The struggle of the American indigenous people to remove obstacles from river flows resulted in the dismantling of 2,119 dams on various rivers between 1912 and 2023
- A recent example of dismantling a dam could be found in America, where the last dam built on the Klamath River was removed last year
The river is like the blood that flows through our body. The river is our life.
Nasir Aijaz
If dams can be built on rivers, then they can also be dismantled and removed. A recent example of this could be found in America, where the last dam built on the Klamath River was recently removed as a result of a long struggle by the Yurok and Karuk tribes in Northern California. In this way, a total of four dams on this river have been removed, allowing it to flow freely again.
“After a long struggle spanning many generations, the Klamath River has finally achieved freedom. Our struggle has proven that if people can build dams on rivers, they can also remove them. This is the largest dam removal effort in the history of the United States, which has now been completed. However, the process of restoring the river is not yet finished, as we also want to restore the forests on both sides of the river that were devastated by the damming of river water. Here we are planting seeds for 1.8 billion trees for restoration,” say the people of the Yurok and Karuk tribes, who are the rightful inhabitants of the area.
This is not the first example of dam removal in the United States. According to a report by an American NGO, the struggle of the country’s indigenous people to remove obstacles from river flows has resulted in the dismantling of 2,119 dams on various rivers between 1912 and 2023. The highest number of dams were removed in 2018 when 109 dams were dismantled in a single year. Pennsylvania had the highest number of dam removals during this entire period, with 390 dams removed, more than any other state. Only Mississippi is a state where there is no record of dam removal.
The Klamath River, which is 600 kilometers long, traverses an area of 18,000 square kilometers in southern Oregon and northern California before emptying into the Pacific Ocean. However, for a hundred years, its flow was obstructed by dams. The Yurok Dam created a lake that spanned 71 kilometers. Brooke Thompson, an 18-year-old woman, states, “This River was the source of our family’s sustenance. Fishing was our natural resource, which has gradually been taken away from us over time. I remember when I was little, I used to get in a boat and catch fish, but everything started to decline for us in 2002 when the spawning of salmon was blocked, halting their journey of over 600 kilometers.”
“It was a matter of life and death for us,” says Brooke Thompson of the Yurok tribe. “Everything had changed. Until that time, we never faced a shortage of food. I remember that at the age of seven, there would be salmon as big as me. But then, due to the lack of water in the river, those very fish began to appear dead in large numbers along the riverbank, causing decay in the environment.”
The river irrigated 600,000 acres of agricultural land. The survival of these tribes, with a history spanning thousands of years, depended on fishing and agriculture. With the construction of dams on the river, these resources gradually diminished until a point was reached where they had to choose between life and death. They decided to fight for their survival. Their struggle continued for ten years. Their protests had been ongoing for a long time, and especially in the 1990s, their actions intensified, but the decisive efforts began a decade earlier.
“The river is like the blood that flows through our body. The river is our life. The death of the salmon was our death,” Brooke Thompson explains about her tribe’s struggle. “Our survival depended on the removal of the dams.”
“After decades of struggle and years of discussions, finally in August 2024, the last dam was dismantled, and the 644-kilometer-long river was freed,” Brooke Thompson stated. “We were told this would never happen. Talking about removing the dams was considered foolishness. But we responded that we were not asking for one, but for the removal of all four dams.”
All the dams were owned by electricity-generating companies, which had devastated the Klamath River’s salmon populations by blocking their migration routes. As a result of the dams, climate change led to the proliferation of toxic algae in the river, negatively impacting human health as well. “It was a very painful situation for us. For so many years, we witnessed the destruction with our own eyes. Since childhood, I heard comments from people in nearby tribes saying that your river is much polluted,” said Yurok elder Wilard Carlson, who fought his whole life for the removal of the dams. “As a result of our struggle, a document was signed in 2010 regarding the removal of the dams, and finally, after twelve years, approval was granted in 2022. The states of Oregon and California took joint responsibility for the removal of the dams, and eventually, the first dam was dismantled in October 2023. A total of approximately $450 million was spent on the removal of the dams.”
“The struggle to dismantle the dams was not easy, but we achieved success,” Carlson said, but he believes they still need to remain vigilant because many of their resources are still at risk.
“With the removal of the dam debris, the river has begun to flow freely, which is helping to eliminate the foul-smelling stagnant water. We hope that aquatic life will soon begin to thrive in the river again. The river will rejuvenate itself,” said tribal fisherman Oscar Gensa. “We estimate that in the coming years, the salmon population will recover by 31 percent.”
“Restoring the 22,000 acres of land around the dams will require significant effort because dismantling the dams and restoring the land are two separate matters. A special corporation was established in 2011 for the removal of the dams, which prepared a document comprising 260 pages. Under this plan, a large number of tribal members were employed to sow native seeds, prepare seedlings of trees and plants, and gather 98 species of fish, which were sent to special nurseries,” explained senior environmental specialist Joshua Chinoweth, who was specifically appointed for this restoration project. Joshua had also previously been involved in the plan to dismantle the Elwha Dam, which was removed in 2014.
Tribal warrior woman Brooke Thompson remarked, “The struggle to dismantle the dams sent a powerful message to the tribal authorities. We were forcibly kept away from our lands for more than a hundred years, but we have finally triumphed.”
According to media reports from the United States, most dams in the eastern states were constructed to divert water flows, provide irrigation for agriculture in various regions, supply water to factories, and for other such purposes. However, over time, they have lost their effectiveness. With the aging of the dams, the risk of failure has also increased. As a result of these dams, fish and other aquatic life have been declining. The same situation existed with the dams built in the western states. There were thirteen dams on the Columbia River for electricity generation and four dams on the Snake River. In Arizona and other southern western states, fish populations have been wiped out due to the dams. The primary reason for the extinction of fish species in all rivers was the cessation of natural floods along with the diversion of water flows. The construction of dams on the Colorado River diverted so much water that the flow to the California bay was completely halted. The protests for the removal of dams in the United States are gaining traction due to the environmental destruction caused by the economy of indigenous people and the management of specific projects where dams are built to divert water.
READ: HOW DAMS DAMAGE RIVERS
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