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High Country News

High Country News

A nonprofit independent magazine of unblinking journalism that shines a light on all of the complexities of the West.

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Klamath Basin

Posted inArticles

Audio: Undoing the dams

by Ruxandra Guidi June 19, 2024August 8, 2024

Bringing flow back to Western waterways.

A view over Iron Gate Dam outside of Hornbrook, California, in February. The reservoir’s water level has continued to fall since drawdown began in January.
Posted inMay 2024: A River Returns

Undamming the Klamath

by Nika Bartoo-Smith May 2, 2024May 2, 2024

Tribal nations are restoring the river while reclaiming and revitalizing their cultural heritage.

Larry Alameda (Yurok), left, and Javon Mitchell (Karuk) collect water samples as part of the tribes’ work to monitor water quality after the removal of the Klamath dams.
Posted inMay 2024: A River Returns

Scientists are tracking ecological changes as the Klamath River dams come down

by Juliet Grable May 1, 2024April 30, 2024

A giant sediment pulse — millions of cubic yards of silt, clay and dead algae — trapped for decades behind the dams is now flowing downstream.

Posted inArticles

Are the feds risking endangered salmon for fries and potato chips?

by B. ‘Toastie’ Oaster and Jake Bittle February 21, 2023January 24, 2024

Tribal nations say the decision to reduce water flow on the Klamath River “has more to do with potatoes than it does fish.”

Posted inArticles

The Klamath dams are coming down

by B. ‘Toastie’ Oaster November 17, 2022January 24, 2024

Today, FERC ordered PacifiCorp to surrender the dam license, the final hurdle after 20 years of studies and advocacy.

Posted inArticles

Salmon are nosing at the riverbanks trying to escape the Klamath River

by B. ‘Toastie’ Oaster September 22, 2022January 24, 2024

As dam removal inches into view, fish have to survive increasingly compounding calamities.

Posted inArticles

Wildfire kills Klamath fish: ‘Everything that’s in there is dead.’

by B. ‘Toastie’ Oaster August 12, 2022January 24, 2024

Landslides of ash have poisoned tens of thousands of fish in the already-imperiled river.

Posted inArticles

Corporations are consolidating water and land rights in the West

by Eli Francovich and Columbia Insight December 15, 2021January 26, 2024

With farms, ranches and rural communities facing unprecedented threats, a worrying trend leads to a critical question: Who owns the water?

Posted inArticles

A federal drought relief program left southern Oregon parched

by Jessica Fu and The Counter December 13, 2021January 24, 2024

For two decades, the Bureau of Reclamation incentivized farmers to pump water faster than the resource could recover, despite warnings from its own scientists.

Posted inDecember 1, 2021: Visions of Wildness

What would a healthy Klamath River look like?

by B. ‘Toastie’ Oaster December 1, 2021January 24, 2024

An illustration of a complex ecosystem that could exist again.

Posted inArticles

Klamath River issues explained

by B. ‘Toastie’ Oaster August 27, 2021January 24, 2024

Confused about what’s happening on the Klamath? Dams, salmon, irrigation and more.

Posted inSeptember 1, 2021: Where Wolves May Tread

The familial bond between the Klamath River and the Yurok people

by Brook Thompson August 24, 2021January 24, 2024

How a tribal community’s health is intimately connected to the health of the river.

Posted inSeptember 1, 2021: Where Wolves May Tread

The effort to save Upper Klamath Lake’s endangered fish before they disappear

by Anna V. Smith August 19, 2021January 24, 2024

Another dry year pushes tribal nations, federal agencies and irrigators to find long-lasting solutions.

Posted inSeptember 1, 2021: Where Wolves May Tread

Will Klamath salmon outlast the dam removal process?

by B. ‘Toastie’ Oaster August 17, 2021January 24, 2024

Their future comes down to a race between paperwork and a fish disease.

Posted inArticles

Will history repeat in a dry Klamath Basin this summer?

by Anna V. Smith June 14, 2021January 24, 2024

This year’s drought is worse than in 2001, when political and environmental tensions exploded into the national spotlight.

Posted inJuly 1, 2021: An Urban Greenspace Revolution

Ongoing fish kill on the Klamath River is an ‘absolute worst-case scenario’

by Anna V. Smith May 27, 2021January 24, 2024

Unprecedented drought in the Klamath Basin leaves communities wondering how they will make it through the summer.

Posted inArticles

On the Klamath River, agricultural interests are pitted against the needs of tribes and endangered species

by Jessica Fu April 30, 2021January 24, 2024

Due to severe drought, irrigation allotments were decreased to lowest amounts in history.

Posted inOctober 28, 2019: Where Hunting Still Has Meaning

The Klamath River now has the legal rights of a person

by Anna V. Smith September 24, 2019January 24, 2024

A Yurok Tribe resolution allows cases to be brought on behalf of the river as a person in tribal court.

Posted inOctober 29, 2018: When your neighborhood goes BOOM

Latest: Yurok Tribe cancels salmon season on Klamath River

by Jodi Peterson October 16, 2018January 24, 2024

For the third year in a row, the tribal citizens won’t have commercial fishing.

Posted inJune 11, 2018: Reclaiming the Klamath

How the Yurok Tribe is reclaiming the Klamath River

by Anna V. Smith June 11, 2018January 24, 2024

For the first time, the largest tribe in California has one of its own to lead its legal battles.

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