Salmon are making exciting progress in their return to the upper Klamath Basin, with fisheries biologists from ODFW and The Klamath Tribes celebrating a series of firsts as salmon reach areas where they have been absent for over a century.
A few weeks after a Chinook salmon was spotted passing Keno Dam on Sept. 24, another was seen on camera at the Link River fish ladder (Oct. 6). Soon after, a radio-tagged salmon was detected in the Williamson River (Oct. 10) along with multiple other salmon. This week, tagged fish were found in tributaries on the west side of Upper Klamath Lake (Pelican Bay, Oct. 14) and in the Sprague River (Oct. 14).
The milestones Klamath River salmon keep reaching have biologists scrambling to keep up. Tools like monitoring cameras and radio tags are helping track the salmon’s journey.
“The run so far this year has been incredibly exciting and we’re expanding our monitoring program on an almost daily basis to keep adapting,” said Mark Hereford, ODFW Klamath fisheries reintroduction project leader. “It is incredible to be a part of this historic return and see where these salmon go and what they do.”
Beyond passing dams, salmon are navigating through the Keno reach and Upper Klamath Lake. Biologists have been unsure how quickly salmon would navigate the less favorable conditions in upper Klamath Lake and above Keno Dam prior to reaching the abundant spawning habitat in the Williamson River and elsewhere. Luckily, salmon have exceeded expectations and are spreading throughout the basin.
The scenario playing out is exactly what ODFW, Tribes and many conservation partners had been hoping for when the dams were removed.
“What we’re seeing now is incredibly encouraging and the result of strong collaboration among state and federal agencies, Tribes, and conservation partners who have all been working towards this moment for an incredibly long time,” Hereford said.
Monitoring efforts are guided by an implementation plan developed by ODFW and The Klamath Tribes in 2021 in preparation for the 2024 dam removals.
ODFW is reminding anglers that all salmon fishing remains closed in the Oregon portion of the Klamath River Basin to support salmon recovery. Other regulations in place will help protect salmon as they return: Spencer Creek closed to fishing early this year (Sept. 30 rather than Oct. 31) to protect spawning Chinook. Other Klamath River tributaries (Williamson, Wood, Sprague) are routinely closed to all angling Nov. 1–May 21 to protect spawning redband trout and these closures will offer additional protection for returning salmon.