Klamath River: Building a Barometer for Recovery, Together

In July 2024, CalTrout and partners launched the Klamath River Monitoring Program to better understand the outcomes of dam removal, including how fish repopulate newly opened habitat and how they recover from landscape level restoration. In addition to SONAR imaging, the Program employs methods including netting, radio telemetry, and spawner surveys. Netting will document fish species assemblages, age, length, and genetic information and allow the team to attach tags to fish. Radio telemetry will help track fish migration into the 400 miles of newly re-opened habitat. Spawner surveys will provide information about fish nesting locations. Together, these methods will follow the fish to uncover how they are responding to dam removal and inform how to focus future restoration efforts.  In October 2024, scientists with our team documented the first Chinook salmon to migrate above the former Iron Gate Dam site on the Klamath River into previously inaccessible habitat. After decades of advocacy by Tribes and river advocates, the recent removal of four Klamath River dams opened over 400 miles of habitat for Chinook salmon, coho salmon, and steelhead. Construction activities wrapped up earlier this month on what is widely regarded as the largest salmon restoration project in history. This is the first confirmation that salmon are using the newly reconnected habitat as the effort intended. Since then, many more sightings have occurred as salmon continue to recolonize the river. On October 25, our team tagged their first Chinook salmon and steelhead marking another incredible milestone in this groundbreaking river restoration story as we continue to unravel the impacts of dam removal. Our network of radio and PIT receivers stands ready upstream, waiting to track these magnificent fish as they journey into ancestral waters. The project team consists of dedicated individuals representing the Karuk Tribe, Klamath Tribes, Yurok Tribe, Ridges to Riffles, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, NOAA Fisheries, Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Cal Poly Humboldt, U.S. Geological Survey, Resource Environmental Solutions, and CalTrout. The monitoring program is funded by Humboldt Area and Wild Rivers Community Foundation, Bella Vista Foundation, Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and NOAA Fisheries. Learn more: https://caltrout.org/projects/trackin...