First Salmon Since 1912 Spotted in Oregon’s Klamath Basin Following Dam Removal
On Oct.16, a fall-run Chinook salmon was identified in a tributary to the Klamath River, becoming the first of the fish to return to the Klamath Basin in Oregon since 1912 when the first of four hydroelectric dams was constructed, blocking migration.
The salmon – part of a species which travel up rivers from the sea to breed – was identified by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife fish biologists. The Chinook and others likely traveled about 230 miles from the Pacific Ocean to reach the tributary, months after the Klamath River dams were removed to ensure fish passage from California to Oregon.
“This is an exciting and historic development in the Klamath Basin that demonstrates the resiliency of salmon and steelhead,” ODFW Director Debbie Colbert said. “It also inspires us to continue restoration work in the upper basin. I want to thank everyone that has contributed to this effort over the last two decades.”
“This is what our members worked for and believed in for so many decades,” Klamath Tribes Secretary Roberta Frost said. “The salmon are just like our tribal people and they know where home is and returned as soon as they were able.”
Fish biologists have been surveying the Klamath River and tributaries since the removal of the dams as part of the agency’s responsibility to monitor the repopulation of anadromous fish species to the basin in collaboration with the Klamath Tribes, a federally recognized Native American Nation. It consists of three Native American tribes that traditionally inhabited Southern Oregon and Northern California: the Klamath, Modoc and Yahooskin.
The tribes are headquartered in Oregon.
ODFW, the Klamath Tribes and other partners have been working together on the restoration project to monitor Chinook salmon, coho salmon, steelhead and Pacific lamprey once they’re able to repopulate habitat above the dams.
Mark Hereford, ODFW’s Klamath Fisheries Reintroduction Project Leader, who was part of the survey team that identified the fall-run Chinook, said his team was ecstatic upon seeing the first salmon.
“We saw a large fish the day before rise to surface in the Klamath River, but we only saw a dorsal fin,” Hereford remarked. He recalled thinking, “was that a salmon or maybe it was a very large rainbow trout?”
Once the reintroduction team returned on Oct. 16 and 17, they were able to confirm that salmon were in the tributary.
