Wednesday September 25, 2024
WBUR —
Salmon are once again swimming freely in the Klamath River after the world’s largest dam removal project was completed in August.
Indigenous tribal nations along the California-Oregon border have campaigned for decades to tear down four hydroelectric dams they say destroyed the river’s ecosystem and upended their way of life.
The Yurok Tribe, based in California, is one of the tribes behind the campaign to demolish the dams. For the Yurok, who hold the salmon sacred, the demolition of the dams is a hard-fought victory that will ensure the future of their tribe’s way of living.
Barry McCovey, director of the Yurok Fisheries Department, didn’t think this day would ever come.
“It was hard to believe because we’ve been fighting this battle for so long,” McCovey says. “So to see it finally happen was pretty amazing.”