1st time in a century

Salmon seen in Upper Klamath Basin for 1st time in century after historic Northern Calif. dam removal

'It's a world change for us, a paradigm shift'

By Sam Mauhay-Moore

A year after the historic removal of four dams along the Klamath River in Northern California and Southern Oregon, Chinook salmon have cleared the waterway’s last remaining dams and returned to tributaries in the Upper Klamath Basin for the first time in over a century.

In late September, a Chinook salmon was seen on video ascending a fish ladder at Keno Dam, one of the Klamath’s two remaining dams in the upper basin southwest of Klamath Falls. Since then, cameras and radio tags have confirmed the presence of salmon at various locations further upstream, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced on Oct. 17. This marks the salmon’s first return to the Upper Klamath Basin since the dams were built in the early 20th century.

“I never thought in my lifetime, or especially in my parents’ lifetimes, that we would see the salmon back up in our area,” Klamath Tribal Chairman William E. Ray Jr. told SFGATE.

At least 200 salmon are thought to be in Upper Klamath Basin at this time, Ray said, which includes Upper Klamath Lake, as well as tributaries like the Sprague and Williamson rivers. For the fish to reach this region, Ray said, is nothing short of extraordinary.

“I don’t know how to explain it, the monumental, herculean, awesome feat it was for them to go through all that,” Ray said. “I mean, impediment after impediment, and then swim through the most toxic water that you could swim through and still make it to the point where you’re 360 miles away to spawn. Isn’t that awesome?”

The salmon reaching Keno Dam was a feat in and of itself, Ray said. But their journey past it is what he finds most remarkable: Past Keno, the fish had to swim through waters rife with toxic algae blooms and chemicals from agricultural runoff and then traverse past the Link River Dam at the southern edge of Upper Klamath Lake. Ray believes the salmon must have then found pockets of aquifer-fed freshwater within the highly polluted Upper Klamath Lake and swum through those in order to make it several more miles upstream to places like the Sprague, Williamson and Wood rivers. Ray remembers swimming through those same pockets of water as a child, he said, when the lake was still clean enough to swim in.

Paul Wilson, a photographer and Klamath tribal member who uses drone videography to survey salmon numbers in the basin, said he was brought to tears when he saw how many salmon have repopulated his ancestral waterways.

“It’s a world change for us, a paradigm shift,” Wilson said. “There were a lot of tears and a little bit of disbelief, seeing how quickly they came back and numbers that we’re seeing, and how much life is left.”

Both Wilson and Ray said that the Klamath River’s renewal marks a shift toward their tribe’s treaty rights finally being secured. The Treaty of 1864 granted the Klamath, Modoc and Yahooskin-Paiute people hunting, fishing, gathering and water rights throughout the Klamath Basin, and, like hundreds of other treaties signed between tribes and the federal government during this time, has been largely ignored for over a century.

“That’s something that’s been under assault for 100 years, and something that’s the supreme law of the land under Western law,” Wilson said. “To see it actualized in front of me and to get to tell the story — it’s the most fulfilling and important work that I’ve done, and so it’s been beautiful to do it in my home.”

The salmon reaching the upper basin is an important milestone, Ray said, adding that the work isn't over: Other fish species in the Klamath are at risk of extinction, including the c’waam and koptu, species that are endemic to the Klamath Basin and also sacred to the tribes there.

“The c’waam and koptu don’t have 10 years before extinction,” Ray said. “We only have a little bit of time here.”

Salmon fishing is still prohibited in the basin and will likely remain that way until the species reaches a stable population. Once that happens, Ray and Wilson hope to see a resurgence of the tribes’ old practices, in which the salmon were a hallmark of physical, economic and spiritual sustenance.

“It’s a blessing of cultural renewal, cultural healing, and just truly a blessing from Creator,” Ray said.