After dam removal project, Yurok Tribe awaits the return of salmon in parts of the Klamath River

Salmon are once again swimming freely in the Klamath River after the world's largest dam removal project was completed in August.

Indigenous tribal nations along the California-Oregon border have campaigned for decades to tear down four hydroelectric dams they say destroyed the river’s ecosystem and upended their way of life.

The Yurok Tribe, based in California, is one of the tribes behind the campaign to demolish the dams. For the Yurok, who hold the salmon sacred, the demolition of the dams is a hard-fought victory that will ensure the future of their tribe’s way of living.

Barry McCovey, director of the Yurok Fisheries Department, didn’t think this day would ever come.

“It was hard to believe because we've been fighting this battle for so long,” McCovey says. “So to see it finally happen was pretty amazing.”

The dam did a lot of damage to the salmon that have used this river for thousands of years because once they got out to the ocean, there was no way for them to come back up the river to spawn. What did that do to the fish and to the Yurok people who've relied on them for so long?

“The Yurok people — and not just Yurok people, but all of the indigenous people in the Klamath Basin — have relied on salmon and anadromous fish, fish that come from the ocean, since the beginning of time.

“When dams were put in on these rivers, and these four dams that we're talking about in particular that were recently removed, it effectively cut off about half of the river. So, fish were no longer able to access approximately 400 miles of river that they had been able to access previously. Almost overnight, populations started to crash in the Klamath Basin.

“Salmon and a healthy river are extremely important parts of who we are as tribal people. And to have those things that are so important to us be severely degraded is very, very hard on Yurok people.”

What's happened in the past few weeks now that the river is flowing?

“The river is free-flowing now. The dams are down and out of the way. But dam removal is a lot like heart surgery. If you view the river as the arteries and blood vessels of the Earth transporting nutrients like the blood system does in a human, dam removal is kind of like removing this blockage, like a big blockage in a heart.

“If you look at the river and the ecosystem as being on the operating table, the heart surgery was just completed. They just removed the blockage, but we still have to sew up the cavity. There's a long process of healing that needs to take place. And that's where we're at now with with Klamath Dam removal and the Klamath River. We look forward to the opportunity to help the river heal.”

When those dams came down, a lot of the fish in the reservoirs behind them died. And there was this dark foul sludge that flowed downstream. Why did that happen?

“The dams not only blocked the fish from swimming upstream, but they also blocked the sediment from flowing downstream. And so there's this energy transfer that rivers do. And when you put dams in the way, all that sediment gets built up behind those dams. And so when the reservoirs drained, a lot of that sediment came pouring out.

“But there were a lot of exotic and invasive species, lake species that had been introduced and planted into the reservoir. So like perch and bass and things like that, fish that aren't native to the Klamath River. And when those reservoirs went away, their habitat went away and they perished. It wasn't unforeseen. We knew that that would happen and it was actually part of the plan was for those fish to go away because we don't want lake fish and exotic fish living in the Klamath River.”

Some local residents are furious that the dams are gone. People had homes on a reservoir that's no longer there. If you change the water levels, that can affect businesses that are connected to these reservoirs, like boating and whitewater rafting. The dams created hydropower. How do you balance or think about the impact on the salmon with the real losses that are a result of the dams coming down?

“It's a tough one. People are suffering and feeling loss. This is about the greater good for the Klamath Basin ecosystem and for the region at large. And us tribal members understand what the people are going through. We've suffered also through history. We know how it feels to lose something that's important to you. And so we feel for those people up there.”

Have you seen any impacts on the salmon? Have they returned to places they haven't been in many years? 

“The salmon run is just commencing. The fish are making their way upriver now. We won't know until another month or so. When we check back in, we'll know a lot more. But fish are migrating upstream and making their way up to the project area as we speak.

“When fish do return past the footprint of Iron Gate Dam to a place where they haven't been in over 60 or 70 years, we'll know. And so we're waiting for the day when we see those first fish start to recolonize the area upstream of the dams. And so we'll see in about a month or so.”

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Kalyani Saxena produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Todd Mundt. Allison Hagan adapted it for the web.