Tribal, State, Federal Agencies Working With Cal Trout On Klamath Fish Projects
The Klamath River dam removal process has included some bumps in the road, but it’s expected to be a boost for the North Coast’s struggling salmon runs. Several state and tribal agencies are working with Caliifornia Trout on how the four dams being removed will help salmon and steelhead on their spawning journeys upstream. Here’s more from Maven’s Notebook and NOAA Fisheries:
This monitoring will also help federal agencies ensure they are meeting tribal trust obligations to support fisheries for Klamath Basin tribes that were long central to tribal life.
“Removing the Klamath dams represents an important investment in restoring one of the great salmon rivers of the West Coast,” said Bob Pagliuco of NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation. “We have benefited from the lessons of previous dam removals, and we want to be sure that we learn as much as we can about how the fish and the system respond to these changes. The data we collect will be valuable to others who pursue this kind of restoration in the future.”
Pagliuco credited the tribes with building momentum for the dam removal project and persevering even when seemingly insurmountable obstacles arose. “Since the tribes never stopped pushing to make this happen, we’re so glad they will lead the way in recording the incredible milestone of salmon returning to the river where they have depended on those fish since time immemorial,” he said.
Agencies and tribes will each contribute data on fish returning to different parts of the Klamath Basin. For example, the Yurok and Karuk tribes will operate the SONAR station and tag fish near the former Iron Gate Dam site. The Klamath Tribes will operate three telemetry stations in the upper Klamath Basin upstream of the four dams being removed, tracking the way salmon and other species disperse into major tributaries of the Klamath River including the Sprague, Williamson, and Wood rivers, said Ryan Bart, a fisheries biologist with the Klamath Tribes.
