River Reopens, Salmon Swims Right In!

Chinook salmon have returned to the headwaters of Oregon’s Klamath River in the USA just one year after the final dam came down, reaching spawning grounds they had not seen in more than a century.

“This is a renewal of our culture that we’ve had for thousands of years,” said William E. Ray Jr., chairman of the Klamath Tribes. “Many fought hard for this moment and did not live to see it.”

Four hydroelectric dams built between 1912 and 1962 had blocked salmon from their historic migration routes until their removal in 2023 and 2024. Biologists tracked radio-tagged fish swimming through old fish ladders, across Upper Klamath Lake, and into tributary streams, confirming at least 140 adult Chinook now spawning in the upper river. Full recovery will take years, but the tribes, who long depended on these salmon for food and ceremony, are calling their swift return a landmark victory for ecological and cultural restoration.