||| FROM USA TODAY |||
The last of the four dams that nearly destroyed salmon populations on the Klamath River at the California-Oregon border was demolished last week, marking a significant victory for tribes and environmentalists who fought for decades to restore the river.
Brook Thompson was 7 years old when her world turned upside down. Thompson, who is now 28 and a member of the Yurok Tribe, had witnessed the 2002 fish kill on the Klamath River.
“It was devastating seeing thousands of dead bodies the same size as me in the river,” Thompson said.
That horrific event spurred Thompson and many other Yurok, Karuk, Hupa and Klamath Tribes people to lead a two-decade campaign to save the Klamath River from death. Their solution: remove four dams that impeded the free flow of the river and had bred deadly algae that led to the 2002 fish die-off.
On Tuesday, the final impediment was removed and the Klamath was again a free-flowing river. The coffer dams, which had diverted water from the last two outdated hydroelectric dams undergoing demolition, were breached, allowing the river to reclaim its ancient course and reopen up to 400 miles of salmon spawning and nursery habitats.
