The fall Chinook, which have returned from the ocean to spawn, were spotted just two weeks after the last remnants of Iron Gate dam were removed from the river鈥檚 main stem. Klamath River salmon haven鈥檛 been able to reach Oregon in 112 years, when the construction of Copco 1 first blocked access.
鈥淭he return of our relatives, the 肠鈥檌测补补濒蝉, is overwhelming for our tribe,鈥� said Roberta Frost, secretary for the Klamath Tribes, in a press release. 鈥淭his is what our members worked for and believed in for so many decades.鈥�
Mark Hereford is a fisheries biologist and project leader of ODFW's Klamath Anadromous Restoration Program. He says the discovery surprised everyone, even biologists who have been studying the river for decades.
鈥淚t was shockingly quick, even though we鈥檝e been anticipating this moment for so long,鈥� says Hereford. 鈥淲hat incredible animals they are.鈥�
Fall Chinook have also been spotted spawning in one of the tributaries just above the former Iron Gate dam in California. Several more have returned to the hatchery at Fall Creek, which is also above Iron Gate.
Michael Belchik, senior fisheries biologist at the Yurok Tribe, says the fish that made it to Oregon had to navigate a steep, boulder-filled canyon with large rapids at a time of year when the river is low. The rapid return of salmon bodes well for the future, especially since the river is still recovering from the effects of dam removal, including lingering turbidity from the sediment that was released from behind the dams.
鈥淥bviously it's not too muddy for the fish to navigate their way through, but the successes we're seeing this year I expect to be duplicated and magnified in the coming years,鈥� says Belchik.
Biologists from several tribes, conservation groups, and federal and state agencies are monitoring fish as they rediscover new habitat. They are using several methods, including spawning surveys and video weirs, to track the fish. A crew is also capturing fish with nets each week, which will allow them to tag salmon with radio tags and passive integrated transponders, or PIT tags.
Early coordination and collaboration has been key, says Dan Chase, with Resource Environmental Solutions, which has been leading restoration of the reservoir footprints.
鈥淭hose crews were out right away getting surveys done to be able to get these early detections of fish coming back,鈥� says Chase. Together, these groups are 鈥渨eaving together this network of information that's being shared to understand where and when these fish are coming back and where they're showing up.鈥�
Fall and spring Chinook, coho, and steelhead are all expected to repopulate habitat above the dams. The massive restoration project is also expected to benefit other species such as Pacific lamprey that are significant to Klamath River tribes.
