Two years after crews pulled the last of four dams off the Klamath River, the question has shifted from whether the fish would return to how far they can go. California Trout has answered part of that with a new recovery blueprint built around steelhead, the wild, sea-running trout that once climbed the river’s full length before concrete walls cut them off. The report lays out a long-term plan for rebuilding steelhead runs across the more than 400 miles of habitat reopened by the 2024 demolition, the largest dam removal in United States history. It draws on monitoring that has already produced surprises, including thousands of Chinook pushing past the old Iron Gate Dam site and salmon reaching Upper Klamath Lake for the first time in over a century.

Other Klamath River news:

• Daily Kos: Blog: Fish disease found in Klamath River juvenile salmon as river heals