Four Dams Removed from the Klamath River Spark Salmon Surge

In the early 1900s the California-Oregon Power Company (COPCO) built four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River, cutting off salmon from more than 400 miles of river, degrading water quality and encouraging toxic algae blooms. COPCO, now PacifiCorp, derived only about 2 % of its electricity from the dams, making upgrades uneconomical. Indigenous tribes, whose food, trade and culture depended on the river, lobbied for removal for decades.

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After years of protests and litigation, the federal government approved a removal plan that began in 2023. The $450 million effort, led by the Klamath River Renewal Corporation, used explosive charges to demolish the four dams in 2024 and then cleared large debris with heavy machinery. The project is among the largest dam-removal and river-restoration undertakings in U.S. history.

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The river’s recovery was rapid. Within days, thousands of salmon moved upstream, and by the 2025 season nearly 70,000 salmon had returned—about 180 % of the original scientific projection—and reached river stretches unseen for a century. Water-quality testing improved dramatically: after a period when 58 % of samples failed public-safety standards, 100 % passed by 2026. Approximately 1,300 acres of former reservoir beds are being replanted with native vegetation, using an estimated 19 billion seeds, and bird populations are rebounding as the historic river channel re-establishes itself.

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Barry McCovey Jr., director of the Yurok Tribal Fisheries Department, said the speed and scale of the river’s recovery exceeded expectations and illustrated nature’s capacity to heal when barriers are removed. Fernández-Garrido, senior grants manager for the European Open Rivers Programme, warned that “building river barriers brings a long list of safety and environmental problems.”

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• “The speed and scale of the river’s recovery has exceeded our expectations and even the most optimistic scientific modeling, proving that when the barriers fall, nature has an incredible power to heal itself,” — Barry McCovey Jr

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• “Building river barriers brings a long list of safety and environmental problems,” — Fernández-Garrido, a senior grants manager for the European Open Rivers Programme

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