The Salmon People obtained the dismantling of 4 dams on the Klamath River in Northern California

In 2004, the tribes requested the protection of the habitat of the Coho Salmon, classified as an endangered specie.

In 2005, the federal court ruled for the first time on the health impact of the scarcity of salmon on the indigenous population with diabetes rates 4 times higher than the national average.

In 2006, the federal court ordered the installation of fish ladders.

In 2010, the company that owned the dams, considering compliance too costly, signed an agreement to stop operating the hydroelectric dams.

In 2021, the Biden administration issued a circular requiring “indigenous traditional ecological knowledge” in official decisions.

Since the mega-fire of 2022 along the Klamath River, indigenous tribes have been involved in the management and protection of their forests.

In 2023, the Californian courts ordered the destruction of the dams before the end of 2024.

The 420-kilometer-long Klamath River rises in the volcanic Cascade Range in Oregon and flows into the Pacific Ocean, 500 km north of San Francisco. The first dam was built in 1912. It was named Copco, after the operator, the California Oregon Power Company. The reservoir was emptied in early 2024, as shown in the Pléiades Neo images from November 2023 and July 2024. Aquatic algae are now drying on a white soil that formed the bottom of the former lake. The Klamath River is once again winding its way along the 4.8 km previously covered by water.

The Copco Lake hydroelectric power plant has been destroyed. The first excavators have arrived and the demolition site is being organized on the Pléiades Neo image from November 2023. On the July 2024 image, the foundations of the old dam are being cleared by earthmoving equipment to let the river flow in the open air.

To the east, the Copto Lake bridge spans the river, which has returned to its former bed. The meanders and rapids appear again, ready to face the arrival of salmon. Algae litter the exposed soil, destined to be covered by the forest and ancestral biodiversity.

For the First Nation cultures of the Northwest coast, the salmon is a figure of perseverance, self-sacrifice, regeneration and prosperity.

Symbol of life, fertility, and renewal, salmons are often associated with the cycle of life, as their migration from rivers to the ocean and back again mirrors the journey of birth, death, and rebirth.