![]() Irrigation withdrawals and polluted farm runoff have harmed the river and its fisheries. The upper Klamath basin has been called the “Everglades of the West.” However, almost 80 percent of the upper basin’s wetlands have been converted to grow thirsty crops such as potatoes, alfalfa, and hay, including nearly 23,000 acres on the Tule Lake and Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuges. More than 75 percent of birds migrating on the Pacific Flyway feed or rest in the upper basin and the largest population of bald eagles in the lower 48 states winters in several national wildlife refuges there. Chinook and coho salmon, steelhead and coastal cutthroat trout, green and white sturgeon, and Pacific lamprey all rely on the Klamath. Klamath River salmon runs were once the third-largest in the nation, but have fallen to just eight percent of their historic numbers. The river has been home to indigenous people for thousands of years and tribes including the Yurok, Karuk, Hoopa, Shasta, and Klamath rely on, and care for, the river today. ![]() After passing through five hydropower dams, the river reaches the Pacific Ocean south of the fishing community of Crescent City. The Klamath River flows from a broad patchwork of lakes and marshes at the foot of the Cascade Mountains on the California-Oregon border and winds southwest into California.
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