November 4, 2024 — Researchers are expressing optimism over the initial signs of salmon migration in the Lower Klamath River following the nation’s largest-ever dam removal, saying fish are moving upstream into previously blocked regions as the waterway shows signs of improving health.
A series of four dams were removed from the river in Northern California and southern Oregon, with demolition completed in early October, restoring more than 400 miles of free-flowing waterway that had been blocked for a century.
Federal, tribal and state fisheries managers predict it could take at least a decade for the region’s fisheries to recover to healthy population levels, but on Thursday they touted the first post-removal migration.