Current:Home > MySalmon swim freely in the Klamath River for 1st time in a century after dams removed-LoTradeCoin
Salmon swim freely in the Klamath River for 1st time in a century after dams removed
View Date:2024-12-23 21:12:32
HORNBROOK, Calif. (AP) — For the first time in more than a century, salmon are swimming freely along the Klamath River and its tributaries — a major watershed near the California-Oregon border — just days after the largest dam removal project in U.S. history was completed.
Researchers determined that Chinook salmon began migrating Oct. 3 into previously inaccessible habitat above the site of the former Iron Gate dam, one of four towering dams demolished as part of a national movement to let rivers return to their natural flow and to restore ecosystems for fish and other wildlife.
“It’s been over one hundred years since a wild salmon last swam through this reach of the Klamath River,” said Damon Goodman, a regional director for the nonprofit conservation group California Trout. “I am incredibly humbled to witness this moment and share this news, standing on the shoulders of decades of work by our Tribal partners, as the salmon return home.”
The dam removal project was completed Oct. 2, marking a major victory for local tribes that fought for decades to free hundreds of miles (kilometers) of the Klamath. Through protests, testimony and lawsuits, the tribes showcased the environmental devastation caused by the four hydroelectric dams, especially to salmon.
Scientists will use SONAR technology to continue to track migrating fish including Chinook salmon, Coho salmon and steelhead trout throughout the fall and winter to provide “important data on the river’s healing process,” Goodman said in a statement. “While dam removal is complete, recovery will be a long process.”
Conservation groups and tribes, along with state and federal agencies, have partnered on a monitoring program to record migration and track how fish respond long-term to the dam removals.
As of February, more than 2,000 dams had been removed in the U.S., the majority in the last 25 years, according to the advocacy group American Rivers. Among them were dams on Washington state’s Elwha River, which flows out of Olympic National Park into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Condit Dam on the White Salmon River, a tributary of the Columbia.
The Klamath was once known as the third-largest salmon-producing river on the West Coast. But after power company PacifiCorp built the dams to generate electricity between 1918 and 1962, the structures halted the natural flow of the river and disrupted the lifecycle of the region’s salmon, which spend most of their life in the Pacific Ocean but return up their natal rivers to spawn.
The fish population dwindled dramatically. In 2002, a bacterial outbreak caused by low water and warm temperatures killed more than 34,000 fish, mostly Chinook salmon. That jumpstarted decades of advocacy from tribes and environmental groups, culminating in 2022 when federal regulators approved a plan to remove the dams.
veryGood! (865)
Related
- Donna Kelce Includes Sweet Nod to Taylor Swift During Today Appearance With Craig Melvin
- Truck loses wheel, bounces into oncoming I-70 traffic, strikes car window and kills woman
- Man from Virginia dies in Grand Canyon after trying to hike 21 miles in single day
- 5 ex-Memphis police officers charged in Tyre Nichols death indicted on federal charges
- AI could help scale humanitarian responses. But it could also have big downsides
- Houston Rockets’ Kevin Porter Jr. fractured girlfriend’s vertebrae in NYC assault, prosecutors say
- New York Jets odds to win Super Bowl shift in wake of Aaron Rodgers' injury
- The It Bags of Fall 2023 Hit Coach Outlet Just in Time for New York Fashion Week
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Mixed Use
- See *NSYNC Reunite for the First Time in 10 Years at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards
Ranking
- Over 1.4 million Honda, Acura vehicles subject of US probe over potential engine failure
- Double rainbow stretches over New York City on 9/11 anniversary: 'Light on a dark day'
- McDonald's plans to transition away from self-serve beverage stations in US by 2032
- Boy hit by police car on Long Island will be taken off life support, mother says
- Denver district attorney is investigating the leak of voting passwords in Colorado
- Grand Canyon hiker dies attempting to trek from south rim to north rim in single day
- Oklahoma City mayor unveils plan for $900M arena to keep NBA’s Thunder through 2050
- Timeline: Massive search for escaped Pennsylvania murderer
Recommendation
-
Giuliani’s lawyers after $148M defamation judgment seek to withdraw from his case
-
A Russian passenger jet with a hydraulics problem makes a safe emergency landing in an open field
-
Second Wisconsin Republican announces bid to take on Sen. Tammy Baldwin
-
Vatican opens up a palazzo built on ancient Roman ruins and housing its highly secretive tribunals
-
Amazon launches an online discount storefront to better compete with Shein and Temu
-
A Connecticut couple rescues a baby shark caught in a work glove
-
Supporters of Native activist Leonard Peltier hold White House rally, urging Biden to grant clemency
-
Rubiales summoned by Spanish judge investigating his kiss of player at Women’s World Cup