Monday November 18, 2024
The Revelator —
The removal of four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River in southern Oregon and Northern California has been recognized as the largest dam removal in U.S. history. More notably, it’s also the largest salmon-restoration project to date.
In late September I watched an excavator take large bites out of the cofferdam at Iron Gate, the most downstream of the dams.
Just over two weeks later, a crew spotted a pair of salmon spawning in one of the tributaries above Iron Gate, where the fish had not previously been able to reach. On Oct. 16 biologists spied fall Chinook salmon at the mouth of a tributary in Oregon. This spot, 230 miles from the ocean, is above all four of the former dam sites.
The speed of the salmon’s return has astonished even the most seasoned biologists.