In 2024, the last of four dams came down on the Klamath River. Two years later, the data is in — and it stopped researchers cold. Nearly 70,000 Chinook salmon returned to the Klamath Basin in 2025, double what anyone predicted. A sonar station below the former Iron Gate Dam counted 10,000 adult fish in fall 2025 alone — 30 percent higher than the previous year. The preseason forecast predicted 19,417 adults. The actual return came in at 205 percent of that number. In March 2026, the Klamath Tribes documented the first naturally produced Chinook hatchlings in the Upper Klamath Basin since before World War One. The parent fish had swum 230 miles from the Pacific Ocean through water their species had not touched for a century. The river cleaned itself. The USGS confirmed water clarity returned within months. The toxic algae blooms that once plagued the reservoirs are clearing. 2,200 acres of former reservoir beds are being replanted with native vegetation — roughly the size of 1,600 football fields. But the spring Chinook run still sits at just a few hundred fish. Two dams remain standing at the headwaters. And wildfire now poses a threat no dam removal could solve. This is what happens after the celebration ends. The full 2026 data, explained. 🐟 New videos every week on nature's greatest comebacks. 🔔 Subscribe so you don't miss what returns next. 📌 Sources: Pacific Fishery Management Council 2026 Review — https://www.pcouncil.org USGS Klamath Sediment Study May 2026 — https://www.usgs.gov Society for Ecological Restoration — https://www.ser.org Klamath Tribes Ambodat Department — https://klamathtribes.org 00:00 The numbers that shocked everyone 01:49 First natural hatch in 100 years 02:43 The sediment study — did the models work? 03:51 The new danger nobody saw coming 04:59 What the engineering world just said 05:43 The fish that reached Keno Dam 06:38 2,200 acres coming back 07:25 The honest assessment 08:28 Why Klamath matters beyond Klamath 09:12 The river knows what to do Follow Rewilded for more nature comeback stories: 🐦 X (Twitter): https://x.com/RewildedNow 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rewildednow/ #KlamathRiver #DamRemoval #rewilded
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The river knows what to do. The canyon and remnant lake beds also know what to do. They don’t need planting. Just leave them alone and next year there will be every grass, flower, brush, and tree sprouting. With all that rich silt, they will establish and flourish.
Hopefully it won't take a massive flood to remind us why those dams were put there to begin with.
All dams are detrimental to the environment and the health of all fish species, especially the salmonoids. The removal of these dams will increase the overall health of the environment! Electrical needs can be met by wind power and solar power generation. Return the land back to the condition it was when the Creator created it!!!
The ash from the forest fires also has lime in it and the lime locks up nitrogen and will stop the algae blooms in the river! I witnessed this exactly on the Smith River fire after the 2023 Smith complex fire alage that bloomed in summer was almost non existent and water clarity in late summer in deep pools was so clear you could see over 40 feet deep..
Exactly the only data that is viable are the fish hatched after the dams were removed and return to the river! Onionsuace info!!!
Right step in the right direction but won't make a difference if all the tree huggers in Oregon get their way to ban fishing and hunting for being animal abuse.
If you un-build it they will come
The video did not cover the parasite Ceratonova shasta. This parasite is prevalent in all the PNW rivers and affects the salmon population. The water temperature has a lot to do with the parasite. The Klamath River this year has been warm and many of the salmon have been lost to this parasite.
Why and how could anyone believe anything these very biased people say.
Bad AI naration
Comparing the Kalamath project to the Snake River is like comparing day to night. Propganda!! The Snake River Dams all have excellent fish ladders and don't stop the Upriver migration. There are tributaries and 100's of miles above the final dam for fish. The Grand Rhode and Clearwater rivers above the 4 Snake River Dams all have excellent returns of Salmon and fantastic Steelhead fishing.
So much propganda and misleading information. The huge run of Fall Chinook had zero yes zero to do with Dam removal. Those fish mostly hatchery were propagated and out to sea before the dams were removed. They would have comback if the dams were gone or not. It was a huge blessing to help fish return to the upper river and spawn. The real question is can the offspring of those fish that spawned in 2025 return. Then we can start talking about awards.
Higher numbers are returning to the CA coastal rivers because the masses of hyper-destructive sea lions/seals have moved north to the Columbia River estuary. They are decimating the salmon and steelhead runs. This is also starving the local, salmon-dependent killer whale pod. It's beyond time for a cull. Removing just a small number would cause the remaining majority to vacate the area and spread out, rather than remaining in their illogical, human-devised, salmon and steelhead threatening, fraudulent "sanctuary."
The Keno dam needs to go away. It's all stagnant water behind that dam, it warms the water tremendously because its shallow with very little current
Nature is amazing when allowed to heal itself. Now the Snake river dams need to go