"The first fall runs of chinook salmon since the project in California and Oregon was completed have surpassed researchers’ expectations."
"The Klamath River, cleared of big barriers for the first time in more than a century after the largest dam removal project in American history, is experiencing a significant rebound of native chinook salmon, according to a new study.
Thousands of the salmon were recorded passing a former dam site in 2024 and 2025, researchers say, and have reoccupied nearly the full extent of their known historical range.
“I don’t think any of us, in our wildest dreams, expected this many fish this quickly to repatriate that area,” said Keith Parker, a senior fisheries biologist and member of the Yurok Tribe, which led the decades-long campaign to have the dams removed.
The river, which flows about 260 miles through Oregon and California, was spanned by four major hydroelectric dams for decades. After years of contentious debate and careful planning, the last of those dams was removed in 2024. Salmon returned to the river’s headwaters last fall, but early reports gave no clear indication of how the fish might fare."
Rebecca Dzombak reports for the New York Times September 24, 2026.
