First Klamath River salmon since 1912 reported in Oregon after dam removal!

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – For the first time in 114 years, biologists from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) have observed a fall-run Chinook salmon returning to spawning in the Klamath Basin in Oregon.

On October 16, the ODFW documented this bright, beautiful fish in a tributary to the Klamath River, Spencer Creek, above the former J.C. Boyle Dam.

This is the first anadromous fish — a fish that migrates up rivers to spawn — to return to the Klamath Basin in Oregon since 1912 when the first of four PacifiCorp hydroelectric dams was constructed, blocking migration to historic habitat, according to an announcement from the ODFW. Hopefully, we will see the return of coho salmon and steelhead to the upper watershed soon.

Make no mistake about it — the dam removal couldn’t have happened without the protests, rallies, direct action and other efforts by Tribal members, environmentalists and fishermen over the past 20 years, including trips to Scotland when a Scottish corporation owned the dams and to Omaha, Nebraska after Warren Buffett bought the PacifICorp dams.

I have reported on the battle to restore the Klamath River in an array of publications since the 1990s — and was the lone journalist or one of the few journalists at some press conferences and events by the Tribes, environmentalists and fishermen when the movement for removing the dams began over 20 years ago. The return of salmon to Oregon waters is very welcome news to me.

This salmon traveled over 230 miles from the Pacific Ocean to reach Spencer Creek only a few weeks after Klamath River dams were removed to ensure fish passage from California to Oregon. 

Tribal and ODFW representatives commented on the significance of the salmon returning to spawn in the Klamath Basin.

“The return of our relatives the c’iyaal’s is overwhelming for our tribe,” said Roberta Frost, Klamath Tribes Secretary. “This is what our members worked for and believed in for so many decades.”

“I want to honor that work and thank them for their persistence in the face of what felt like an unmovable obstacle. The salmon are just like our tribal people, and they know where home is and returned as soon as they were able,” noted Frost.

“This is an exciting and historic development in the Klamath Basin that demonstrates the resiliency of salmon and steelhead,” said ODFW Director Debbie Colbert. “It also inspires us to continue restoration work in the upper basin. I want to thank everyone that has contributed to this effort over the last two decades.”

"c’iyaal’s are culture carriers,” said Natalie Ball, Klamath Tribes Council Woman. “I'm excited for their return home and for us to be in relation with them again.”

The ODFW noted that biologists have been surveying the Klamath River and tributaries since dam removal as part of the agency’s responsibility to monitor the repopulation of anadromous fish species to the basin in collaboration with the Klamath Tribes and other partners, according to ODFW.

Mark Hereford, ODFW’s Klamath Fisheries Reintroduction Project Leader, part of the survey team that identified the fall-run Chinook, said his team was “ecstatic” when they saw the first salmon arrive.

“We saw a large fish the day before rise to the surface in the Klamath River, but we only saw a dorsal fin,” reported Hereford. “I thought, was that a salmon or maybe it was a very large rainbow trout?” Once the team returned on Oct. 16 and 17, they were able to confirm that salmon were in the tributary.”

ODFW, CDFW, the Klamath Tribes and other partners have been working together on this historic restoration project to monitor Chinook salmon, coho salmon, steelhead, and Pacific lamprey once they are able to repopulate habitat above the dams.  

Michael Belchik, Senior Scientist for the Yurok Tribe, also was elated about the return of salmon to a Klamath tributary in Oregon.

“There are at least 4 adult salmon and a redd (nest) in Spencer Creek in Oregon,” said Belchik. “This is over 260 miles from the ocean and at an altitude of over 4,000 ft. and only 10 miles from Klamath Falls.  These salmon climbed many class 4 and 5 rapids above the dam sites, and ascended a waterfall in the Klamath River just below Spencer Creek. Wow.”  

“I cannot believe how quickly they found their way to their ancestral homes! I figured they'd go above the dam sites relatively quickly, but I thought it would take a few years for them to make it all the way to the Upper Klamath Basin. Salmon amaze me over and over again,” he stated.  

"The salmon remember,” said Yurok Vice Chairman Frankie Myers in the San Francisco Chronicle.

In a Facebook Post, Shane Anderson of Swiftwater Films also reported on the return of salmon to the Klamath Basin in the river above the former Iron Gate Dam.

“The first chinook salmon in over 60 years are officially spawning above the former Iron Gate dam on the Klamath, just two weeks after construction wrapped on dam removal,” said Anderson. “Two days ago, a pair was spotted above Iron Gate and today we saw 36. The fish are bright, strong and beautiful. What an incredible few days and a testament to the resilience of salmon.”     

On Oct. 15, spawning fall-run Chinook salmon were observed in Jenny Creek, a Klamath River tributary 4.3 river miles upstream of the former Iron Gate Dam location, the southernmost barrier of four dams removed from the Klamath River, according to a press release from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“Additionally, adult fall-run Chinook are starting to return to CDFW’s newly rebuilt Fall Creek Fish Hatchery on Fall Creek, a formerly inaccessible tributary about 7.5 miles upstream of the old Iron Gate Dam,” the CDFW noted. “In addition to returning fall-run Chinook, an adult Pacific lamprey was observed swimming through CDFW’s fish counting station in Jenny Creek on Oct. 1.”  

The movement to remove the dams was spurred by a massive fish kill on the Klamath River in September 2002 when over 68,000 salmon died on the lower river on the Yurok Reservation, the result of a Bush administration decision to divert water to farmers in the Klamath Basin despite legal challenges by the Yurok and Hoopa Valley tribes, environmentalists and fishing groups. 

"The fish kill is a lot worse than everybody thinks," said a shaken Walt Lara, then the Requa representative to the Yurok Tribal Council, in a phone interview with me on September 23, 2002. "It's a lot larger than anything I've seen reported on the T.V. news or in the newspapers. The whole chinook run will be impacted, probably by 85 to 95 percent. And the fish are dying as we speak. They're swimming around in circles. They bump up against your legs when you're standing in the water. These are beautiful, chrome-bright fish that are dying, not fish that are already spawned out."

While the Klamath Basin is seeing the return of salmon to the Upper Basin for the first time since 1912, the fish still face other hurdles, including water diversions, water quality issues, climate change and warming ocean conditions. All ocean recreational and commercial salmon fishing and all recreational salmon fishing in California rivers was closed this year and in 2023, due to low adult fall-run Chinook returns on the Sacramento and Klamath rivers. Tribal harvest has been restricted to fish for subsistence and ceremonial use over the past two years.

But the salmon are now returning to their historic habitat, resulting in celebration among those who worked so hard for dam removal.

“The salmon are exceeding everybody’s exceptions,” said Craig Tucker, Natural Resources Consultant with the Karuk Tribe. “Not only does dam removal work, but it works almost immediately. I’m on cloud nine.”

What about criticism from opponents of dam removal and some dam removal supporters regarding sediment loads, fish deaths, wildlife strandings and other problems in the river during the deconstruction of the dams?  

Tucker responded, “What we’re talking about is a revolutionary approach to restoring rivers and a revolutionary approach to social justice — and it takes some people time to come around to that. Big restoration projects are messy and you have to learn as you go to some degree.”   

“Clearly Klamath dam removal is causing short term negative impacts as predicted, but the long term benefits to water quality and native fisheries will last for generations,” he concluded.

To see a underwater video of a fall-run Chinook Salmon on Oct. 16, 2024, in a tributary of the Klamath River after removal of the dams, go to: https://youtu.be/uqHou-eHwDg

Current Salmon Counts from the CDFW 

October 18, 2024 – The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has released its latest in-season update on the Klamath River Project’s Adult Fish Counting Facility operations. The report provides preliminary data on Fall-run Chinook Salmon and Coho Salmon returns across multiple tributaries. 

• Shasta River: 1,871 adult Chinook Salmon, 0 adult Coho Salmon (August 29 – October 13, 2024)
• Bogus Creek: 56 adult Chinook Salmon, 0 adult Coho Salmon (September 5 – October 15, 2024)
• Scott River: 81 adult Chinook Salmon, 0 adult Coho Salmon (September 13 – October 16, 2024)
• Jenny Creek: 0 Chinook Salmon, 0 Coho Salmon, 1 adult lamprey (September 26 – October 9, 2024)
• Shovel Creek: No data available (operations began October 16, 2024)

There have been multiple adult Chinook Salmon observed in Jenny Creek, however due to video formatting the review takes longer than the other sites so there is a delay in documenting fish passage through the Jenny Creek station.