California and Water · Episode 6 of 8 · 52 min
Salmon, Stolen Water, and the Biggest Dam Removal in U.S. History
California's plumbing left out the living things: salmon blocked behind dams, the near-extinct Delta smelt caught in the pumps, and Native nations whose water rights were never honored. Then in 2024 four Klamath dams came down and salmon returned within weeks. The episode also covers the 18 treaties California tribes signed in 1851-52 that the Senate secretly refused to ratify, and the Winters doctrine that gives tribal water its seniority.
Where it happens
- Shasta Dam, Sacramento River, CaliforniaCompleted 1945; its cold-water pool is a salmon lifeline
- Friant Dam, San Joaquin River, CaliforniaCompleted 1942; dewatered about 60 miles of river
- Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California+3 more episodesHome of the Delta smelt and the export pumps
- Klamath River, California and Oregon+1 more episodeFour dams removed in 2024
- Jenny Creek, Klamath BasinChinook spawned above the old dam sites in October 2024
Timeline
- 1851-1852Federal commissioners negotiate 18 treaties with California tribes.
- July 1852Senate rejects all 18 treaties and places them under secrecy.
- 1908Winters v. United States reserves water implicitly with a reservation.
- 1942 / 1945Friant and Shasta dams completed, blocking salmon.
- September 26, 2024Last Klamath dam barrier removed.
- October 2024Chinook documented spawning above the former dam sites.
Still debated
How decisive south-Delta pumping is for smelt and Delta salmon, compared with drought, warming, invasive clams and food-web collapse, is disputed. So is how fast and how far Klamath runs will rebuild.