It sure didn't take long for the salmon to go right back to what they've always done. We just needed to get out of their way. I think this has been an extremely successful, well thought out project. I feel so lucky to be able to witness what i consider the most important event in my lifetime. Thanks for the wonderful documentation and excellent description.❤
Thank you so much for getting back out there for footage of the Salmon. The quality of your drone films is fantastic so I was really hoping we'd see more from you on this!!! I especially love this shot with the trees placed for restoration, it clearly demonstrates how the Salmon need them.
I was born and raised in Keno and spent many hours on Spencer Creek cutting wood with my family. I never thought I'd see the day when Salmon would be back in Spencer Creek. Thanks for making this video.
It does the heart good. Thanks to all who made this a reality. I know some lost out in this process, but that holds true for when the dams were built. Remember the "Greater Good."
That's amazing. I figured they'd find Spencer Creek accommodating. I lived in KFalls for a while and fished trout a bit on Spencer Creek up past the bridge off a dirt logging road. Snorkeled it a little too in a couple deeper runs; it's very clear and cold in the Summer. They look to be in great shape for the journey as well, didn't see any fur salmon in your video. I had a feeling they'd be up that way this soon, a river doesn't take long to clean up. I used to fish the Trinity a lot and a big mudslide would be clear in a week. I'm sure a few have made it up to the big lake already. I'm not sure if most people realize the significance of this feat. I'd be willing to wager that baitfish numbers will skyrocket off the North Coast now that a good amount of nutrition will be a lot more prevalent in the coming years. These fish bolster the foundation of the food chain in the sweet and salt when they decompose. Thank you very much for making these videos. It's top-notch that you're giving us all such great content. I truly appreciate your effort and wish you the best in all your endeavors.
I was up at the boat ramp across from the salmon hatchery below where iron gate dam was two days ago. The first time I saw the river starting to clear. Maybe 6 to 8 inch visibility. And I've been watching the Klamath all through the summer. I drove up to Camp Creek and saw very dark fall Chinook in the stream, about a dozen. They were all hatchery clipped fish. The hatchery below old Iron Gate is not collecting or letting fish go up the ladder. Evidently, hatchery fish that made it through the slit are going upstream to creeks. A somewhat similar situation happened during the Mount Saint Helens eruption when the Toutle river was full of silt. Fish detoured to other streams and rivers. I speculate that excessive amounts of silt may confuse anadromous fish, but the fish have a strong instinct to reproduce and survive. Think about it, fish, anadromous fish have no reason to return to a stream where they did not originally hatch from. Further study and research will prove that we are going to have to rewrite some of what we know about salmon.
So yeah, they're going we can't go there so we got to move on. Like even in a maybe severe fire burn on a watershed where it makes that water uninhabitable but if it's in the main stem, they are already committed so they got to push on. Neither you or I are scientists in this field but sometimes observational information can be valuable to the scientist, and the fisherman lol
@@brentfrank7012 I worked with national marine fisheries in Washington State between 1980-1985. One project was California Sea Lions at the Ballard Locks and their predation on anadromous fish, steelhead run heading for the Cedar River. Other projects were run off from streets into streams and rivers. I was once on Seattle's Town Meeting. Had my picture in Seattle Times and various radio stations discussing the salmon population and health of marine mammals in Puget Sound. I did field work, example: a necropsy on a full grown gray whale. Tagg Gornall, a marine mammal biologist and I walked out at low tide to investigate a rare pigmy sperm whale that washed up on Camano Island. The skull is on display at the Smithsonian Institute. Took part in the research of Orca, California Sea Lion impact on salmon populations.
@@tboettge2 I always wanted to go to your state and catch salmon brought to your rivers from the Pacific Northwest. Wondered how they taste living their life in the Great Lakes.
Wow! Magnificent! Look at those grasses! The down wood looks so inviting lol. Jeez. Thank you Meridian, and please read the description folks, just the facts.
The facts came from a panel of agency folks who came together to share what they have seen and know as of October 30. It's preliminary but its the best we have and it's truly encouraging. Up next are the coho, aka, silver salmon, they are entering the system now. I wonder, how soon will we see them above Iron Gate? Go fish go!
Aw, I'm absolutely amazed that this could have happened so fast! We were up there in early April and followed the river down to beaver creek. At that time during the main Wash out the river was like chocolate but there didn't seem to be any breeches of the normal river bank. We didn't see silt outside of the river bank like we expected. I'm telling you there must have been some really hard science involved in timing this thing! There's a lot of science to be done here too like what are these fish that decide to push on? It seems like there were a lot of them! Those counts! I'm thinking up there, there's not big washout flows so those redds in the main river are going to be okay. And we know those Spencer Creek redds are looking good! Man oh man, what is this that we are watching here?!
I'll just watch again and see about those adipose fins. I got to say though Meridian, when you put these together in a timeline you're going to need to watch out for unscrupulous people. Enough said
@@karendurant4981 you are wise to ask this question. It sounds like these are fin-clipped fish that were not allowed back into the hatchery. That is not nearly the same thing as the wild run returning. This will upset some emotionally charged people, but it is what it is.
I have been following (from afar) the events that lead up to the dam removals and all the activities since. It actually brings tears to my eyes with every "after the dams" video I see. I hope, with all my heart, that this will inspire other dams to be removed on other rivers!
I use to live in Portland and Seattle and I feel as you do. I fished for salmon and steelhead many years and learned how their life spans produced a remarkable existence for them. Was so glad when those four dams came down. The outcome is remarkable.
It’s been great to hear there are salmon in Shovel Creek too! That’s just above the community of Copco Lake and the former Copco Reservoir. Over the weekend we posted a fishy film of Fall Creek Chinook from just below Wards Canyon - the upper end of what was the Iron Gate Reservoir.
Saw another fish @1:56, just downstream of the first log, beside the little green "island". Pretty sick. With all the perch , catfish, and bass gone, as well as many pike minnow, alot of the smolt will have a chance to make it downstream into the estuaries and out to sea.
There will be lots if eyes on the juveniles come this spring. Their out migration to the river, then the ocean are an essential part of this story. Then in about 3-4 years the adult survivors will return. When they do return, this landscape will be very different. Willows will have established along the banks and deeper pools will have formed at the root balls. It will be a lot of slow motion fun to see it happen. As the fish numbers increase so will their predators.
@@andyroubik5760 We’re probably only two decades from peak human population. We crossed 8 billion a couple years ago. We’ll never reach 9 B. The population will rapidly drop from then on. Quite a few countries already have dropping populations. If you’re young you’ll probably live to see the first discussion that 8 B has first been crossed going back down. See Bicker and Ibbitson.
Surely. I haven't heard if RES plans on planting trees or not. Next year I think we'll see lots of volunteer willows in any case. It will take awhile for trees to get big but the fish logs are a good start. Upstream, there's a lot more cover.
@ willow is an excellent choice. Plant them right side up and upside down, they work both ways. I have planted tens of thousand of them with great success. Thank you for sharing.
The naysayers will find a way and there's room for critique. Also, there's a shortage of water so the farms vs fish problem has yet to be solved. The trick is getting back to sustainable food production. I do hope you're right, the fish here are the ambassadors and the fact is they arrived in good condition despite all the doom and gloom predictions from the doubtful.
Yes, They were born in the river, or tributary creek, or they were born at the hatchery. They then made their way to the ocean and after 2-5 years have returned to their river to spawn and die.
With UA-cam, I'm limited to 5000 characters in the description which did not provide space to mention the eight different fish as seen here. That's for viewers to discover on their own and mention in comments as they wish. Thank you for noticing. This film is providing context for the next one which will take us into the water.
The creek bottom looks perfect for spawning and there were multiple salmon. Temperature and water quality could be problems but the very first year the dam was removed there could be wild salmon spawning in this creek again.
I cannot say that I am impressed with the tree placement. In most cases shown, the trees offer nothing to the fish and in several cases there is no contact with the water. A poor job by whomever did it.
I think the plan is that this winter’s weather will scour things out. It’s work-in-progress and ready for nature to do its bit. Next year the willows will be growing and there will be deeper pools at the root balls.
I'm sorry I am not convinced that those salmon swam up from the iron gate dam area based upon the salmon that I saw in the 22 years I spent working for PP&L and living at C-1 and volunteering on occasion in the spanning shed. The salmon I saw were bruised and in such sad shape they would have been lucky to have made it to fall creek or on the most outside chance Shovel Creek !!!
I understand, the fish are in great shape, especially considering river conditions below Iron Gate and everything that's wanted to eat them. The thing is, the fish get beat up in the tributaries and during actual spawning their bodies begin to decompose. Not so much while migrating. After a week spawning they do look terrible. Stay tuned and I'll show you some Fall Creek fish that were likely imprinted by the hatchery. They arrived looking great but soon began to deteriorate as they spawned and then died while defending their redd. Also, since the former Iron Gate hatchery is not available as a "natal" stream the hatchery fish had no choice but to "stray." Conditions are great above IG so up they go. Jenny and Fall Creek are their first tenable option so it's not a surprise to see a lot if fish there. Why so many kept going to Oregon may not be well understood at the moment but why not? They have evolved with changing rivers for millions of years. If they had no sense to explore new habitat they'd been gone a long time ago.
I grew up in Shasta County. Where I fished salmon there on the sac, they had made it farther than the salmon in this video had. Occasionally you'd see some beaters, but they were typically all in good shape, some even chrome. When the conditions are right, salmon put in tens of miles in a 24 hour period. They barely stop, they'll hang in a pocket in groups for 30 seconds or so and then jump right back in the current and quickly run upstream, non-stop. I've seen them do it many times in different streams and rivers. What you're used to is probably low-oxygen rivers with dams. Low water strands them and they have to hole-hop. They get furry and beat up. Their entire existence as an adult that has re-entered fresh water is to go. If dams aren't holding them back, they will.
They're baaaaaaaaack! 🐟 Happy Thanksgiving 2024 I'm thankful for continued health, my 2 rescue dogs Sammi and Lil, and as always, MOTHER NATURE great to see salmon spawning again MORE PLEASE!!! We can create energy and store water other ways less damaging to our MOTHER! To combat the next 4 years of Republican tyranny I'm tripling down on my efforts towards less impactful living while improving Quality best wishes from the Sonoran desert 🙋🏻♂️🐕🐕🌵🦃🐟
@pacoOtis. Thanks for the critique. Is that just a kick or is there a solution? These are not masterpieces. They’re simply an opportunity to see the landscape as it is during an epic change. Thankfully, I’m not the only one doing it so there’re alternatives to my “corny” stock music and slow going long shots. someone will always criticize the music. I don’t disagree but what do you expect for free from zero funding? It’s all work in progress. anyway.
It sure didn't take long for the salmon to go right back to what they've always done. We just needed to get out of their way.
I think this has been an extremely successful, well thought out project. I feel so lucky to be able to witness what i consider the most important event in my lifetime.
Thanks for the wonderful documentation and excellent description.❤
Thank you so much for getting back out there for footage of the Salmon. The quality of your drone films is fantastic so I was really hoping we'd see more from you on this!!! I especially love this shot with the trees placed for restoration, it clearly demonstrates how the Salmon need them.
Thank you for your comment and for everyone who gave it a thumbs up. It’s truly motivating and helps encourage the hard work in doing it.
I was born and raised in Keno and spent many hours on Spencer Creek cutting wood with my family. I never thought I'd see the day when Salmon would be back in Spencer Creek. Thanks for making this video.
Watching wild salmon in wild clear streams is dreamtime magic supreme.❤
It does the heart good. Thanks to all who made this a reality. I know some lost out in this process, but that holds true for when the dams were built. Remember the "Greater Good."
Great work capturing this incredible change to the Klamath basin. Thanks!!!!
That's amazing. I figured they'd find Spencer Creek accommodating. I lived in KFalls for a while and fished trout a bit on Spencer Creek up past the bridge off a dirt logging road. Snorkeled it a little too in a couple deeper runs; it's very clear and cold in the Summer.
They look to be in great shape for the journey as well, didn't see any fur salmon in your video. I had a feeling they'd be up that way this soon, a river doesn't take long to clean up. I used to fish the Trinity a lot and a big mudslide would be clear in a week. I'm sure a few have made it up to the big lake already.
I'm not sure if most people realize the significance of this feat. I'd be willing to wager that baitfish numbers will skyrocket off the North Coast now that a good amount of nutrition will be a lot more prevalent in the coming years. These fish bolster the foundation of the food chain in the sweet and salt when they decompose.
Thank you very much for making these videos. It's top-notch that you're giving us all such great content. I truly appreciate your effort and wish you the best in all your endeavors.
Watching history unfold. Thanks for bringing this to us!
It sure does the heart good to see salmon in the streams again.
Outstanding!
Fantastic work, I'm glad to hear that this was so successful. Hopefully we will see more projects like this one nationwide.
This is amazing that they are already up that far. I was thinking with all the sediment washing down, it might be a year or more. 🎣
I was up at the boat ramp across from the salmon hatchery below where iron gate dam was two days ago.
The first time I saw the river starting to clear. Maybe 6 to 8 inch visibility.
And I've been watching the Klamath all through the summer.
I drove up to Camp Creek and saw very dark fall Chinook in the stream, about a dozen.
They were all hatchery clipped fish.
The hatchery below old Iron Gate is not collecting or letting fish go up the ladder.
Evidently, hatchery fish that made it through the slit are going upstream to creeks.
A somewhat similar situation happened during the Mount Saint Helens eruption when the Toutle river was full of silt. Fish detoured to other streams and rivers.
I speculate that excessive amounts of silt may confuse anadromous fish, but the fish have a strong instinct to reproduce and survive.
Think about it, fish, anadromous fish have no reason to return to a stream where they did not originally hatch from.
Further study and research will prove that we are going to have to rewrite some of what we know about salmon.
So yeah, they're going we can't go there so we got to move on. Like even in a maybe severe fire burn on a watershed where it makes that water uninhabitable but if it's in the main stem, they are already committed so they got to push on. Neither you or I are scientists in this field but sometimes observational information can be valuable to the scientist, and the fisherman lol
You are right about rewriting The salmonoid story, a lot.
@@brentfrank7012 I worked with national marine fisheries in Washington State between 1980-1985.
One project was California Sea Lions at the Ballard Locks and their predation on anadromous fish, steelhead run heading for the Cedar River.
Other projects were run off from streets into streams and rivers.
I was once on Seattle's Town Meeting.
Had my picture in Seattle Times and various radio stations discussing the salmon population and health of marine mammals in Puget Sound.
I did field work, example: a necropsy on a full grown gray whale.
Tagg Gornall, a marine mammal biologist and I walked out at low tide to investigate a rare pigmy sperm whale that washed up on Camano Island.
The skull is on display at the Smithsonian Institute.
Took part in the research of Orca, California Sea Lion impact on salmon populations.
Thank you for sharing being from Michigan and not being able to see this in person your videos fulfill that. Great job also.
@@tboettge2 I always wanted to go to your state and catch salmon brought to your rivers from the Pacific Northwest.
Wondered how they taste living their life in the Great Lakes.
Wow! Magnificent! Look at those grasses! The down wood looks so inviting lol. Jeez. Thank you Meridian, and please read the description folks, just the facts.
The facts came from a panel of agency folks who came together to share what they have seen and know as of October 30. It's preliminary but its the best we have and it's truly encouraging.
Up next are the coho, aka, silver salmon, they are entering the system now. I wonder, how soon will we see them above Iron Gate? Go fish go!
Aw, I'm absolutely amazed that this could have happened so fast! We were up there in early April and followed the river down to beaver creek. At that time during the main Wash out the river was like chocolate but there didn't seem to be any breeches of the normal river bank. We didn't see silt outside of the river bank like we expected. I'm telling you there must have been some really hard science involved in timing this thing! There's a lot of science to be done here too like what are these fish that decide to push on? It seems like there were a lot of them! Those counts! I'm thinking up there, there's not big washout flows so those redds in the main river are going to be okay. And we know those Spencer Creek redds are looking good! Man oh man, what is this that we are watching here?!
Also, in the science, do these fish that have pushed on have adipose fins?
I'll just watch again and see about those adipose fins. I got to say though Meridian, when you put these together in a timeline you're going to need to watch out for unscrupulous people. Enough said
@@karendurant4981 you are wise to ask this question. It sounds like these are fin-clipped fish that were not allowed back into the hatchery. That is not nearly the same thing as the wild run returning. This will upset some emotionally charged people, but it is what it is.
I have been following (from afar) the events that lead up to the dam removals and all the activities since. It actually brings tears to my eyes with every "after the dams" video I see. I hope, with all my heart, that this will inspire other dams to be removed on other rivers!
I use to live in Portland and Seattle and I feel as you do. I fished for salmon and steelhead many years and learned how their life spans produced a remarkable existence for them. Was so glad when those four dams came down. The outcome is remarkable.
New life, new start
Beautiful and very interesting video. I enjoyed it.
They travel fast in fish truck
Beautiful
wow that is so cool to see, thanks for getting the footage
Spectacular!! 👍
Absolutely thrilling
Good job with the creek complexing; gives those salmon a place to rest and/or spawn.
Hope someday we can walk across the Klamath rivers and streams on the backs of the salmon, like the native Americans did so many years ago.
I could watch this for hours
It's beautiful isn't it?
@karendurant4981 Yes, I also think so. Thanks for noticing and for your comment.
Love it!
I love this spot ❤
That was beautiful!
Wonderful footage and a great write up. Cheers.
Thank you. Cheers.
@@meridianphotoare there any close waterfalls that flow into any of the creeks near iron gate or copco that have been exposed since the dam removal.
I hope I dont die without seeing that river teem with salmon and the tribes get back what was their inheritance. Good luck!!
Sanctuary for all wild Salmon in their natal streams!
Great video. Can you take some footage on Shovel Creek of salmon. Shovel is another cold water creek that feeds the Klamath.
It’s been great to hear there are salmon in Shovel Creek too! That’s just above the community of Copco Lake and the former Copco Reservoir.
Over the weekend we posted a fishy film of Fall Creek Chinook from just below Wards Canyon - the upper end of what was the Iron Gate Reservoir.
Mesmerizing!
Saw another fish @1:56, just downstream of the first log, beside the little green "island".
Pretty sick. With all the perch , catfish, and bass gone, as well as many pike minnow, alot of the smolt will have a chance to make it downstream into the estuaries and out to sea.
There will be lots if eyes on the juveniles come this spring. Their out migration to the river, then the ocean are an essential part of this story.
Then in about 3-4 years the adult survivors will return. When they do return, this landscape will be very different.
Willows will have established along the banks and deeper pools will have formed at the root balls. It will be a lot of slow motion fun to see it happen. As the fish numbers increase so will their predators.
Really awesome. Did these guys come up the Klamath past the old dams?
Yes they did. These cleared all four of them and they look great.
All the dams are gone.
So both fish have made it throw all three dam sites.
*former dam sites
Our planet can heal itself if humans can stop being greedy
The fish detected the increase in water flow from the Klamath river. Now they know it's open.
This is qay cool
Bravo little fishies
Amazing how when we let nature do its thing without interference, it naturally heals
We just need to get the human population under control! Way too much of a good thing
@@andyroubik5760 We’re probably only two decades from peak human population. We crossed 8 billion a couple years ago. We’ll never reach 9 B. The population will rapidly drop from then on. Quite a few countries already have dropping populations. If you’re young you’ll probably live to see the first discussion that 8 B has first been crossed going back down.
See Bicker and Ibbitson.
@ sounds encouraging
History shows again and again
How nature points out the folly of men Godzilla..!!
Looks like the stream could use a lot more wood and live trees along the stream margin.
Surely. I haven't heard if RES plans on planting trees or not. Next year I think we'll see lots of volunteer willows in any case.
It will take awhile for trees to get big but the fish logs are a good start. Upstream, there's a lot more cover.
@ willow is an excellent choice. Plant them right side up and upside down, they work both ways. I have planted tens of thousand of them with great success. Thank you for sharing.
Remember all the naysayers and doubting Debbie's when the dams came out? This should quiet them down.
The naysayers will find a way and there's room for critique. Also, there's a shortage of water so the farms vs fish problem has yet to be solved. The trick is getting back to sustainable food production.
I do hope you're right, the fish here are the ambassadors and the fact is they arrived in good condition despite all the doom and gloom predictions from the doubtful.
Great work and a wonderful example of what can happen when we get the hell out of the way
Is this ocean salmon?
!
Yes, They were born in the river, or tributary creek, or they were born at the hatchery. They then made their way to the ocean and after 2-5 years have returned to their river to spawn and die.
Err no mentioned the two fish under the the tree root.
With UA-cam, I'm limited to 5000 characters in the description which did not provide space to mention the eight different fish as seen here. That's for viewers to discover on their own and mention in comments as they wish. Thank you for noticing.
This film is providing context for the next one which will take us into the water.
@@meridianphoto
I hope you have one of those submersible periscopes for your camera! I love seeing them from their point of view!
More like a fishing pole than a periscope, but yes! Eye to eye with those who swam the miles.
The creek bottom looks perfect for spawning and there were multiple salmon. Temperature and water quality could be problems but the very first year the dam was removed there could be wild salmon spawning in this creek again.
At last, allowed to go home.
I cannot say that I am impressed with the tree placement. In most cases shown, the trees offer nothing to the fish and in several cases there is no contact with the water. A poor job by whomever did it.
I think the plan is that this winter’s weather will scour things out. It’s work-in-progress and ready for nature to do its bit. Next year the willows will be growing and there will be deeper pools at the root balls.
I'm sorry I am not convinced that those salmon swam up from the iron gate dam area based upon the salmon that I saw in the 22 years I spent working for PP&L and living at C-1 and volunteering on occasion in the spanning shed. The salmon I saw were bruised and in such sad shape they would have been lucky to have made it to fall creek or on the most outside chance Shovel Creek !!!
I understand, the fish are in great shape, especially considering river conditions below Iron Gate and everything that's wanted to eat them.
The thing is, the fish get beat up in the tributaries and during actual spawning their bodies begin to decompose. Not so much while migrating.
After a week spawning they do look terrible.
Stay tuned and I'll show you some Fall Creek fish that were likely imprinted by the hatchery. They arrived looking great but soon began to deteriorate as they spawned and then died while defending their redd.
Also, since the former Iron Gate hatchery is not available as a "natal" stream the hatchery fish had no choice but to "stray." Conditions are great above IG so up they go. Jenny and Fall Creek are their first tenable option so it's not a surprise to see a lot if fish there.
Why so many kept going to Oregon may not be well understood at the moment but why not? They have evolved with changing rivers for millions of years. If they had no sense to explore new habitat they'd been gone a long time ago.
I grew up in Shasta County. Where I fished salmon there on the sac, they had made it farther than the salmon in this video had. Occasionally you'd see some beaters, but they were typically all in good shape, some even chrome. When the conditions are right, salmon put in tens of miles in a 24 hour period. They barely stop, they'll hang in a pocket in groups for 30 seconds or so and then jump right back in the current and quickly run upstream, non-stop. I've seen them do it many times in different streams and rivers. What you're used to is probably low-oxygen rivers with dams. Low water strands them and they have to hole-hop. They get furry and beat up. Their entire existence as an adult that has re-entered fresh water is to go. If dams aren't holding them back, they will.
They're baaaaaaaaack! 🐟 Happy Thanksgiving 2024 I'm thankful for continued health, my 2 rescue dogs Sammi and Lil, and as always, MOTHER NATURE great to see salmon spawning again MORE PLEASE!!! We can create energy and store water other ways less damaging to our MOTHER! To combat the next 4 years of Republican tyranny I'm tripling down on my efforts towards less impactful living while improving Quality best wishes from the Sonoran desert 🙋🏻♂️🐕🐕🌵🦃🐟
A healing process that we all need. Too bad Trump will kill are the strides we made in restoring our fisheries...
He will…….if we allow it. I say No!
Dreaming of a world without humans.
Why corny music? What is the point except that you have poor taste??
@pacoOtis. Thanks for the critique. Is that just a kick or is there a solution? These are not masterpieces. They’re simply an opportunity to see the landscape as it is during an epic change.
Thankfully, I’m not the only one doing it so there’re alternatives to my “corny” stock music and slow going long shots. someone will always criticize the music. I don’t disagree but what do you expect for free from zero funding? It’s all work in progress. anyway.
Instead of throwing money in useless climate gimmicks, we need to take care of the land and water first.
Beautiful