Wednesday April 22, 2026
Herald and News —
The Klamath Tribes plan to implement the first-ever large-scale reintroduction of Chinook salmon.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs and NOAA Fisheries recently allocated $6 million in efforts do the reintroduction on what the Tribes say are “critically imperiled spring-run Chinook salmon within the Klamath Tribes’ ancestral territory.”
The Tribes plan to establish up to 40 remote incubation sites in cold-water streams above Upper Klamath Lake. The money will also support the installation of four additional raceways and “increase water efficiency” at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Klamath Fish Hatchery near Chiloquin.
Klamath Tribes Chairman William Ray Jr. said he believes the pass-through funds “will serve not only the Klamath Tribes but the entire ecosystem,” noting, “We appreciate all of these partners coming together to bring the c’ivaal’s (salmon) home to the Klamath Tribes in hopes that within the next generation we can re-establish a fishable population to feed our people, to heal our people.”