An indigenous Yurok family from California brings life back to a dying river after fighting for decades to remove four dams | World News
More than a century after four dams cut off the Klamath River’s natural flow, salmon are finally free to swim upstream again. The historic comeback, which follows the October 2024 completion of the world’s largest dam removal project, ends decades of damage to fish populations and disrupted life for Northern California’s Yurok people. Behind the milestone is a generations-long movement led by First Nations Yurok families, including attorney and activist Amy Bowers Cordalis, whose memoir “Water Memory” tells the story of her family’s role in restoring a river they believe is vital to their culture, identity and survival.
California Rivers Supporting the Yurok People
The Klamath River, which flows approximately 263 miles from southern Oregon to the Pacific Ocean in northern California, has long been one of the most important salmon rivers on the U.S. West Coast. For the Yurok tribe, whose ancestral homeland is downstream of the river, the Klamath River is more than just a waterway. Salmon have fed communities, supported rituals and shaped cultural traditions for generations. Yurok beliefs believe that the well-being of the people is inseparable from the health of the river, so its restoration is not only an environmental goal but also a cultural and spiritual responsibility.
When four dams choke lifelines
In 1918, the first of four hydroelectric dams was built on the Klamath River, followed by three more over the next four decades. Together they generate electricity but block more than 400 miles of historic salmon habitat. Reservoirs built behind dams slow the flow of river water, increase water temperatures, and encourage the growth of harmful algae, causing water quality to deteriorate. Because salmon can no longer reach their traditional spawning grounds, native fish populations have plummeted, impacting wildlife, commercial fisheries and the indigenous communities that depend on salmon health.
Yurok fishermen on the Klamath River where salmon have provided survival for generations to indigenous communities.
The disaster that sparked the movement
The movement to restore the Klamath River has gained national attention after one of the worst fish kills in U.S. history. In September 2002, an estimated 34,000 to 78,000 adult Chinook salmon died due to low river flows, unusually warm water temperatures, and a parasitic disease known as ichh that swept the river. Thousands of dead fish line the banks of the Yurok Reservation, leaving a lasting impression on tribal members. Amy Bowers Cordalis was an intern with the Yurok Tribe’s Fisheries Department at the time and witnessed the ecological disaster firsthand. The event inspired her to pursue a legal career focused on protecting Native rights and restoring the Klamath River.
The family behind the fight
Generations of the Cordalis family have fought to protect the Klamath River. Her great-grandmother Geneva Matz continued to fish despite California’s restrictions on indigenous fishing rights. Her great-uncle, Ray Mattz, challenged the restrictions in court and won a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case in 1973 that reaffirmed the Yurok’s right to fish on their ancestral lands. From that foundation, Cordalis became the Yurok Tribe’s general counsel and one of the leading voices in negotiations to remove the dam, working with tribal leaders, conservation groups, government agencies and dam owners to secure the river’s future.
The world’s largest dam removal project
After more than two decades of negotiations, legal action and environmental advocacy, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the removal of four hydropower dams in 2022. Removal work soon began, and by October 2024, the last dam had been removed, completing the largest dam removal and river restoration project ever undertaken. This unprecedented effort requires collaboration among tribal nations, federal and state agencies, conservation groups, engineers and the utility companies that own the dams, making it one of the most important river restoration projects in modern history.
Salmon return after more than 100 years
Almost immediately after the dam collapsed, the river began to show signs of recovery. In 2024, Chinook salmon migrated upstream for the first time in more than a century, beyond their former dam sites and reclaiming spawning habitat that had been inaccessible for generations. Scientists are continuing to monitor fish populations, water quality and ecosystem recovery, while large-scale habitat restoration projects in the Klamath Basin are expected to continue through 2028. Researchers hope the river’s revitalization will enhance biodiversity, improve water quality and make native fish populations more resilient to future climate challenges.
River Restoration Blueprint
The restoration of the Klamath River has become a landmark example of what long-term environmental collaboration can accomplish. It shows how Indigenous leadership, scientific research, legal advocacy and government collaboration can reverse decades of ecological damage. While rivers around the world continue to face pressures from dams, pollution and climate change, the Klamath River’s restoration offers a rare success story. Over generations, the Yurok people transformed a river once defined by ecological decline into a powerful example of recovery and resilience.
