Panel discussion at Yreka Salmon Celebration details the work done to remove dams and bring back salmon to the Klamath River
At the Yreka Salmon Celebration held Saturday, Oct. 5, five men dedicated to work on the dam removal provided an in-depth overview of the project. The panel included environmental specialists, a Karuk tribal member, and biologists. They discussed the removal of the four Klamath River dams and their implications for restoration efforts. They also provided vital points, including recognizing tribal members’ contributions, reconnecting Upper Klamath Lake, and addressing the need for work to support habitat projects.
The speakers were Leaf Hillman, Vice Chairman of the Karuk Tribe; Dave Coffman, Resource Environmental Solutions Director of Northern California and Southern Oregon; Bob Pagliuco, marine habitat specialist for the NOAA Restoration Center; Mike Belchik, Senior Water Policy Analyst for the Yurok Tribe; and Chuck Bonham, Director of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Hillman highlighted the necessity of dam removal for river restoration, citing fish kills and declining salmon populations. Coffman detailed the restoration of 2,200 acres of land formerly submerged by reservoirs. Pagliuco emphasized the short-term turbidity and dissolved oxygen issues but noted long-term benefits for fish access to 400 miles of habitat. Bonham reflected on the project’s emotional and historical significance. The conversation also covered the ongoing monitoring and the positive changes in water temperature and sediment transport post-dam removal.
“I am just honored to be sitting up here with these gentlemen who have spent decades working towards where we’re at today, which was the completion and final removal of Irongate Dam and the rest of the Klamath River dams earlier this week,” expressed Coffman.
“At one point in time, 25 to 30 years ago, it became clear that the only solution that we had to deal with the decline of the salmon populations in the Klamath River was to remove dams,” said Hillman. “That was the single largest impact on water quality, on the health of the system, and the health of a watershed that once supported multiple tribal nations from the mouth of the river into the headwaters. Very vibrant communities and societies that, along with those failing runs, those communities were also failing and struggling to survive.”
Details of the discussion pointed to the bipartisan infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act, which have provided significant funding opportunities with a $1.5 billion grant program over five years. The project aims to open 400 miles of habitat and emphasizes the importance of continued restoration work, community reconnection, and the role of fire in ecosystem health. The conversation also highlighted the collaborative effort required for future restoration projects and the return of salmon, primarily Chinook and coho.
Their discussion focused on the need for continued restoration work in the reservoir footprints and the Upper Klamath Basin to create a healthier Klamath River ecosystem, reconnect the Upper and Lower Klamath Basin communities, and heal the divisions that the dams represented. Also mentioned was the need to incorporate fire management and fire-dependent species into the restoration efforts, as the salmon are a fire-dependent species. They stressed the need to develop relationships and collaborate with federal, state, and other allies to have a shared vision and work towards the common good of the planet and to engage the younger generations, including children and grandchildren, who have been activists for the river their entire lives, to continue the work.
Bonham summarized his feelings upon witnessing the final removal of the dams and the process that led to this historic moment. “A long time ago, people who held my position put their grandfathers and grandmothers in jail for fishing on the Klamath River, and to now have the pleasure of being the director of their department and see these dams out feels really good,” he said.
“If you believe in this idea of not climate change but disruption, that our climate is changing in a way that we are seeing playing out in our eyes,” Bonham continued. “And you ask about the beauty of nature in California and our mighty rivers, and then you realize these dams prevented access to 400 plus miles of historical habitat, and much of what our tribal leaders told us were amazing and immense cold water springs buried underneath the reservoirs. And you ask yourself, ‘What’s the future of a fish that has one of the most majestic journeys in the world?’ Well, it’s freedom to roam and access to that habitat, and that’s where we are today.”
Bonham also thanked individuals who have worked over the years on removing the dams, including Klamath Tribal members Norma Jean and Taylor Tupper, who sat in the front row during the discussion. “There’s more that really helped, did a lot of action, and really made this happen. I think that just needs to be said,” Bonham expressed.
Belchik detailed the changes in the water temperature and quality before and after the removal of the dams. He emphasized that the river needs time to heal. “When the dams were there, it was just releasing uniform high temperatures, without any variation in the temperature,” he explained. “So, what we’re also seeing is turbidity is on the long-term decline. I think it’s going to be touchy for a while. I think when we get precipitation events and some flow changes, you see the river’s just adjusting and finding its bed right now. So if you look at some of the areas upriver, away from the dam, the cofferdam, you’re actually seeing the rapids re-emerge. We’re seeing the falls of chasing oil. We’re seeing the rapids that haven’t seen daylight forever. I mean, it’s already finding that, and it’s just doing its final part in the comfort animal. And that’s done. We should see everything start to stabilize, and it already is.” His remarks were received with applause from the audience.
Coffman was asked to explain the restoration and revegetation work that lies ahead. He said establishing native vegetation in places on the Klamath River that have been missing for decades. He said they have spent five years collecting 20 billion seeds that are now being used to revegetate the reservoir footprints. He noted that vegetation holds sediment in place to the extent that it can. “And I think the important part that I like to remind folks is rivers at the heart of their function is to transport water and sediment,” he said. “Sediment always arose from landscapes, and rivers transport that sediment to the ocean. And all of us who are familiar with the Klamath River for the past 100 years, are familiar with river water. That’s pretty clear all the time because sediments or reservoirs are very effective at trapping and storing sediment now that those aren’t there; not only do we get a recovery of a natural flow regime, a natural temperature regime like Mike just talked about, but also recovery of natural sediment regime, which means when it rains in the winter and when still melts and flows come up, sediment is going to move through the system, which is something that this river has been missing.
“This river needs sediment to move through it to maintain populations of worms that host a parasite for salmon, that is still there is a natural part of the environment, but because the natural sediment transport processes where food bar was able to take over. So now we’re seeing just a return to nature, right? And that was, that was the goal…The sediment processes will continue, as they do with every other river up and down the West Coast, and we will see not only healthy water and healthy fish but a healthy sediment regime, which isn’t as cool to most people as it to me.”
Near the end of the panel discussion, Coffman enthusiastically told the audience that they believed they identified a salmon on sonar shortly after the Iron Gait dam was removed earlier in the week, which drew loud applause and cheers from the audience. Following the discussion, Norma Jean and Taylor Tupper talked to the Klamath Tribes News and offered their perspectives on the dam removal and their involvement in the process.
“I got involved in this about 13 years ago, and it was after going to Iron Gate, we were getting salmon from the fish hatchery to bring back to our elders,” Norma Jean said. “And it was the first time that I’d been to Iron Gate and watching those salmon swim up past that last tributary, and they just continued to swim and hit their heads up against that dam. And I knew right then and there I had to get involved, and I’ve been involved now for the last 13 years in trying to get our salmon home. And hearing today that last night salmon came up past Iron Gate.”
“But knowing that they’re coming home after we haven’t had salmon at home for over 100 years, you know that’s huge,” she continued. “And water quality, and what that’s going to mean with those dams out, it is so huge. It’s not just one thing. There are so many different things that are just going to be huge and transformational with that, with all those dams out.”
“I started really getting involved when my Tribal Council started doing more work in 2001 and after the fish kill and when the water the water shut off happened in Klamath Falls,” Tupper said. “And as the Public Relations Manager for the tribes for, you know, over 25 years, it was my responsibility to be at those places and cover that with our governing body and our water team. And really, what I thought about today as I was sitting here just watching this is it’s exactly like my late father, Rayson Tupper, said, ‘All things come full circle,’ and it comes full circle in creator God’s time, not our time. We’re just supposed to do the work. So, it’s been over 100 years. Our treaty rights have been impeded. It’s been a hard journey, like there’s times that we, our tribal people, have had to regroup and go again to bring the salmon home. But that’s really what today is about. It’s just that moment to take a breath to know that we did it, and we stood in God’s grace and didn’t stop.
“And I believe that the reconnection of the salmon to bring the salmon home, and all the efforts of all the entities will also help. And is what’s what our c’waam and our koptu have been waiting for. Those fish are connected, just like the people are connected. And the restoration efforts of the salmon are what the c’waam need because they’ve both been in these dire straits, and now that’ll bring all the work that’s been happening in the Upper Basin to fruition.”
