The in U.S. history was completed Wednesday, marking a major victory for tribes in the region who fought for decades to free hundreds of miles of the Klamath River near the California-Oregon border.
Through protests, testimony and lawsuits, local tribes showcased the environmental devastation due to the four towering hydroelectric dams, especially to salmon, which are culturally and spiritually significant to tribes in the region.
鈥淲ithout that visioning and that advocacy and activism and the airplane miles that they racked up 鈥� to point out the damage that these dams were doing, not only to the environment, but to the social and cultural fabric of these tribal nations, there would be no dam removal,鈥� said Mark Bransom, chief executive of the Klamath River Renewal Corporation, the nonprofit entity created to oversee the project.
Power company PacifiCorp built to generate electricity between 1918 and 1962. But the structures halted the natural flow of the waterway that was once known as the third-largest salmon-producing river on the West Coast, disrupting the lifecycle of the region鈥檚 salmon. At the same time, the dams only produced a fraction of PacifiCorp鈥檚 energy at full capacity 鈥� enough to power about 70,000 homes. They also didn鈥檛 provide irrigation, drinking water or flood control, according to Klamath River Renewal Corporation.
Since , anadromous fish regained access to their habitat, water temperature decreased and its quality improved, explained Michael Belchik, senior water policy analyst for the Yurok Tribe.
But tribal advocates and activists see their work as far from finished, with some already refocusing their efforts on revegetation and other on the Klamath River and the surrounding land.
Here鈥檚 a look at just a few of the many tribal members at the center of this struggle for dam removal:
A fight for her children
When Karuk tribal member Molli Myers took her first major step into the fight for Klamath dam removal, she was six months pregnant, had a toddler in tow and was in a foreign country for the first time. It was 2004 and she had organized a group of about 25 tribal members to fly to Scotland for the annual general stockholders meeting for Scottish Power, PacifiCorp鈥檚 parent company at the time.
For hours, they protested outside with signs, sang and played drums. They cooked fish on Calton Hill over a fire of scotch barrels and gave it out to locals as they explained why they were there.
鈥淚 really felt an urgency because I was having babies,鈥� said Myers, who was born and raised in the middle Klamath in a traditional fishing family. 鈥淎nd so for me I was internalizing the responsibility to take care of their future.鈥�
The initial trigger for her to act came two years before that when she saw some of the tens of thousands of salmon die in the river from a bacterial outbreak caused by low water and warm temperatures.
鈥淟ooking back on it now I wonder where would we be if that hadn鈥檛 happened," said Myers, 41. "Looking back on it now I can say, 鈥榃as this our creator鈥檚 call to action?鈥欌��
She spent the next two decades protesting and flooding state and federal meetings with tribal testimony, including waiting with other tribal members at the doors of a Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting at 4 a.m. in 2007 to ask Warren Buffett what he was going to do about the dams. PacifiCorp was at that point part of Buffett鈥檚 Berkshire Hathaway Inc. conglomerate.
Today, those same children with her in Scotland are 21 and 19, and with the dams gone Myers said she sees the hope they and her other three children have about the future.
鈥淭hey can do whatever needs to get done because they saw it happen, they lived it, so now there鈥檚 no impossible for them," she said.
Finding common ground
For Yurok elder Jacqueline Winter, her feelings on the newly free-flowing river are more complicated. The 89-year-old鈥檚 son, Troy Fletcher, was the tribe鈥檚 point person for dam removal for two decades, testifying in front of the U.S. Congress and presenting to state and federal regulatory committees.
But his true power came through his ability to bring people with radically conflicting viewpoints 鈥� from farmers to commercial fishers to tribal members 鈥� together. Winter said that came from his belief that everyone living along the river are relatives and deserve to be heard.
鈥淲e鈥檙e all family. None of us can be left hurting and all of us have to give a little,鈥� she said was his message.
But at 53, the former executive director for the Yurok Tribe died unexpectedly from a heart attack, nearly a decade before that vision of a free-flowing river would finally be realized. Winter said when she saw the dams breached last month, it felt like his spirit was there through those he touched and she could finally let him go.
鈥淗is vision became reality and I think he never doubted it,鈥� she said. 鈥淗e never doubted it. And those who worked closely with him never doubted it.鈥�
There's more work to do
Former Klamath Tribes Chairman Jeff Mitchell鈥檚 work since the 1970s for dam removal came out of the belief that the salmon are their relatives.
鈥淭hey were gifted to us by our creator and given to us to preserve and to protect and also to help give us life,鈥� said Mitchell, chair of the tribe鈥檚 Culture and Heritage Committee. 鈥淎s such, the creator also instructed us to make sure that we do everything in our power to protect those fish.鈥�
The Klamath River鈥檚 headwaters lie on the tribe鈥檚 homelands in Oregon, and members once depended on salmon for 25% of their food. But for more than a century their waters have not held any salmon, he said.
Mitchell and other tribal members鈥� fight to bring them back has cycled through several forms. There were the years of protesting, even gathering carcasses of fish after the 2002 fish kill and leaving them on the doorsteps of federal office buildings. There were his days of walking the halls of the state Legislature in Salem, Oregon, meeting with lawmakers about the millions in funding needed to make dam removal happen.
Today, he said he feels like they achieved the impossible, but there鈥檚 still more work to do.
鈥淚鈥檓 happy that the dams are gone and we have passage,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut now I鈥檓 thinking about what are those fish coming home to? And that鈥檚 really the focus now, is how do we get the parties to start taking restoration actions and making that the top priority in all of this?鈥�
Hallie Golden, The Associated Press
