Chinook salmon returned to 88% of their old Klamath habitat after the dams came down

Chinook salmon moved back into most of the Klamath River habitat that four dams had blocked for about a century. Mongabay reported on Oct. 12 that after the dams came out in 2024, sonar near the former Iron Gate Dam site counted 7,742 Chinook passing that fall and more than 13,000 in 2025. The fish reached 214 miles of river and about 88 percent of their known historical habitat.

The study's lead author, Damon Goodman, said the speed surprised the researchers. He also said a return to historical numbers still depends on fish reproducing across generations, and on habitat, water quality, and passage elsewhere in the basin. The counts show recolonization. They are not a finished recovery.