Last year, we watched as the last of four dams were removed from the Klamath River in a historic endeavor. Karuk and Yurok citizens sighed in relief, grateful that decades of tribal-led activism, scientific research and litigation had succeeded in reopening 400 stream miles of spawning habitat for salmon and other species. The tears of joy came just a few weeks later, when research cameras showed the first of more than 6,000 fish traveling past the first dam site. Spawning salmon were crossing into Oregon’s Spencer Creek, a tributary of the Klamath, for the first time in 112 years. The salmon had remembered the way, for it is embedded into their DNA just as it is in our ancestors’ – a testament of shared memory and spiritual connection between our people and the river.
–Written by Russell “Buster” Attebery, chairman of the Karuk Tribe, and Joseph L. James, chairman of the Yurok Tribe.

Other Klamath River news:

• KOBI (Medford, Ore.): White-water rafting on the ‘New Klamath’ River
• IFLScience: Largest dam removal project in the world triggers return of salmon after years of campaigning