Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] For the first time in 112 years, Chinook salmon are swimming freely up the Klamath River. After four large dams along the river were removed, biologists from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife spotted chinook salmon near the former site of the J.C. boyle Dam on the Upper Klamath River, Smithsonian reported on October 25th.
[00:00:23] This dam was one of four that had blocked the migration of salmon between the Klamath Basin and the Pacific Ocean.
[00:00:31] These four dams were recently dismantled as part of the largest dam removal project in US History, restoring the river to its natural free flowing state.
[00:00:40] Initially, the biologists weren't even sure they were seeing salmon. We saw a large fish surface in the Klamath river the day before, but only glimpsed the dorsal fin, shared Mark Hereford, project lead for the Klamath Fisheries Reintroduction with odfw.
[00:00:56] When they returned to the same stretch of river, the team confirmed that it was indeed a fall migrating Chinook salmon. This made them the first to witness Chinook salmon in the area since 1912.
[00:01:08] The salmon's return came less than two months after the completion of the dam removal project in California and Oregon. This milestone was the result of decades of advocacy by conservation groups and local tribes, including the Yurok, Karuk, Shasta, Klamath, Hupa Valley, and others who share a deep cultural connection to the Chinook salmon. Ron Reed, a Karuk tribe member and traditional fisherman who supported the dam removal campaign, believes that restoring the river will revive salmon populations and wasn't surprised to see them swiftly return to their ancestral waters.
[00:01:47] For Reid and many others, the project's success marks a return to their traditional fishing practices.
[00:01:53] The dams built between the early 1900s and 1962 had fueled algae blooms and disease outbreaks, obstructing the salmon's annual migrations.
[00:02:04] In November 2022, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved a $500 million dam removal project.
[00:02:13] The first dam was demolished in fall 2023.
[00:02:17] Starting in January, reservoirs for the remaining three dams were drained and their infrastructure was dismantled.
[00:02:24] By late August, the river flowed freely for the first time in over a century.
[00:02:29] Now, with the dam system gone, local tribes are thrilled to see salmon return.
[00:02:34] Able to swim over 400 miles up the river, biologists believe that the salmon spotted in Oregon likely swam around 230 miles from the Pacific Ocean to reach that point.
[00:02:52] However, most scientists estimate that it may take three to five generations for chinook salmon populations to fully recover in the basin.
