After Klamath Dams Removed, First Salmon Reach Oregon

We’re strarting to see some of the fruits of labor after the removal of four Klamath River dams: salmon swimming further upstream as they’d been able to for a long, long time.

Here’s a report from the San Francisco Chronicle:

Since the four private hydroelectric dams came down, scientists have been monitoring the river, both with sonar and field crews, to watch for fish that swim past the former dam sites. The turbidity of the water, primarily from sediment from dam removal, had prompted many to think that salmon might wait until later in the year, at least, before returning to their old spawning grounds.

On Oct. 3, however, the first salmon was observed by sonar moving through the southernmost of the former dam sites, Iron Gate Dam in Siskiyou County. Since then, at least dozens, and perhaps hundreds, of chinook have pushed through that site, scientists say.

The fish seen Wednesday in Oregon by field crews is believed to have continued through the footprints of two other former dams in Siskiyou County, Copco #1 and Copco #2, as well as through the footprint of the former J.C. Boyle Dam, across the state line