After 20 years, the largest dam removal can help the Klamath River in California can help restore it to its original state. The demolition of four hydroelectric dams will allow wild salmon to swim upstream as they haven’t done in 100 years. Recently, the Klamath River Renewal Corporation started to prepare a stretch of the river to flow freely for the first time in a century. The Klamath Hydroelectric project blocked fish passage and altered river flows. In 1925, the Copco No. 2 dam was completed, which diverted the river, and in the absence of sustained flows, a dense stand of trees colonized the riverbed. The Yurok Tribe joined the partnership to clear the alder and cottonwood trees from the river corridor while leaving all the floodplain vegetation intact. The Klamath dam removal project started in June 2023, after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued the approval that allowed construction crews to work on the deconstruction of the Copco No. 2 dam, and it will be fully done by the end of September. Iron Gate, JC Boyle, and Copco No.1 dams will be deconstructed next year. The Klamath supported one million spring and fall Chinook or king salmon. It’s predicted that 25,000 Chinook will return to the river. After the dams are removed, fish experts expect fish numbers to increase in response to improved ecosystem health gradually.