Rivers Reborn · Episode 12 of 12 · 22 min
Rivers Reborn: What a River Is For
The finale returns to the host's boyhood campsite, once drowned under Iron Gate Reservoir, now freed as the dam and reservoir are gone and the host's granddaughter will see the fall salmon return there. It renders the series' verdict on how much of the damming was ignorance, indifference or greed, and ends on a forward question: if a river can heal in weeks, what is a river for?
Where it happens
- Klamath River, Oregon and California+3 more episodesThird great West Coast salmon river, freed of four dams
- Iron Gate Dam, Klamath River, California+1 more episodeLast of the four dams to fall in 2024
Timeline
- Early to mid 1960sIron Gate Dam built, flooding the lower Jenny Creek drainage.
- 2023-2024Four lower Klamath dams removed, the largest dam removal in world history.
- October 2, 2024Last of Iron Gate is gone.
- October 3, 2024Sonar records the first Chinook moving upstream past the former Iron Gate site.
- Fall 2025More than 10,000 large fish counted past the former Iron Gate site.
Still debated
The series' verdict on the ignorance-to-greed continuum is the host's considered judgment, offered for listeners to test rather than a proven finding. Where each dam or decision falls on that continuum is open to different weighing.