The Klamath River
The purpose of this story map is to explore the damage that dams have done to the native culture and river's ecosystem.
The Klamath River
The Klamath River flows 257 miles through southern Oregon, along the Oregon and California border and empties into the Pacific Ocean.The watershed of the Klamath River is divided into an upper basin with the head of the river in Oregon’s Upper Klamath Lake and the lower basin at the mouth of the river in California. The geography of the watershed has been referred to as “a river upside down” as it flows from a high desert in Oregon toward the mountains and carves its path through the rugged Cascade Mountains.
Map created that follows the path of the Klamath and tags the location of the four Dams to be removed.
Implementation of the Dams
In the early 1900s, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, a Water Resources Management agency, approved the Klamath Project, a water management project to supply irrigation water to farmers in the Upper Klamath Basin by constructing dams on the Klamath River. The first irrigation dam delivered water in 1907.
The Klamath Hydroelectric Project is a series of four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River. They were built between 1903 and 1962 by the California Oregon Power Company ("Copco") which merged with a company that is now the private utility company PacifiCorp. PacifiCorp has provided electricity in Southern Oregon and Northern California.
The four aging inefficient hydroelectric dams are now scheduled for removal in the year 2024. They were originally scheduled for 2021. Three of the main dams (Irongate, Copco 1 and Copco 2) are in California, and the fourth (J.C. Boyle) is in Oregon.
Indigenous Peoples' of the Klamath Basin
American West(s): How the Yurok Tribe is reclaiming the Klamath River
“Over hundreds of generations our families have developed a resiliency that can’t be beat, that can’t be destroyed. And no matter what happens, no matter what you take away, we’re always going to provide for our people, we’re always going to take care of our children, we’re always going to find a way to move forward.” — Sammy Gensaw, Yurok tribal member, Ancestral Guard
Five Native American tribes have had a presence in the Klamath Basins since time immemorial. In the Upper Basin is the Klamath Tribe (combines the Klamaths, the Modocs and the Yahooshin)
The lower basin along the banks of the Klamath are the Yurok Tribe at the mouth of the river, then the Karuk Tribe, the Hoopa and Shasta. The Klamath River Basin supports anadromous fish including Chinook salmon, coho salmon and steelhead trout. The tribes’ economic, spiritual beliefs and cultural traditions are inseparable from the river.
The tribes livelihood has relied on large salmon runs for food, health and cultural practices. For the Yurok Tribe, salmon fishing is the core of who they are as a people. The tribes’ economic, spiritual beliefs and cultural traditions are inseparable from the river. Their livelihood has relied on large salmon runs for food, health and cultural practices. For the Yurok Tribe, salmon fishing is the core of who they are as a people.
Consequences of the Dams
Fragmenting a river with dams disrupts a fresh water supply and harms the complex ecosystem of freshwater habitats that depend on free-flowing water. There have been issues associated with all the Klamath dams. The dams have negatively impacted the livelihood of salmon fishing for the Klamath tribes by harming water quality and habitat. The dams divert most of the water of the Upper Klamath Basin for irrigation. This blocks salmon and other fish from reaching the upper portions of the river to spawn.
Irrigating leaves little water to reach downstream for salmon spawning in the Lower Klamath Basin. By the time the remaining water left in the river is released from the Iron Gate Dam, which is the first dam that salmon reach when swimming upriver, it is too little too late. Also, outflow of nitrogen, phosphorus and agriculture waste water from the irrigated farms in the Upper Basin have made the lower river less healthy for the fish population.This is fatal for salmon 100 miles downriver. Salmon runs have been shortened and the lower river is more crowded with fish in unhealthy conditions.
Algae build up shown in photos
"Hourly water-temperature and dissolved-oxygen data collected by the Bureau of Reclamation at Klamath Straits Drain near Hwy 97 (420451121510000) from May 1 to November 1, 2004, reveal an inverse relation."
The water quality of the Klamath River has degraded over the last several decades. A quote in the 2021 Oregon Wild newsletter does not equivocate: “Toxic water quality in the Klamath River is a direct result of both upper basin agricultural development (the draining of wetlands and intense chemical use), and the presence of PacifiCorp's dams, creating warm, stagnant pools for algae to develop.”
In agreement is the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association (pcffa). They have stated that the Klamath Basin water issues are the result of the dams authorized in the early 1900s by the U.S. Bureau Reclamation. Water quality concerns include toxic blue-green algal blooms during the summer in the associated reservoirs that pose health risks for people, fish, and mammals. The dams also extend the period of warmer water temperatures later into the year that create flow conditions conducive to fish parasites, a potential threat to salmon.
And with all this, the dams produce just a nominal amount of power for the region, which could be replaced using renewables and efficiency measures without contributing to climate change.
Additional Consequence - Wildlife: How the dams impacted Orcas
This article explores how the orca population has diminished since the the Klamath dams were built. As the dams prevented salmon from spawning on the Klamath River, there have been fewer salmon to support the Orca diet.
Water Rights
Klamath people in dugout canoes, 19th century
Long before the Western U.S. was settled by Europeans, it was Klamath River salmon runs that united the communities along the Klamath River. When the first salmon of the season was spotted in the Yurok Tribe at the mouth of the river, a runner was sent to the next community to get ready for the salmon harvest. Then that community would alert the next and so on up the river. Fishing could not begin until ceremonies were performed. Communities worked as a team.
Laborers-Klamath-Project-1938
The watershed and fisheries of the Klamath River have been subject of negotiations since the mid to late 1800s when gold was discovered in California. It was in 1868 that two farmers dug the first irrigation ditch in the Upper Klamath Basin. The wetlands of the Upper Klamath Lake were drained to irrigate for agriculture development in the Upper Basin which took away access to the Upper Basin river and tributaries for salmon runs to spawn.
Farmers were granted water rights over tribes more than a century ago when in 1902, Congress passed the US Bureau of Reclamation, established under the Department of Interior, so that irrigation projects could “reclaim” arid lands for human use (noted above by the Fishermen’s Association).
Today, there are many communities that live in the Klamath Basin that include Native Americans, farmers, ranchers and fishermen. As water quality of the river worsened in recent decades, communities along the river challenged each other in court to protect their way of life. Fishing was endangered and river water for agriculture irrigation continued to take precedent.
While tribes and environmental activists advocated for water rights, farmers were vehemently opposed. In 1983, U.S. vs. Adair upheld Klamath tribes’ right to enough water to support their fishing, but water amount was not quantified. When irrigation water was limited, farmers retaliated with actions such as opening locked canal gates with blowtorches to irrigate their land. Ultimately the cases sought by tribes confirmed that tribal water rights the most senior in the basin. Tribal Treaty obligations had been violated.
Image gallery displays famers and tribes at odds as they protest access to The Klamath River
A short documentary "Changing Currents: A Tribal Vision for Water"
Documentary depicts tribes focus on restoring the water and teaching tribal members their right to the water.
Additional: Klamath dam removal agreement
2002 Fish Kill
In 2002, a massive fish kill occurred on the Klamath River. It took place mostly on the lowermost 30 miles, the mouth of the river on the Yurok Reservation. Renda of Courthouse News recalls: “In 2002, more than 34,000 salmon died at once (at the mouth of the Klamath) due to degraded water quality conditions, low flow and poor river management. The event prompted area tribes toward a concerted effort to remove the dams.”
This was a major loss as in-river and fisheries closed. This time the residents of the Klamath Basin did not turn to conflict to solve this catastrophe. Stakeholders collaborated to find solutions. The tribes, supported by environmental activists, led a two year effort to broker a landmark agreement for dam removal.
The Klamath Hydropower Settlement Agreement was finalized in November 2020 between tribes, farmers and dam owners that will remove the four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River within the next year. This will be a restoration of the salmon runs that the Yurok, Karuk and other Klamath River tribes have depended on for their livelihood and spiritual well-being.
Photo: "Trout Unlimited lauded the Memorandum of Agreement released today by the states of California and Oregon, the Yurok and Karuk Tribes, PacifiCorp and Klamath River Renewal Corporation." - Trout Unlimited 2020
Timeline
Klamath River Basin Chronology - Water Education Foundation
