Session Coordinators: Bob Pagliuco, Marine Habitat Resource Specialist, NOAA Fisheries Restoration Center; and Mike Belchik Sr. Water Policy Analyst, Yurok Tribe

 

The Klamath River once supported the third-largest salmon runs in the U.S. West Coast. Between 1918 and 1962, PacifiCorp built four hydroelectric dams—J.C. Boyle, Copco Nos. 1 & 2, and Iron Gate—that blocked migratory fish passage and degraded river ecosystems. After decades of advocacy by tribal nations and environmental groups, the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement was reached, paving the way for dam removal. Physical removal began in mid-2023 and was completed in September, 2024. The removal of the Klamath River dams marks a historic step toward restoring one of the West Coast’s most important salmon runs, but success won't be measured in months—or even just a few years. Restoration and monitoring need to occur to understand the outcomes of this landscape scale project. This session will highlight the current and future restoration efforts in the footprints of the former reservoirs on the Klamath River and highlight what the first year of physical and biological monitoring has revealed thus far after the largest dam removal in history.