FILE - After Iron Gate Dam was removed, salmon were able to swim past the former site in Northern California for the first time in more than 60 years in October 2024.
Brandon Swanson / OPB
Since four Klamath River dams came down in 2024, researchers, tribes and conservation officials have all been waiting to see whether salmon would return to the rivers and streams they last populated 100 years ago. A study published in the journal “Nature” this summer shows that they have.
Researchers documented thousands of salmon migrating upstream in 2024 and 2025. They found that Chinook salmon in particular have repopulated 88% of their historical range in the Klamath and its tributaries.
Damon Goodman is the lead author of the study and the Shasta Cascade director for the nonprofit California Trout. He joins us with more details.
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