On a special episode (first released on December 4, 2024) of The Excerpt podcast: This year marked the end of a 20-year struggle to remove four hydroelectric dams from the Klamath River that runs along the California-Oregon state line. The first of the four dams was built in the 1910’s. Their construction ultimately resulted in a river basin high in phosphorus and toxic algae, which flowed downriver killing off fish such as salmon and steelhead, while creating river water that was unsafe for the tribes who called the Klamath River home. The hydroelectric dams also impeded fish migration for nearly a century. Now, all four dams have been taken down. So, what happens next? Indigenous Affairs Reporter Debra Utacia Krol with the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY network, joins The Excerpt to discuss the Klamath River’s recovery and the Indigenous tribes working to reclaim their way of life.
Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
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Dana Taylor:
Hello, and welcome to The Excerpt. I’m Dana Taylor. Today is Wednesday, December 4th, 2024. This is a special episode of The Excerpt.
This year marked the end of a 20-year struggle to remove four hydroelectric dams from the Klamath River that runs along the California-Oregon state line. The first of the four dams was built in the 1910s. Their construction utility resulted in a river basin high in phosphorus and toxic algae, which flowed downriver, killing off fish, such as salmon and steelhead, while creating river water that was unsafe for the tribes who called the Klamath River home. These hydroelectric dams also impeded fish migration for nearly a century. Now all four dams have been taken down.
What happens next? Here to discuss the Klamath River and the Indigenous tribes working to reclaim their way of life is Arizona Republic Indigenous Affairs Reporter Debra Utacia Krol.
Thanks for joining me, Deb.
Debra Utacia Krol:
Well, thanks for having me on, Dana.
Dana Taylor:
Before we discuss the hydroelectric dams, can you give me a brief history of the Klamath River? Specifically, when it was thriving, and it’s significance to the tribes who live alongside it.
Debra Utacia Krol:
The Klamath River, including the Klamath River Basin, is a region about the size of West Virginia. 263 miles from headwater down to the mouth on the California coast.
The significance to the tribes that live along that river is that it was basically at the center of their life way. They depended on the river for salmon and other fish. They also maintained the river by doing things like selectively burning the lands that surrounded it, which helped keep the river healthy by reducing the amount of ash dumped into the river during big, giant wildfires. People traveled up and down the river for ceremonies and to visit their neighbors. It was really, really a very healthy place to live.
Native people who followed the traditional lifestyle and who ate traditional foods generally lived much longer, healthier lives than those who had been put on reservations and had to live off of commodity foods. The health of the Klamath River is very important to the tribes who live in the Basin.
Dana Taylor:
Deb, how many tribes live along the Klamath River? What can you tell us about them?
Debra Utacia Krol:
There’s seven tribes representing seven different tribal cultures. All of them have cultural, historical, and political ties to the river. All the way from the Yuroks, who live at the mouth of the river. The Hoopa, who were their neighbors, who live at the confluence of the Klamath and Trinity Rivers, which are also considered a Klamath River tribe. The Karuks, who inhabited the middle part of the river. The Shastas, who lived around where the dams used to be, and also in other lands. And then, continuing to head up river, the Modoks, the Klamaths, and the Yahooskin Pauites. Who are now in one tribe called the Klamath Tribes.
Despite the fact that they have different basic cultures, and different languages, and different language families, they all share that same tie to the river. What happens upriver in the Upper Klamath Lake, which is considered the headwaters of the Klamath, all the way down to the Pacific Ocean, everything effects everything else. It’s like the Basin itself is a holistic living thing to them.
Dana Taylor:
The infamous fish kill, where as many as 70,000 fish died occurred back in 2002. Can you describe the scope of the damage caused by these hydroelectric dams, in terms of the impact on fish and other wildlife?
Debra Utacia Krol:
Well, the dams enclosed reservoirs, obviously. But these reservoirs tend to be shallow. In summer temperatures, the water becomes warm. Upriver, the Upper Klamath Lake is naturally high in phosphorus. Because of some other things that happened in the tributaries to the Upper Klamath Lake, the phosphorus grew exponentially. It’s what they call hyper-eutrophic, or extremely high in phosphorus. Which is one of the principle food sources for blue-green algae, and other toxic algae.
That toxic algae came roaring down the river, where it encountered more of itself in the four shallow reservoirs. The algae expanded even worse. When that water came roaring down, just filled with toxic blue-green algae, it pretty much decimated not only the fish, but also all the other aquatic life within the river. That would be pond turtles, and dragonflies, and anything that touched the river. It wasn’t just an ecological disaster, but a cultural disaster for the downriver tribes because their whole life, their life way depends on the river health. It was a really, really dark time.
Dana Taylor:
As I mentioned, the last of four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River came down in September. What has the removal process been like?
Debra Utacia Krol:
It’s the world’s largest dam removal in modern history. It actually took about two years. There were massive amounts of equipment and manpower used to both knock down the dams, there were judicious explosions. It was a huge, huge process. There was a lot of materials removed. As the waters came down, the extent of the restoration process emerged.
There was a lot of people who were, even the proponents of the dam removal were in tears when they saw the devastation. The de-nuded lands and the bleached out rocks that were left behind when the waters came down. I know we’re going to talk about this in a little bit, is the good thing is how fast those lands are recovering.
Dana Taylor:
There was a dam removal celebration after remnants from the last dam were hauled away. What were some of the sentiments that were shared during the celebration?
Debra Utacia Krol:
The sentiments were hope for the future. People were so happy that the dams were down. There’s also a recognition at that celebration, and other smaller ones that are being held up and down the river, that this is only the end of the first phase. The principle emotion during that celebration was gratitude that finally tribes had triumphed in the effort to restore their ancestral lands, and hope that the next phase is going to go just as well.
Dana Taylor:
How is restoration of the habitat coming along? You wrote that the Shasta Indian Nation will work in tandem with the Yurok Tribe on part of the rehabilitation. The last 20 years have been a continuous struggle against extremely dangerous and toxic conditions. When the tribes look ahead to the next 20 years, what are the hopes there?
Debra Utacia Krol:
The hopes are that, within the next 20 years, not only the small tributary habitat, but the upper tributary habitat, and the Upper Basin is going to undergo another restoration. The restoration itself around the dam area, it’s just amazing how fast the grass is growing, how fast the little saplings are going. The land is returning.
One of the really exciting things is that, within a week after the last dam was down and the river was open clear up to basically Upper Klamath Lake, because there’s two dams left and they have fish ladders. But above where those dams were, the fish were already back. Not big, massive amounts, thousands of fish, but hundreds of fish. They came back. They just swam right up, and they started spawning. That right there was cause for hope, celebration, prayer that the next 20 years is going to see a similar spectacular success.
But again, the next 20 years is going to be pivotal in the effort to do a lot of Upper Basin restoration, which we’re also going to be following.
Dana Taylor:
NOAA has allocated $3 million for salmon restoration. What else is being done here, and what is it going to take to bring the salmon and other fish home to the Klamath River?
Debra Utacia Krol:
They don’t spawn much in the Klamath itself. Maybe along some of the little side channels. They go to smaller creeks, they go up to the smaller rivers. Like the Salmon River, the Scott River. Once they reach Upper Klamath Lake, they’ll be going to the Williamson River, the Sprague River, the Lost River. All of those little side channels require clean up to where the salmon can lay their eggs and where the juvenile little salmon once they hatch, called fry, and then growing into juvenile salmon, can live healthily, and grow fast, and be able to withstand the trip down to the Pacific.
We saw some of that last year. Where they were cleaning up little side creeks that had been impacted by plaster gold mining. They were restoring little ponds where the fry will be living. They’re placing clean trees, and tree stumps or tree branches into those areas. Which sounds counterintuitive, but it’s not because the salmon like to hide in those little tree branches to protect themselves from predators, like frogs, and turtles, and other fish. It’s a really exciting thing to see.
I have to also mention that there’s a lot of Native people involved in these rehabilitation and restoration efforts. And particularly a lot of young tribal members, who are seeing this as basically building their future.
Dana Taylor:
You mentioned fish protectors in your piece. What are they exactly, and what role did they play in successfully having these dams removed?
Debra Utacia Krol:
Their whole aim is protecting the fish, restoring the river, restoring the fish, and restoring their way of life. Giving their children hope, because a lot of them had become mired in despair, which led to drug addiction, which led to alcohol abuse, which led to a suicide epidemic. They’re addressing all of that right now because they’re showing the young people, these fish protectors, saying, “This is how we did it, and now you’re the next generation.”
Dana Taylor:
Deb, this is a story about water rights, human rights, perseverance. There are many more hydroelectric dams throughout the US. Is there a message here for other communities who hope to see them removed?
Debra Utacia Krol:
There is a message. And that is that the fish protectors along the Klamath, the water protectors of the Whanganui River in New Zealand who actually had their river given personhood so they could do extra protections, the Elwha River in Washington, these have all had Native peoples at the helm who have stood up and said, “No more. We are restoring our lands. We are restoring our waters. We’re restoring our fish, our wildlife, and all living things.” They’re also bringing the message that they’re not just doing this for themselves. They’re doing this for everyone who lives in the world, because everyone’s going to benefit once a lot of these toxic conditions are cleaned up.
The message is listen to Native peoples. Listen to the scientists who are backing up with Western science what the Native people who have lived in these areas for thousands of years and who practice their own version of science have to say. Start looking at other ways that power can be generated, because a lot of these are hydropower. There’s other ways now that we can generate power, like solar and wind, that they are saying can be used instead of destroying entire ecosystems.
Dana Taylor:
Debra, thank you so much for sharing this important story with us on The Excerpt. It’s good to have you on again.
Debra Utacia Krol:
Thanks for having me on again.
Dana Taylor:
Thanks to our Senior Producer Shannon Rae Green and Kaely Monahan for their production assistance. Our Executive Producer is Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to [email protected]. Thanks for listening. I’m Dana Taylor. Taylor Wilson will be back tomorrow morning with another episode of The Excerpt.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The Klamath River recovery begins | The Excerpt
