Hundreds of miles from its source in Oregon, the Klamath River takes a hard left before finally spilling into the Pacific Ocean near Requa, California. A sand spit serves as the last barrier for the sweet waters of the river to finally merge with the salty brine of the sea — the river waters pressing against the spit and exiting in a southern direction, above Flint Ridge.
For the youth and guides who on July 11 completed a month-long journey from the headwaters of the Klamath River to the ocean — executing a historic “first descent” of the Klamath following the hydroelectric dam-removal project that ended in 2024 — the sand spit was the final hurdle in their journey. They parked their boats on the spit, then walked across bearing the flags of their various tribal nations, greeting the sea in triumph.
That spit is now the last negligible barrier between the ocean and the spawning grounds for the salmon that began to return to areas above the former Iron Gate, Copco I, Copco II and JC Boyle dams almost immediately after removal. The last of the dams, JC Boyle, came down in August 2024. By Oct. 3, salmon had returned. The Yurok Tribe’s ecological restoration crews now report at least four different species of salmon in the Klamath and its tributaries above the former dams.
For countless activists, educators, tribal members and others, the July 11 event tied a nice bow around a decades-long effort to rid the Klamath of the toxic algae choking the river, and to remove the dams that turned salmon away from their historic spawning grounds.
But even as the big event unfolded this past weekend, activists had their eyes on the future.
A historic run
The group of several dozen indigenous kayakers, trained up by the nonprofit Rios to Rivers’ Paddle Tribal Waters program, began their journey June 12 at the Klamath River headwaters, on the Wood River. The program included young people from Klamath, Yurok, Karuk, Quartz Valley and Hoopa Valley tribes.
Many of the young people, ages 13 to 20, had trained for years with Paddle Tribal Waters, learning whitewater skills that would serve them over the dozens of Class III and IV rapids along the way. Among the indigenous youth, three teens completed the entire run of the river, making it through even the most challenging sections.
“Ike’s is a pretty notorious section in the lower part of the Klamath River. It’s pretty big whitewater,” Keeya Wiki, a Yurok and Mauri high school student told the Source July 12. “I was really excited to be allowed to run it, but it was big. The second rapid was carnage party!”
Still, for Wiki, the most challenging part was more personal. “I think the hardest part of this was the mental game — of knowing that we are carrying on the prayers and wishes of our people, and to paddle every single day.”
Indeed, every paddle-stroke was met with ceremony. At the launch, elders from the Klamath, Hoopa and Yurok tribes told stories and issued blessings. Last-minute additions to the flotilla on the first day — including this reporter — geared up and got a safety briefing.
“We’ve been preparing for this over three years now. Obviously, there’s some last-minute arrivals, but the kids have been training for this for years,” Weston Boyle, founder and executive director of Rios to Rivers, told the Source on launch day. “One thing that’s unique about this first descent — and I think a new way of doing a first descent — is all the community events along the way.”
Over the 30 days, paddlers were met for meals and community gatherings, including celebrations in Modoc and Shasta territory, with the Karuk at Happy Camp, and at the confluence of the Trinity and Klamath with the Hoopa Valley tribe.
For the final three days of the journey, the group was joined by a flotilla of supporters, tribal members and media from around the world. Some paddled in historically significant watercraft, including redwood canoes, for the final miles to the spit.
At the boat landing at Requa, supporters gathered the morning of July 11 to witness the floating parade. Two young boys stood at the water’s edge, searching for their brothers, who had been on the river for a month straight.
“Are you ready to see your brothers?” an elder asked, placing a bare toe into the Klamath.
“I keep thinking I’m going to cry, but I also want to celebrate!” one onlooker said.
“They are our heroes today, and we are honoring them today, because they are the first to traverse the free-flowing river,” said Susan Matsen, former Yurok Tribal chairperson and fishing-rights activist, who MC’d the event marking the end of the first descent. “Because of them telling our stories each day of this journey, we have brought international attention and national attention to our river and to our way of life. So, we need to honor them for taking this journey for all of us.”
An end, and beginnings
The July 12-13 weekend served as a ceremonial “wrap-up” of the events that started decades ago, when crews installed dams to bring electricity to the people of the Upper Klamath, and when indigenous activists began their battle to bring them down. But the effort for clean water and free rivers didn’t end at the mouth of the Klamath. Instead, it was another beginning.
On July 12, tribal leaders and environmental activists held a Global Free Rivers Symposium at the mouth of the river, educating participants about the benefits of dam removals. On July 13, indigenous youth and leaders, and allied organizations from river basins around the world — which included representatives from Chile, Bolivia, New Zealand, China and the U.S. — signed the first-ever Klamath River Accord, calling for “dam removals and a halt to new construction of dams across the globe,” according to a press release.
“This agreement sets an inspiring precedent in our lives,” Fernanda Castro Purrán, who’s advocating to protect her home river in Chile, said in a press release. “It motivates us not to give up, to continue defending the Biobío River against the Rucalhue power plant, and to envision the removal of existing dams in the future.”
For the Klamath Tribes’ Tribal Chairman William Ray, Jr., that continuing effort could very well happen right here, on the Klamath itself, where two smaller dams, Keno and Link River, continue to impound Upper Klamath Lake, reportedly harming water quality and impeding fish migration. What’s more, Keno Dam, “didn’t come with any instructions when Pacific Power handed the keys over last summer,” according to a January release from the Klamath Tribes.
“Fresh water is such a small quantity of the Earth’s resources — it makes up less than 10%. And we don’t always treat it very well,” Ray told the Source. “The water has a lot of lessons in it. I asked the young people, from all the tribes, to observe it, when you’re floating down those waters, because some of them are untouched, and others have been really touched. The overall system in the Klamath River isn’t dependent on large municipalities, where it has to serve as a water source for cities. So, we could really do something special over here to restore it.”
This article appears in Source Weekly July 17, 2025.
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