In the natural order of things, Chinook salmon swim from the Pacific ocean up into freshwater rivers for hundreds of miles, back to their birthplaces to spawn the next generation. But a dam was built on the Klamath River in Oregon in 1912, and three more followed, leaving the salmon unable to complete their biological imperative. The salmon population declined, and the pooled water along the river became infected with algae and diseases. You might recall the salmon cannon that was supposed to help the fish get upriver, but that wouldn't help the newly-hatched salmon get down to the ocean, nor would it restore the river quality. Native American tribes advocated for dam removal for decades, and that finally happened beginning in 2023. The last dam was removed in August of this year.
Lo and behold, the salmon are coming back! Despite being blocked for more than a century, they know where to go to spawn, and it took the fish less than two months to get to the Upper Klamath and its tributaries. The dam removal was a major project, but the free-flowing water is showing signs of recovery. Read about the saga of the Chinook salmon on the Klamath at Smithsonian. -via Metafilter
(Image credit: USFWS Fish and Aquatic Conservation)
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Glad to see the fish have returned to their spawning grounds. Team fish
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