First salmon since 1912 spotted in Oregon’s Klamath basin

from The Klamath Tribes and ODFW

A fall-run Chinook salmon, spotted by ODFW in a tributary to the Klamath River above the location of the JC Boyle Dam, is the first anadromous fish to return to Oregon’s Klamath basin since 1912.

Mark Hereford was part of the survey team that identified the fall-run Chinook. His team was ecstatic when they saw the first salmon.

“We saw a large fish the day before rise to surface in the Klamath River, but we only saw a dorsal fin,” said Hereford, ODFW’s Klamath Fisheries Reintroduction Project leader. “I thought, was that a salmon or maybe it was a very large rainbow trout?”

Once the team returned Oct. 16 and 17, they were able to confirm that salmon were in the tributary.

The salmon likely traveled about 230 miles from the Pacific ocean to reach the tributary only months after four Klamath River dams were removed to ensure fish passage from California to Oregon.

“The return of our relatives the c’iyaal’s is overwhelming for our tribe,” said Secretary Roberta Frost of The Klamath Tribes. “This is what our members worked for and believed in for so many decades. I want to honor that work and thank them for their persistence in the face of what felt like an unmovable obstacle. The salmon are just like our tribal people, and they know where home is and returned as soon as they were able,” added Frost.

“This is an exciting and historic development in the Klamath basin that demonstrates the resiliency of salmon and steelhead,” said ODFW Director Debbie Colbert. “It also inspires us to continue restoration work in the upper basin. I want to thank everyone that has contributed to this effort over the last two decades.”

“c’iyaal’s are culture carriers,” said Natalie Ball, Klamath Tribes councilwoman. “I’m excited for their return home and for us to be in relation with them again.”

At the breaching of the JC Boyle Dam in July, the chairman of The Klamath Tribes recognized the culturally significant event as furthering “the eventual return of the c’iyaal’s (salmon), taken away from The Tribes in 1907.”

Klamath Tribes Chairman William Ray, Jr. said, “We have much more essential restoration work to complete on the Upper Klamath basin headwaters, watershed, wetlands, and riparian areas to produce cold, clean, clear water in order to support all fisheries, aquatic species, subsistence, and medicinal plants and roots all critically important to continue supporting the Tribes culture and traditional lifeways.”

Chairman Ray, Jr. said the Tribal Nation gives Sepk’eec’a (Thanks) to our Creator, the Lower River Tribes, the dam removal advocates, collaborators, and all the personnel “who have performed such an instrumental job in making the Klamath River a natural, free-flowing river again!”

Fish biologists have been surveying the Klamath River and tributaries since dam removal as part of the agency’s responsibility to monitor the repopulation of anadromous fish species to the basin in collaboration with The Klamath Tribes.

ODFW, The Klamath Tribes and other partners have been working together on this historic restoration project to monitor Chinook salmon, coho salmon, steelhead, and Pacific lamprey once they are able to repopulate habitat above the dams.

Photos and video courtesy ODFW:

A fall-run Chinook salmon seen on Oct. 16, 2024, in a tributary of the Klamath River after removal of the dams marking the first fish to return since 1916. Photo by Mark Hereford, ODFW.

A closer look at same fall-run Chinook salmon seen on Oct. 16, 2024, in a tributary of the Klamath River after removal of the dams marking the first fish to return since 1916. Photo by Jacob Peterson, ODFW.

Fall-run Chinook salmon, Oct. 16, 2024, photo by Mark Hereford, ODFW.

Underwater video of a fall-run Chinook Salmon Oct. 16, 2024, in a tributary of the Klamath River after removal of the dams.