California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the Ceo of PacifiCorp, along with more than 30 stakeholder groups, including the Karuk, Yurok and Klamath Tribes signed agreements for removal of four Klamath river dams. It provides for restoration of salmon habitat, allocates water rights and guarantees water deliveries to both farmers and the environment.

Removing the dams — scheduled to begin in 2020 if full funding is approved — will open hundreds of miles of river that have been closed to salmon for a century.

“The salmon are really the base of our culture,” says Annalia Norris, 33, of the Klamath tribe at the mouth of the river.
“We honor the fish; they’re the ones that give us life and feed us,” Norris says. “That’s our whole culture. It’s centered around the salmon – we’re salmon people.”