8/21/2025

Land Back

By Kendall Buckingham, Rochester Pines Field Crew Member / AmeriCorps Member

The Klamath river: a stretch of water running through Oregon and California, drains a basin measuring 12,000 square miles. The name “Klamath” was derived from the Indian word “Tlamatl” which means “swiftness” in the Chinook language. Historically, it was a source of abundance for the Native people who relied on it for it for its never-ending salmon and trout. In the past, the river was once the third largest salmon producing body of water on the west coast. But like many things, everything has it’s phases.

A fish — “Coho Spawning on the Salmon River” by BLM Oregon & Washington is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/?ref=openverse.

In the time following European contact, indigenous cultural knowledge and practices have been stripped from the land along with its people. Removing the long term stewards and managers of the land have had effects that we still feel to this day. In 1902 the reclamation act authorized the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate and maintain works for the storage, diversion, and development of water for the reclamation of arid and semi arid lands in the western states. These works were made in order to irrigate farm fields. This short term gain is responsible for fracturing rivers as well as destroying surrounding forests. These effects were felt on the Klamath following the construction PacifiCorp’s hydroelectric dams. The dam changed the natural flow of the river, fracturing the migratory routes of fish leaving them unable to spawn. This all came to a head in 2002 when an estimated 30,000 to 70,000 salmon died when the U.S bureau of reclamation diverted water to croplands instead of letting the water continue to flow downstream. This tragic event started a tribal led movement to remove the damns that had choked up the river for decades. After many years of fighting, the project was finally started and in October 2024 they completed the removal of the Klamath dam the largest dam removal project in History. The hope is not only to restore trout and salmon populations, but to improve water quality, fishing opportunity, and forest health. As of recently, 73 square miles along the Klamath river and its tributary Blue creek have been returned to the Yurok people in a monumental “land back” deal. The land will now be managed by the Yurok people for forest health and wildlife diversity as the Yurok tribal forest and salmon sanctuary. Furthering the mission of the Yurok people to not only restore their land but to regain their sovereignty.

Land Back

Further Reading and Resources: