In a groundbreaking development, salmon are once again swimming freely in the Klamath River and its tributaries for the first time in over a century. This historic moment follows the completion of the largest dam removal project in U.S. history. On October 3, researchers confirmed that Chinook salmon have begun to migrate into habitats that had been previously inaccessible due to the Iron Gate Dam—one of four major dams removed near the California-Oregon border. This project is part of a broader national effort to restore rivers to their natural flow and revitalize ecosystems for fish and wildlife.
Damon Goodman, a regional director for the conservation group California Trout, shared his thoughts on this significant occasion. “It’s been over 100 years since a wild salmon last swam through this section of the Klamath River,” he remarked. “I feel incredibly humbled to witness this moment and to share this news, standing on the shoulders of decades of work by our Tribal partners as the salmon find their way home.”
The dam removal, completed on October 2, marks a crucial victory for local tribes who have advocated for decades to restore hundreds of miles of the Klamath River. Their persistent efforts included protests, testimonies, and legal actions aimed at highlighting the environmental degradation caused by the four hydroelectric dams, particularly their impact on salmon populations.
Goodman noted that scientists will be using sonar technology throughout the fall and winter to track the migration of various fish species, including Chinook salmon, Coho salmon, and steelhead trout. “This will yield important data on the river’s healing process,” he explained. “While the dam removal is complete, recovery will be a long journey.”
A coalition of conservation groups, tribal organizations, and state and federal agencies has come together to establish a monitoring program designed to document fish migrations and assess the long-term impacts of the dam removals.
As of February, over 2,000 dams have been removed across the United States, with the majority of these removals occurring in the last 25 years, according to the advocacy group American Rivers. Noteworthy examples include the removal of dams on Washington state’s Elwha River and the Condit Dam on the White Salmon River, a tributary of the Columbia River.
Historically, the Klamath River was the third-largest salmon-producing river on the West Coast. However, the construction of these dams by power company PacifiCorp between 1918 and 1962 disrupted the natural flow of the river, severely impacting the life cycle of local salmon. Since these fish spend most of their lives in the Pacific Ocean, they depend on the ability to return to their native rivers to spawn—a process that was significantly obstructed by the dams.
The fish population faced a dramatic decline, especially following a bacterial outbreak in 2002 caused by low water levels and warm temperatures, which led to the death of over 34,000 fish, predominantly Chinook salmon. This crisis sparked decades of advocacy from tribal communities and environmental organizations, culminating in a decisive action by federal regulators in 2022 to move forward with the dam removals.
