November 26, 2024
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The return of salmon to the Klamath River shows the potential for wildlife conservation
Once a tragic example of degraded wildlife habitat, Klamath River dam removal shows how people can reverse and even restore wildlife.
Final stages of removal of the Klamath River’s earthen Iron Gate Dam on August 14, 2024 in Hornbrook, California.
Gina Ferrazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Imagine standing on a riverbank with thousands of dead salmon floating by, their bellies distended and rotting in the hot California air. That’s the sight and smell that greeted people along the Klamath River in September 2002, when 35,000 fish died there in a few days. They have fallen victim to warmer water temperatures and lower river levels caused by dams and diversions that alter river flows.
According to reports in October, this dramatic loss is not unique. 2024 Living Planet ReportThe paper, of which I am a co-author, found that monitored wild animal populations around the world have declined by an average of 73 percent in just the past half-century. Freshwater species like salmon are even harder hit. Agriculture and development such as dams in natural habitats are causing these declines.
But the Klamath story continues to be written. Just over 20 years after mass fish die-offs, Klamath has become the site of the largest dam removal project in history.. Since the removal of the four lower river dams was completed last month, salmon have been swimming upstream into parts of the river that have not been seen in more than 100 years.
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The Klamath River is no longer a tragic example of a global natural crisis. Rather, its restoration serves as an inspiring story of how people can work together to restore wildlife habitat. This major turnaround has been made possible through the cooperation and unwavering commitment of the region’s indigenous peoples in particular. This is an example we can learn from and emulate around the world.
The scale of the need for global recovery is daunting. The surprising result is living planet report These are based on the Living Planet Index (LPI), a set of statistics developed by the Zoological Society of London. LPI leverages data from approximately 35,000 populations of more than 5,000 species of birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, and amphibians to provide a broad view of the health of the planet’s wildlife. It can also be used to track specific groups, from small gobies to giant catfish, such as migratory fish, which have experienced a staggering 81% decline since 1970.
Halting and reversing the alarming declining trends in fish and other wildlife populations will require major changes in the way we produce energy and food, and in the way conservation is practiced. Klamath shows that these changes are within reach.
Biologists capture juvenile coho salmon, chinook salmon, and steelhead trout on Aug. 15, 2024, in Woolley Creek, a tributary of the Salmon River, one of the largest tributaries of the Klamath River. Coho salmon and chinook have been fitted with monitoring devices, and their fins have been clipped for genetic research.
Gina Ferrazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
The Klamath River was once the third largest salmon producing river on the West Coast of the United States. Its migratory fish were a staple food and central to the culture of the Karuk, Yurok, Klamath, and other tribes. However, in the early 1920s, four hydroelectric dams were built on the river, restricting the river’s range by preventing salmon from swimming upstream to spawn. The expansion of irrigated aquaculture has placed further stress on salmon through reduced flows and higher water temperatures, as well as chemical and nutrient runoff, factors that caused the 2002 fish kill.
However, from that rock bottom, signs of recovery began to emerge. At the heart of the Klamath Tribe’s remarkable turnaround was the tribe’s unwavering dedication to salmon recovery. Their long-neglected legal rights, cultural commitment, and tireless efforts have made river restoration possible. Collectively, their groundbreaking results demonstrate that implementing conservation at the scale needed for wildlife recovery requires diversity in both leadership and strategy.
A man drives past the “Undum the Klamath” mural at Orleans Market on Wednesday, August 16, 2023 in Orleans, California.
Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
First, regulators, conservation groups, and tribes negotiated agreements with farmers to reduce agricultural runoff, improve water quality, and balance irrigation needs with water levels in the basin’s lakes and wetlands. This led to the Klamath Watershed Restoration Agreement, signed in 2010. The agreement also set the stage for the removal of four hydroelectric dams, which the tribe has pursued for decades.
Another impetus for the removal was a legal requirement for the dam’s owner, PacifiCorp, to renew the dam’s license, which was set to expire in 2006. In the United States, owners of hydroelectric projects must periodically apply for new licenses through an options process. To reduce the social and environmental impact of the project. In the case of the Klamath Dam, regulators recommended that permit renewal would require adding a fish ladder to allow salmon to swim above the dam, but that construction project would be prohibitively expensive. Ultimately, PacifiCorp signed settlement agreements with tribes, government agencies, and conservation groups to remove the four dams, which began late last year.
The removal of four hydroelectric dams may seem like a major loss of renewable energy. But thanks to the rapid expansion of wind and solar projects in California, the loss of Klamath Dam, which provided just 2% of PacifiCorp’s power generation capacity, will be offset many times over. Masu. In fact, the new renewable capacity added to California during the dam removal process will be nearly 20 times the capacity of the Klamath Dam.
The recovery of the Klamath clearly demonstrates the potential for leadership and resource management by indigenous peoples, whose lands make up 40 percent of the world’s remaining natural areas, and whose efforts will be at the heart of effective conservation in the 21st century. Masu.
Moreover, repair was only possible through diverse strategies. For centuries, conservation has been synonymous with setting aside large tracts of land for national parks and wildlife reserves. The Klamath Basin includes six national wildlife refuges, two national parks, and natural areas, and approximately two-thirds of the basin is public land, most of which is national forest. But salmon, one of the basin’s most important environmental and cultural resources, remain in distress. Restoring that resource required agreements on water use, agricultural management, and dam removal to restore river connectivity.
Just such examples are desperately needed. Delegates from 196 countries concluded the United Nations Conference on Biological Diversity (COP16) in Colombia in November, reaching several important agreements, but also the need to set goals and develop strategies for protecting and restoring nature. Much of the work still remains. Reversing wildlife losses around the world requires a variety of strategies. Protected areas will continue to be important, but so will how we produce energy and food and how we implement conservation. And while “transformation” may sound daunting, Klamath’s remarkable turnaround shows that restoration of nature is still within reach.
This is an opinion and analysis article and the views expressed by the author are not necessarily those of the author. scientific american.
