Chinook salmon return to the Klamath River after record dam removal
Crews pulled four hydroelectric dams from the Klamath River in 2024, reopening more than 640 kilometers of river habitat that had been cut off for decades. Salmon started swimming through the former dam sites almost immediately. Researchers counted 7,742 Chinook salmon moving upstream that year, then 13,310 in 2025. Two migration seasons was enough for the fish to recolonize 88 percent of their historical range, navigating engineered fishways to reach 345 kilometers of habitat and elevations as high as 1,250 meters.
Chinook salmon now have access to hundreds of kilometers of river habitat that had been walled off from them across their historical range.
Source: Rewilding the upper Klamath River Basin: rapid recolonization of Chinook salmon following the world’s largest dam removal - Scientific Reports (nature.com). Spotted via Reasons to be Cheerful.
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