Karlamangla & Elliott, 2024). 

Figure 1: An adult Chinook salmon sits in shallow waters of the Klamath River (Klamath Chinook Salmon).

Fortunately, new developments have given these salmon a fighting chance: four massive Klamath River dams have recently been the focus of a comprehensive removal and river restoration plan. Starting in 2023, Copco #1 (originally constructed in 1922), Copco #2 (1925), John C. Boyle (1958), and Iron Gate (1964) have been safely breached and dismantled, freeing up the river’s flow (Klamath Dams, 2022). The process of releasing the river is complemented by ongoing revegetation work, where up to 19 billion native seeds will be planted in the reservoirs’ footprints left behind. Regenerating the river’s entire ecosystem requires restoring its banks, and these efforts will help the river plants that originally evolved in a free-flowing environment thrive (Grable, 2023). The last dam, John C. Boyle, was just removed on August 28th, opening up 240 miles of upstream habitat to returning salmon (Karlamangla & Elliott, 2024). This marks the completion of the largest dam removal in U.S. history, and this triumph is all thanks to the activism of local Indigenous tribes (Sherriff, 2024).

In 2002, tribes of the Klamath River watched 70,000 dead fish, mostly Chinook, wash up on its banks. Excessive upstream diversions had reduced its speed and depth to unsafe levels, making the water too hot and leaving the fish exposed to disease, and the dams had greatly exacerbated these problems (Greenfield, 2023). This event kick-started the tribes’ passionate efforts to remove the dams, which connected them with scientists, other environmental activists, and fishers to protest for the health of the river and salmon (Karlamangla & Elliott, 2024). Though the dams in question were hydroelectric, they had all aged significantly since their construction, and the owners of the dams agreed to remove them largely because upgrading to fit current environmental standards would be more expensive (NOAA Fisheries, 2024). This decision plays into a larger movement to remove dams across the country, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to remove more dams that negatively impact ecosystems in the future (Otten, 2024).

Figure 2: Yurok tribe members stage a protest outside Scottish Power, the company responsible for operating the Klamath River dams (Tracy, 2024).

The Klamath River tribes call themselves “the salmon people.” This group includes the Hupa, Karuk, Klamath, and Yurok, and all have been deeply tied to this ecosystem for millenia (Karlamangla & Elliott, 2024). The river and the food it yields is central in their cultural identity, and salmon is a crucial part of many traditional and ceremonial practices. The Yurok view the Klamath River as “the Bloodline: the life blood of the people,” and salmon as a gift from Creator (Sloan, 2011). Therefore, the health of the river and the salmon within is inherently connected to the health of its people, making their disappearance a grave sign. Karuk communities share aspects of their World Renewal ceremonies with the Yurok, which ensure the continuation of reciprocity with their surroundings, and the river is a large part of these practices (Drucker, 1936). Shifting focus to daily life, the river’s historical abundance allowed local tribes to eat salmon at every single meal (Karlamangla & Elliott, 2024). In stark contrast, the Yurok tribe’s 60th annual Salmon Festival this year featured no salmon from the river itself, instead importing fish from Alaska (Sherriff, 2024).

Environmental justice in America is inextricably tied to a history of unjust treatment towards its Indigenous people. One large part of that are issues of food sovereignty: cutting tribes off from accessing traditional food pathways greatly harms both physical and cultural wellbeing. Tribes in the Klamath River region have lost their commercial salmon fisheries, leaving them some of the poorest communities in California (Norgaard, 2005). Being deprived of the salmon that once provided 50% of all daily calories has led to shockingly high rates of diabetes and heart disease: the Karuk tribe sits at 21% (almost four times the average U.S. rate) and 39.6% (three times the average U.S. rate), respectively (Norgaard, 2005). On a larger scale, Indigenous individuals face consistent food insecurity at twice the rate of white Americans, and communities living on reservations pay higher prices, up to 85% more, for food (Maillacheruvu, 2022). In this way, returning salmon to the ecosystem is a step towards addressing such health inequalities and allowing the traditional relationships of reciprocity to live on. 

Once the first salmon return to historical breeding grounds upstream, they will resume providing key services to the river and surrounding ecosystems. They act as important vehicles for nutrients, ferrying carbon and nitrogen from the ocean to habitats upstream; when they die, their bodies enrich the soil and help river-dwelling plants to grow (Karlamangla & Elliott, 2024). Chinook salmon are also a vital food source not only for Indigenous communities of the area but also for bears, raccoons, minks, and other predatory animals of the Pacific Northwest (Karlamangla & Elliott, 2024). Restoring this part of the larger Klamath Basin food web therefore bolsters the health of the organisms connected to it. 

Re-populating the stream will likely be a slow process, but scientists and local community members look to the future with hope. In the next 30 years, Chinook numbers are forecasted to rebound by as much as 80% (Karlamangla & Elliott, 2024). Ron Reed, a Karuk tribal member and longtime dam removal advocate, connects this accomplishment with “a sense of pride…of health and wellness” (Karlamangla & Elliott, 2024). Going forward, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will be collaborating with local tribes to monitor progress, planning to utilize sonar cameras, river samples, and radio tags on certain fish to track the project’s success (NOAA Fisheries, 2024). Next, NOAA and the Yurok tribe plan to continue restoration efforts in the Upper Klamath Basin (NOAA Fisheries, 2024). Though the fate of the Klamath River as a whole is still in flux, the Chinook salmon can be sure that there’s always someone there to welcome them home.  

 

Works Cited

Drucker, P. (1936). A Karuk World-Renewal Ceremony at Panaminik. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology.

Grable, J. (2023). After the dams: Restoring the Klamath River will take billions of native seeds. Oregon Public Broadcasting. https://www.opb.org/article/2023/03/20/klamath-river-dam-removal-restoration-billions-native-seeds/

Greenfield, N. (2023) The Lower Klamath River Will Soon Flow Freely Again. Natural Resources Defense Council. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/lower-klamath-river-will-soon-flow-freely-again 

Karlamangla, S., & Elliott, L. (2024, August 27). With Dams Removed, Salmon Will Have the Run of a Western River. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/27/us/klamath-dam-removal-salmon.html

Klamath Chinook Salmon. (n.d.). Oregon Wild. https://oregonwild.org/resource/klamath-chinook-salmon/

Klamath Dams. (2022). California Trout. https://caltrout.org/campaigns/klamath-dams

Maillacheruvu, S.U. (2022). The Historical Determinants of Food Insecurity in Native Communities. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/the-historical-determinants-of-food-insecurity-in-native-communities 

NOAA Fisheries. (2024). World’s Biggest Dam Removal Project to Open 420 Miles of Salmon Habitat this Fall. NOAA. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/worlds-biggest-dam-removal-project-open-420-miles-salmon-habitat-fall 

Norgaard, K. M. (2005). The Effects of Altered Diet on the Health of the Karuk People. Karuk Tribe of California. https://pages.uoregon.edu/norgaard/pdf/Effects-Altered-Diet-Karuk-Norgaard-2005.pdf 

Otten, G. U.S. (2024). Why are we removing dams? U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. https://www.fws.gov/story/2024-02/why-are-we-removing-dams

Sherriff, L. (2024). “Anything that can be built can be taken down”: The largest dam removal in US history is complete – what happens next? BBC. www.bbc.com/future/article/20240903-removing-the-klamath-river-dams-to-restore-the-river-what-happens-next 

Sloan, K. (2011). Yurok and the Klamath River. Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs. https://media.fisheries.noaa.gov/dam-migration/yurok_klamath_doi_2011.pdf 

Tracy, B. (2024, March 5). After years of protest by Native Americans, massive dam removal project hopes to restore salmon population in Northern California river. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/klamath-river-dam-removal-salmon/ 

Upper Klamath-Trinity Rivers Spring-Run Chinook Salmon. (2017). California Trout. https://caltrout.org/sos/species-accounts/salmon/chinook-salmon/upper-klamath-trinity-rivers-spring-run-chinook-salmon