Un-Dam the Klamath (#UnDamtheKlamath) was a social movement in the United States to remove the dams on the lower Klamath River primarily because they obstruct salmon, steelhead, and other species of fish from accessing the upper basin which provides hundreds of miles of spawning habitat. The dams have also significantly harmed Native American communities such as the Hupa, Karuk, Klamath, and Yurok. Four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River in California and Oregon (Copco #1, Copco #2, Iron Gate and J.C. Boyle) were targeted for removal. The movement to remove the dams gained national attention following the 2002 Klamath River fish kill, when at least 33,000 salmon and steelhead died along the banks of the Klamath upon returning to the river and failing to reach their spawning grounds in the upper basin. The movement argued that the dams should be removed because they create toxic algal blooms, dwindle salmon numbers and create illness in the fish, threaten tribal subsistence and increase health risks for tribal members, and harm the West Coast fishing industry. Seven species of fish are threatened by the dams. The dam removal has also been cited as economically beneficial. Opposition groups included local landowners around the reservoirs created by the dams and companies like PacifiCorp. PacifiCorp initially agreed to dam removal in 2009, yet after a decade of negotiations pulled out of the agreement when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) stated that they should take responsibility and pay for the removal, rather than simply walk away, as had been agreed upon by all parties. Support groups claimed environmental racism and classism as reasons stalling the dam's removal. The Copco #2 dam was removed in 2023, and the Iron Gate Dam began demolition in May 2024. The final dam was fully removed in October 2024. It currently holds the record for the largest dam removal project in the world, and restored access for fish to their historical cold-water habitat. After the Klamath River dams were removed in October 2024, researchers have monitored the river to see the changes in the river's ecology, salmon populations and the effects it has had on local Indigenous populations. Many studies have predicted that there will be improvements in water quality which include lower temperatures, increased river flow and enhanced nutrient cycling. Since the removal, there has been an increase in the amount of salmon passing through the new territory and spawning has been seen in rivers in the upper basin of the river. Lastly, the removal of the Klamath River dams has greatly increased the mental health and wellbeing of local indigenous groups.
Background The Hupa, Karuk, Klamath, and Yurok have fished along the Klamath for thousands of years. In 1906, the first canal of the Klamath Irrigation Project in the Upper Klamath Basin was completed. By the 1930s, the irrigation project had resulted in near total extinction of salmon in the upper basin. As a result, commercial fishing and Yurok tribal members were banned from fishing. Construction of Copco #1 dam for hydroelectric power began in 1918. The dam did not divert river water for irrigation but did prevent anadromous fish from passing that section of the river. Copco #2 dam was completed in 1925, resulting in the dewatering of 1.7 miles of historic river channel in Ward's Canyon. The construction of two more hydroelectric dams, (J.C. Boyle in 1958 and Iron Gate in 1964) further reduced accessible fish habitat on the Klamath river, further degrading Indigenous lifeways and culture. Ron Reed, a member of the mid-Klamath Karuk Tribe, recalled that the river was the source of fish and other foods for his family into the 1960s, when the final dam, Iron Gate, was completed. In 1978, the Supreme Court of California upheld the ban on fishing for tribes. The Yurok had been fighting to regain their rights to fish since the 1930s. This decision sparked protests from the tribe and repression from federal agents and police between 1978 and 1979. At times, violence was used against tribal members. In one instance, Yurok were hosting a birthday near the river "when agents arrived and pulled out their billy clubs." In 1979, the Supreme Court upheld a 1974 decision "that the tribes were entitled to 50 percent of harvestable salmon and that they should become co-managers of state fisheries," which brought an end to the conflict. In the 1980s, because of excessive logging practices by settlers, game, acorns and many other foods were depleted or destroyed. The dams increasingly led to a decline in Indigenous fisheries, meaning that "Native families increasingly filled their bellies with store-bought and government commodity foods—cheap starches, fats and sugar. Chronic unemployment, despair and addictions rose in the gap left by the vanishing life in the river," as stated by Diana Hartel, who documents how settler presence and the dams have been destructive to Indigenous health through the "collapse of First Nations fisheries [which] had brought deepening poverty and with it soaring rates of diabetes." Hartel argues that because of the ways in which settlers are "disconnected from life rhythms millions of years old... we can wreak havoc on everything around us." In the summer of 2025 a group of teenage members of the local indigenous people made a 30 day, 300 mile journey, the first canoe decent of the full river in over 100 years. Supported by the international NGO Rios to Rivers, they trained for about two years whitewater canoeing before putting in at the headwaters. The last three days they were accompanied by representatives from indigenous people around the world who are fighting for the life and freedom of their own rivers from New Zealand, to Chile and China, before reaching the Pacific ocean in a healing ceremony.
History
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