In 2002, one of the year’s biggest national headlines was the death of 68,000 Klamath River salmon. Federal agencies faced a dilemma: When there is not enough water for both fish and farmers, who gets the water? Agencies chose farmers.

The fish kill was devastating to Tribes up and down the Klamath River. Commercial and recreational fishing businesses went bankrupt. Even the farmers who received water that year barely got by. It was clear the basin could not continue as is, with water overpromised in too many places.

Tribes in the Klamath Basin — Klamath, Karuk, Yurok, Shasta, and Hoopa — knew the biggest threat to salmon was the four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River at the Oregon/California border, owned by PacifiCorp. They began organizing and allies lined up to support them — conservation nonprofits, commercial fishing groups, recreational anglers, rafting enthusiasts, political leaders, and everyone else interested in free-flowing, healthy rivers.

Like all private dams, the Klamath dams had to meet federal requirements to continue operating — including adding fish passage, which would have cost $400 million. In 2010, after years of lobbying by Tribes and nonprofit partners, including Sustainable Northwest, PacifiCorp decided the cost to add fish passage was too high. They signed an agreement to transfer dam ownership to the federal government for removal.

Success seemed imminent. But the 2010 comprehensive Klamath Agreements, which dam removal was a part of, required congressional approval. Congress failed to act, and the deal expired.

This was probably the lowest moment in the campaign. It was clear another option was needed — something that did not require congressional approval.

Sustainable Northwest, partners, and experts studied dam removal and other natural resource projects from Maine to Washington to Panama, and ultimately found an alternative that did not require congressional action. It turned out that if PacifiCorp could transfer ownership of the dams to a different entity that would take on the risk and liability of dam removal, then the project could move forward without Congress. The idea was formed to create a temporary entity — the Klamath River Renewal Corporation (KRRC) — to take over ownership of the dams; hire experts and contractors to create the necessary removal and restoration plans; and execute on those plans.

Tribes, 26 nonprofit partners, local counties, PacifiCorp, and the states of Oregon and California signed a new agreement in 2016. In 2020, federal regulators approved it. The first of the four dams came out in 2023. The other three are coming out now — with removal complete in a few months. Soon, salmon will once again return to 400 miles of habitat for the first time in 100 years.

Dam removal is just the first step to bringing balance back to the Klamath Basin. The next step is to replant and restore 2,000 acres once inundated by reservoirs. It’s also important to ensure the upper basin has quality habitat and adequate flow to support returning salmon.

In the upper basin, Sustainable Northwest has been working for over a decade with the Klamath Tribes, farmers, ranchers, agencies, and other conservation nonprofits to restore balance to a basin with not enough water for the many promises made. Two of our most important projects include working with farmers and ranchers to restore habitat and use water more efficiently, and finding nature-based solutions for managing forests in the Upper Klamath Basin — reducing wildfire risk and helping forests store water.

This work is critical as it not only supports salmon, but also C’waam and Koptu — sucker fish endemic to the Klamath and critical to Upper Basin Tribes — as well as migratory waterfowl and wildlife refuges. Our goal is to bring balance back by forging collaborative solutions that support nature, people, and local economies. But we’re also hopeful that this model for dam removal — helping private corporations manage liability and risk — will prove useful for future environmental restoration projects. We can’t let congressional inaction stop us.

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