Tribal nations say the decision to reduce water flow on the Klamath River “has more to do with potatoes than it does fish.”
Klamath Basin
Posted inArticles
The Klamath dams are coming down
Today, FERC ordered PacifiCorp to surrender the dam license, the final hurdle after 20 years of studies and advocacy.
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Salmon are nosing at the riverbanks trying to escape the Klamath River
As dam removal inches into view, fish have to survive increasingly compounding calamities.
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Wildfire kills Klamath fish: ‘Everything that’s in there is dead.’
Landslides of ash have poisoned tens of thousands of fish in the already-imperiled river.
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Corporations are consolidating water and land rights in the West
With farms, ranches and rural communities facing unprecedented threats, a worrying trend leads to a critical question: Who owns the water?
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A federal drought relief program left southern Oregon parched
For two decades, the Bureau of Reclamation incentivized farmers to pump water faster than the resource could recover, despite warnings from its own scientists.
Posted inDecember 1, 2021: Visions of Wildness
What would a healthy Klamath River look like?
An illustration of a complex ecosystem that could exist again.
Posted inArticles
Klamath River issues explained
Confused about what’s happening on the Klamath? Dams, salmon, irrigation and more.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2021: Where Wolves May Tread
The familial bond between the Klamath River and the Yurok people
How a tribal community’s health is intimately connected to the health of the river.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2021: Where Wolves May Tread
The effort to save Upper Klamath Lake’s endangered fish before they disappear
Another dry year pushes tribal nations, federal agencies and irrigators to find long-lasting solutions.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2021: Where Wolves May Tread
Will Klamath salmon outlast the dam removal process?
Their future comes down to a race between paperwork and a fish disease.
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Will history repeat in a dry Klamath Basin this summer?
This year’s drought is worse than in 2001, when political and environmental tensions exploded into the national spotlight.
Posted inJuly 1, 2021: An Urban Greenspace Revolution
Ongoing fish kill on the Klamath River is an ‘absolute worst-case scenario’
Unprecedented drought in the Klamath Basin leaves communities wondering how they will make it through the summer.
Posted inArticles
On the Klamath River, agricultural interests are pitted against the needs of tribes and endangered species
Due to severe drought, irrigation allotments were decreased to lowest amounts in history.
Posted inOctober 28, 2019: Where Hunting Still Has Meaning
The Klamath River now has the legal rights of a person
A Yurok Tribe resolution allows cases to be brought on behalf of the river as a person in tribal court.
Posted inOctober 29, 2018: When your neighborhood goes BOOM
Latest: Yurok Tribe cancels salmon season on Klamath River
For the third year in a row, the tribal citizens won’t have commercial fishing.
Posted inJune 11, 2018: Reclaiming the Klamath
How the Yurok Tribe is reclaiming the Klamath River
For the first time, the largest tribe in California has one of its own to lead its legal battles.
Posted inSeptember 18, 2017: No Hoax
A salmon festival portends struggles on the Klamath River
The Yurok Tribe has again halted fishing during the chinook’s fall run.
Posted inApril 27, 2015: Lost frontier
A plague on the Klamath River
The race to prevent a repeat of the West’s worst salmon-kill.
Posted inApril 27, 2015: Lost frontier
Tribal fishing on the Klamath River
Photographs of sturgeon, steelhead, salmon and lamprey fishing.