Chinook salmon return to historical habitat following removal of four US dams

Four dams were removed from the Klamath River in 2024, reopening habitat that Chinook salmon had been blocked from for roughly a century. Researchers counted 7,742 salmon migrating past the former dam sites that year, rising to more than 13,000 in 2025, with fish reaching 88% of their known historical range across 214 miles of river.

Lead author Damon Goodman used sonar cameras to count fish through turbid post-removal water, and said the speed of the return surprised the research team. Outside scientist Scott Hinch called the recovery remarkable, while Goodman cautioned that restoring historical population levels will still require successful reproduction across multiple generations and improvements to water quality and habitat basin-wide.

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