Salmon once common near Klamath

By Ty Beaver

H&N's Staff Writer

January 28, 2008

   Salmon historically made it up the Klamath River and into the streams that flow into Upper Klamath Lake , said Phil Detrich, Klamath issues coordinator with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

   Written accounts and photographs, such as one of a man holding a salmon on the Link River , comprise the record. The Klamath Tribes claim salmon were one facet of their original economy. 

   Endangered coho salmon likely didn’t make it to Upper Klamath Lake and stopped just below the current Keno dam, Detrich said. But steelhead and spring and fall runs of Chinook salmon did make it into the lake and further. 

   One concern about restoring salmon throughout the watershed is water quality. The water in the Keno Reservoir and in Upper Klamath Lake have been considered of poor quality for years. 

   Larry Dunsmoor, fish biologist with the Tribes, said preliminary studies into salmon survival in the upper reaches of the watershed showed promising results. 

   In 2006, hatchery-raised salmon were transported to Upper Klamath Lake and kept in pens within its waters. More than 90 percent of the fish survived, despite concerns about water quality in the lake, he said. 

   The fish also went through smultification, the physical changes fish need to go from a freshwater to a saltwater environment. Performing those changes indicated the fish were healthy and ready to migrate downstream, Dunsmoor said. 

   Detrich said the continued presence of red-band trout in the affected areas also shows that water quality should be tolerable for the time being. Both salmon and trout commonly share the same habitat.

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