Dam Removal on Track, but Salmon not on the Menu this Year
Klamath River Communities remain optimistic that dam removal will lead to strong salmon runs in the future, but this year will be marked by empty smoke houses and a Salmon Festival without salmon. Rafting companies are looking to new business plans post dam removal and Tribes are looking to revise water rights law in the West. In case you missed it, we include coverage of a lifetime achieve award given to long time Klamath River activist Petey Brucker, a great Youtube clip on dam removal from an engineering perspective, and cause for great optimism based on salmon returns on the Elwha post dam removal. For fun, we include clip about the River Monsters of the Klamath.
News
No Salmon at Klamath Salmon Festival: Yurok Tribe Takes Salmon Off the Menu Once Again Due to Bad Fish Forecast | Lost Coast Outpost | Humboldt County News
With a heavy heart, the Yurok Tribe announces that salmon will not be served at the 59th Annual Klamath Salmon Festival because the Klamath River’s forecasted fish run is one of the lowest on record.
Rafting For Change on the Klamath
Rafting the Upper Klamath River is possible through the summer thanks to releases of water from the J.C. Boyle Dam, which will be removed next year. When guides return to the Upper Klamath in 2025, this stretch of the river will be forever changed.
The West's water system is grappling with a racist past and hotter future : NPR
In Western states, the older a water claim, the more secure it is during a drought. Tribes have long been excluded from that system and now, they're pushing for change.
As work begins on the largest US dam removal project, tribes look to a future of growth | AP News
Once the dams are gone, crews will work to replant billions of seeds from native plants. Native American tribes spent years gathering seeds by hand and officials say the goal is to give native plants an advantage over invasive species such as starthistle.
California’s Salmon Are Teetering on the Brink - Modern Farmer
Arron Hockaday Sr. remembers fishing for salmon with his father in the late 1970s. Back then, it wasn’t just the number of salmon running up Northern California’s Klamath River that impressed him. It was the size. “Back then, gosh, it was amazing to see the fish when the fish ran during the fall,” says Hockaday, a traditional fisherman and council member of the Karuk Tribe. “The salmon were huge.” On average, he says, you could catch fish ranging from 40 to 50 pounds—although members of his grandparents’ generation were known to catch 100-pound Chinook salmon at Ishi Pishi Falls, the
Largest dam removal in California begins, will benefit tribal fishing
A massive dam removal project in California will restore the Klamath River and revive salmon runs, a big win for local tribes and environmentalists.
With one down, Klamath dam removal proceeds on schedule | Jefferson Public Radio
Removing the Copco 2 dam takes deconstruction crews one step closer to drawdowns of the remaining three reservoirs next January.
Removing dams from the Klamath River is a step toward justice for Native Americans in Northern California
The largest dam removal project is moving forward on the Klamath River in California and Oregon. Tribal nations there have fought for decades to protect native fish runs and the ecology of the river.
In Case You Missed It...
River Monsters: The 6 Largest Fish in the Klamath River - AZ Animals
Explore Klamath River's 6 fish giants! Dive into river monsters' realm, unraveling their astonishing stories.
Strong fish counts seen in Elwha | Peninsula Daily News
Repopulating salmon still in infancy, specialist says
EPIC to honor local watershed advocate – Times-Standard
Brucker leads with the belief that stewardship is everyone’s responsibility, and that working together is the only path to achieve lasting change.
What Happens When You Remove a Dam - YouTube
The US is deconstructing four dams along the Klamath River. Skip the waitlist and invest in blue-chip art for the very first time by signing up for Masterwor...
