The Klamath River,was once America's third greatest salmon producing river. Now it is less than ten percent (10%) of its historic level. The Klamath Tribes and environmentalists traveled to Scotland this week for the Scottish Power shareholders meeting. The Klamath starts in Southern Oregon and flows into Northern California as it makes its way to the Pacific. The ancient cultures of the Hoopa, Yurok, Karuk, and Klamath Tribes live and die with the salmon.

Six dams are situated at the river, built from 1917 till the late 60es. One of the main neglected and unconsidered side-effects of the dam was the prevention of the main food source for the local communities, the salmon to travel up the river and reproduce.
However in 2006 a re-licensing process of the dams takes place, which might grant permissions of the dams for another half a century. As the salmon population already significantly declines, it seems inavoidable to challenge the present situation now for removal of some dams and reconstructing others.


Some of the dams, already have fishladders, but they might be insufficient such as this fishladder at the John C. Boyle Dam, which is just bare cement, covered with nitrate foam and algae blooms. The Iron Gate Dam for example is too steep to provide a fishladder and needs to be taken out to enable the salmon to travel up the river for breeding.



Another issue is the irrigation problem with water used for agriculture. In autumn 2002 the water levels were so low, that 33,000 salmon died in the Klamath river. Authorities concluded, that this "largest die-off of adult salmon ever recorded in the West " was the result of "the Bush administration's decision to pump extra water from the river to farmers". The fluctuent water levels causing rising temperatures of the river, contributing to the falling numbers in salmon and other fishes.

However, the Klamath bioregion does not only suffer from the environmental impact of the dams, but also under extensive tree logging. More information about this issue at Cascadia Rising or Rogue Valley Indymedia.

More information:
[Klamath Restauration Council | Friends of the River | Klamath River Intertribal Fish & Water Commission | Klamath Basin Coalition | Klamath Forest Alliance | Salmon River Restoration Council | Klamath Tribes | Hoopa Valley Indian Tribe | Karuk Tribe | Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associated | Klamath-Salmon Action Network]


[Rogue Valley IMC | Indymedia Scotland]