Quitting fishing so early in life remains one of my biggest regrets. But if I’ve learned anything, it’s that you don’t have to slay fish, or even live in the Klamath to love what the people and salmon who live here represent. I love to see the shadowy shapes of wild salmon spiraling around in a deep hole in the river. I love to know that they’re there. I love that they spend their whole lives trying to get home, much as the rest of us seem to do. I love the cultures that have evolved around salmon in this place. Mostly, I love that catching them is the best therapy for my brother. And maybe someday his kids will have the patience to teach me to fish and I will feel brave enough to try again.
The journey of Klamath salmon is nothing short of miraculous. It is believed they swim thousands of miles by navigating the stars and smelling their way back to their home streams—all for the promise of procreation. Salmon are anadromous, meaning they are born in freshwater, migrate to the ocean, and then return to freshwater to spawn.
Remember, this was in the sixties, you were still pretty young. And I was just a child. Simplistic messages appealed to me. Your story and message were compelling but did not paint the whole picture. We know better now. Smokey, we have both grown up.
By providing a place for community events along the Klamath, MKWC hopes to provide a spark of revitalization in Orleans. MKWC has tried to clean up from past land uses and is endeavoring to set an example for responsible land use and increasing community vitality. As an organization we have much to contribute and high hopes for the future, but as the saying goes, it takes a village.
The Klamath-Siskiyou Outdoor School is a cost free overnight camp for youth in the Mid Klamath area. The camp involves local youth, ages 11-14, in hands-on natural resource restoration and monitoring activities during rafting and backpacking trips. Students learn about the natural history and ecology of the Klamath area from camp counselors and special presenters. In addition, students participate in outdoor recreational activities such as kayaking and stand-up paddle boarding. Junior counselors, who were campers in previous years, are given the opportunity to improve and practice their leadership skills. KSOS aims to inspire the next generation of environmental stewards, while providing a platform for building self-confidence and strong relationships.
The NSO calls the Pacific Northwest home, where it is considered a keystone species and is currently listed under the Endangered Species Act as ‘threatened.’ Loss of habitat over the past century, and, more recently, the invasion of the Barred Owl (Strix varia) from the East have led to a sharp decline in the population of this splendid raptor.
…Most westerners are unaware of prehistoric extreme climate events that complete the regions long-term climate pattern. During millennia, climate has often varied by extremes in the American West. Close examination of the evidence suggests that the benign past century and half have not prepared us adequately for what could come in the future
After another dry January, I felt giddy as the Klamath River started rising in February. I compared stories with friends about which house-sized rocks were quickly going underwater. I feel this excitement was warranted because when all was said and done, the flows were three times higher than the highest flows last year (which were dismal.)
Last August 4, a handful of local firefighters were gathered at the Pigeon Shoot, a rickety wooden platform built atop a rock outcrop on a knife edge ridge just east of the Rainbow Mine, the first private property to be threatened by the White’s Fire. Located in the headwaters of the North Fork Salmon River in the east side of the Middle Klamath River watershed, this fire spread rapidly through forests where fires had been effectively excluded since fire suppression was invented over a century before.
