Current:Home > MySalmon swim freely in the Klamath River for 1st time in a century after dams removed -Dynamic Wealth Solutions
Salmon swim freely in the Klamath River for 1st time in a century after dams removed
View
Date:2025-04-14 11:14:32
HORNBROOK, Calif. (AP) — For the first time in more than a century, salmon are swimming freely along the Klamath River and its tributaries — a major watershed near the California-Oregon border — just days after the largest dam removal project in U.S. history was completed.
Researchers determined that Chinook salmon began migrating Oct. 3 into previously inaccessible habitat above the site of the former Iron Gate dam, one of four towering dams demolished as part of a national movement to let rivers return to their natural flow and to restore ecosystems for fish and other wildlife.
“It’s been over one hundred years since a wild salmon last swam through this reach of the Klamath River,” said Damon Goodman, a regional director for the nonprofit conservation group California Trout. “I am incredibly humbled to witness this moment and share this news, standing on the shoulders of decades of work by our Tribal partners, as the salmon return home.”
The dam removal project was completed Oct. 2, marking a major victory for local tribes that fought for decades to free hundreds of miles (kilometers) of the Klamath. Through protests, testimony and lawsuits, the tribes showcased the environmental devastation caused by the four hydroelectric dams, especially to salmon.
Scientists will use SONAR technology to continue to track migrating fish including Chinook salmon, Coho salmon and steelhead trout throughout the fall and winter to provide “important data on the river’s healing process,” Goodman said in a statement. “While dam removal is complete, recovery will be a long process.”
Conservation groups and tribes, along with state and federal agencies, have partnered on a monitoring program to record migration and track how fish respond long-term to the dam removals.
As of February, more than 2,000 dams had been removed in the U.S., the majority in the last 25 years, according to the advocacy group American Rivers. Among them were dams on Washington state’s Elwha River, which flows out of Olympic National Park into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Condit Dam on the White Salmon River, a tributary of the Columbia.
The Klamath was once known as the third-largest salmon-producing river on the West Coast. But after power company PacifiCorp built the dams to generate electricity between 1918 and 1962, the structures halted the natural flow of the river and disrupted the lifecycle of the region’s salmon, which spend most of their life in the Pacific Ocean but return up their natal rivers to spawn.
The fish population dwindled dramatically. In 2002, a bacterial outbreak caused by low water and warm temperatures killed more than 34,000 fish, mostly Chinook salmon. That jumpstarted decades of advocacy from tribes and environmental groups, culminating in 2022 when federal regulators approved a plan to remove the dams.
veryGood! (1)
Related
- Global Warming Set the Stage for Los Angeles Fires
- NBA schedule released. Among highlights: Celtics-Knicks on ring night, Durant going back to school
- Social media celebrates Chick-Fil-A's Banana Pudding Milkshake: 'Can I go get in line now?'
- Video shows 2 toddlers in diapers, distraught in the middle of Texas highway after crash
- North Carolina trustees approve Bill Belichick’s deal ahead of introductory news conference
- The Sunscreen and Moisturizer Duo That Saved My Skin on a Massively Hot European Vacation
- Austin Dillon loses automatic playoff berth for actions in crash-filled NASCAR win
- Violent crime is rapidly declining. See which cities are seeing drops in homicides.
- Former Syrian official arrested in California who oversaw prison charged with torture
- Democrats try to block Green Party from presidential ballot in Wisconsin, citing legal issues
Ranking
- Selena Gomez's "Weird Uncles" Steve Martin and Martin Short React to Her Engagement
- Collin Gosselin Says He Was Discharged from the Marines Due to Being Institutionalized by Mom Kate
- Gymnast Gabby Douglas Shares $5 Self-Care Hacks and Talks Possible 2028 Olympic Comeback
- Meta kills off misinformation tracking tool CrowdTangle despite pleas from researchers, journalists
- What to know about Tuesday’s US House primaries to replace Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz
- Gabourey Sidibe Shares Sweet Photo of Her 4-Month-Old Twin Babies
- North Dakota lawmaker dies at 54 following cancer battle
- Demi Lovato opens up about how 'daddy issues' led her to chase child stardom, success
Recommendation
Head of the Federal Aviation Administration to resign, allowing Trump to pick his successor
The wife of Republican Wisconsin US Senate candidate Hovde takes aim at female Democratic incumbent
51 Must-Try Stress Relief & Self-Care Products for National Relaxation Day (& National Wellness Month)
New York county signs controversial mask ban meant to hide people's identities in public
Toyota to invest $922 million to build a new paint facility at its Kentucky complex
Candace Cameron Bure remembers playing 'weird' evil witch on 'Boy Meets World'
These six House races are ones to watch in this year’s election
A 1-year-old Virginia girl abducted by father is dead after they crashed in Maryland, police say