Klamath Headwaters

My Klamath Salmon Pages are primarily concerned with Klamath water issues as they pertain to downriver people, in particular those who's lives are intertwined with the salmon, sturgeon and other fish and food available in the lower Klamath. But the people of upper Klamath basin are also fighting to restore their fisheries, and in fact the problems of the upper basin are inseperable from those of the lower basin.

A Klamath woman I met in Portland told me that prior to European settlement of the upper basin, waters of the Klamath had been cooled by a rich system of lakes and marshes. This would have been good for the salmon, suckers, and other fish. About 100 years ago, the marshes were drained and turned to farmland and irrigation canals, with disastrous results.

The problems of the lower Klamath are the cumlative effect of many factors, from the draining of lakes and marshes, to deforestation, to agricultural chemical run-off, to the diversion of water from both the Klamath and its main tributary, the Trinity river.

Klamath Tribes: Klamaths, Modocs, Yahooskin