A fall-run Chinook salmon seen on Oct. 16, 2024, in a tributary of the Klamath River located above the former J.C. Boyle Dam. The fish is the first to return to the Klamath Basin in Oregon in more than a century, following the recent removal of the four dams on the Klamath River.
Courtesy Mark Hereford/Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
Wildlife officials this week documented salmon above the former J.C. Boyle Dam in Southern Oregon for the first time in more than a century.
It happened less than a month after removal of four Klamath River dams was completed to restore fish passage.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife spotted the first fish Wednesday on a tributary above the former J.C. Boyle Dam site, just north of the California border. Several more soon followed it.
The salmon and others likely traveled more than 200 miles from the Pacific Ocean to reach the tributary. And it happened only months after four Klamath River dams were removed to restore fish passage.
ODFW is working with the Klamath Tribes and other partners to monitor Chinook and coho salmon, steelhead, and Pacific lamprey as they repopulate the habitats above the dams.
Salmon have also been spotted spawning in a tributary above the former Iron Gate Dam in Northern California for the first time in more than 60 years.
The site of the former JC Boyle Dam following deconstruction in 2024. The earthfill dam was built in 1958, and the northernmost of four hydroelectric dams, and the only one in Oregon, removed by the Klamath River Renewal Corporation.
Courtesy of Swiftwater Films