Klamath River salmon reclaim 88% of historic range after dams are removed

Four concrete barriers blocked the way for salmon that once swam freely between the Pacific Ocean and the high desert reaches of Oregon and California for more than a hundred years. The dams were removed in 2024 as part of one of the largest dam removal projects in U.S. history, letting the river flow freely for the first time in generations. The results were swift and striking. Within just two salmon runs, more than 21,000 Chinook salmon moved upstream, accessing 88 percent of the range they historically occupied before the dams were built. As detailed in research titled 'Rewilding the upper Klamath River Basin' published in Nature, the rapid return of the fish offers powerful evidence of how quickly ecosystems can begin to heal when key obstacles are taken away.A river cut offThe Klamath River stretches more than 250 miles from the high lakes of southern Oregon to the Pacific coast of northern California. For thousands of years, it supported one of the most productive salmon runs on the West Coast. Chinook, coho and steelhead travelled hundreds of miles inland to spawn in cold, clear tributaries, sustaining rich food webs and indigenous communities along the way.That changed in t...