Salmon watchers in the Pacific Northwest are warning it could take at least a decade for fish in the Lower Klamath River to recover following the nation’s largest-ever dam removal.
The breaching of four hydroelectric dams restored more than 400 miles of free-flowing waterway to the region and came after decades of negotiations among a host of parties, including tribal nations, states, the federal government, a power company and nonprofits.
Months of aggressive demolition allowed the Klamath River to return to its main channel for the first time in more than a century in August, as work continued through Wednesday to remove hydropower facilities and other remaining infrastructure.
Now, as the first migration of fall chinook begin to swim upstream to their spawning grounds, fisheries managers and biologists are moving into the next stage of restoring native fish populations in the region.