Most of the wild steelhead and salmon in the Klamath River spawn in tributary streams. Here, Scott River salmon gather in deep water waiting for enough flow to ascend to suitable spawning habitat. (Michael Wier photo)
January 08, 2025
By Michael Wier
In the last 12 months, four dams have been removed on the Klamath River, reconnecting over 300 miles of historical salmon and steelhead habitat. To fishermen, this sounds appealing, but where are all the new fish going to come from to repopulate that area and help recover this legacy fishery? By now, we all know hatcheries aren’t the answer for recovering native fish stocks. We need wild fish to do that, and wild fish need habitat.
First off, I will tell you where the wild fish are not going to come from. They aren’t going to come from the Klamath River. It sounds counterintuitive, but reality is that very few fish actually spawn in the main stem of the Klamath River. The Klamath River itself is just a highway to get salmonids to the tributaries.
Basin-wide Recovery The real story of Klamath River salmon and steelhead is a story of its tributaries. The Klamath has a diverse array of amazing tributaries ranging from pristine wilderness rivers to highly degraded rivers that have suffered from agriculture, industry, deforestation, and other impacts.
Each tributary has its own distinct characteristics, its own fish populations, and its own story. As I’m writing this, the Klamath is re-finding its natural path in the footprint of what used to be reservoirs.
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A couple of tributaries in particular have risen to the top as priority watersheds for recovering upriver wild fish stocks. The Scott and Shasta rivers are the first two major tributaries below the site of Iron Gate, the lowest of the dams that were removed. Both were historically high-quality habitat that produced large numbers of wild salmon and steelhead. These two rivers have always been important, but with the word “recovery” on everyone’s lips, they are now getting even more attention.
Both have been historically high producers of fall run Chinook and coho salmon as well as summer and fall run steelhead. Now these powerhouse tributaries also must take on the challenge of helping rebuild fish stocks above the previous reservoir sites. These are stocks of fish that are already adapted to moving high up in the watershed. Neither of these tributaries has a hatchery, and their fish stocks have remained mostly wild except for some hatchery strays now and then.
Scott River steelhead (shown here) are prized gamefish, but the river is also an important Chinook salmon tributary, and produces more than half of California’s wild coho salmon, which are listed as endangered. (Michael Wier photo) One of the main differences is that the Scott has historically been an amazing fishing river while its little sister the Shasta is smaller, mostly private, and had really flown under the radar as a fishery. The Scott has all but fallen off the map as a recreational fishery and it’s been many decades since it could have been considered for harvest. But the tides have turned, and conditions are now trending back in a good direction thanks to the stewardship and management of the river and a basin wide recovery strategy.
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When it comes to recovering a fishery, it’s been proven that you cannot take a piecemeal approach and throw a little money here, patch a river up in places, and hope it helps. To truly recover a river it takes a watershed-wide approach. Since the Scott is not a huge watershed, it’s been somewhat less complex for managers to take a critical look at the entire watershed and put together a checklist of priority restoration actions.
First, wild fish need water. That means good flows and good water quality. We need to take a close look at where the water is allocated and how we can keep more water in stream. Second, fish need both spawning and rearing habitat. For that we look at all the reaches of the river, who owns them and where restoration can be done. Third, fish need access to that habitat. That requires taking a close look at the entire watershed and identifying all barriers that inhibit fish passage and habitat connectivity. Habitat also includes flows. For fish to move through the watershed and for the habitat to function, the river needs water. Fourth, we need regulations. This means both fishing regulations and environmental regulations.
The Scott River Valley and watershed was originally home to the Shasta tribe of Native Americans. By the early 1800s the European name for the river was the Beaver River, flowing from the Beaver Valley. This name was given by a party of Hudson Bay Company trappers who included a man named Steven Meek. Meek, who had hunted all over the West, declared that Beaver Valley was one of the best places he had ever seen to trap beaver and hunt game. He was so enamored by the valley that he later returned there in the late 1800s to set up a farmstead and live out his years.
In 1850 a pioneer and prospector named John W. Scott discovered gold in what is now known as the town Scott Bar. A mini gold rush ensued in the Scott River Valley. Subsequently the river was named after him. His name and its association with a legacy of gold mining and its adverse effects on the ecosystem still persist to this day.
Salmonid History Historically all five species of Pacific salmon were present in both the Klamath and Scott rivers. By the time fisheries were being studied and recorded in the early to mid-1800s, the Scott was still home to vibrant runs of coho salmon; spring, fall, and winter runs of Chinook; summer, fall, and winter runs of steelhead; and resident rainbow trout. In recent history the Scott is mostly known for its fall Chinook, some coho, and summer steelhead.
Just downstream from the mouth of the Scott, the town of Happy Camp on the Klamath River boasts it was once the steelhead capital of the world. It’s also an important river for conventional fishermen as well as sustaining the ocean fishery for stocks to be harvested by the tribes and commercial fishing enterprises. Restoring Scott is key to maintaining and improving the steelhead fishery on the Klamath, which I consider to be some of the best traditional swing water in all of California.
In 2023 a historic agreement was signed between the Farmers Ditch Company, the Yurok tribe, and CalTrout. The agreement allows CalTrout and the tribe to restore a highly degraded reach of river along ranch property and help nine ranches to produce more while using less water. (Michael Wier photo) The Scott River is home to a majority of the Klamath coho, also known as silver salmon. These fish are classified as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Historically all the beaver habitat in the valley provided the perfect conditions to rear juvenile cohos. Those fish still have that memory imprinted in their DNA and return to the Scott every year hoping to find similar conditions. Unlike Chinook salmon, cohos can spend up to two years in the river before moving to the ocean. They like slow-water habitat like side channels, wetlands, estuaries, and especially beaver ponds. The coho population in the Scott River is now described as “swirling in the drain.” In some years, fewer than 100 adult cohos return to the river.
The Scott River Valley is a highly productive working landscape. Some of the larger industries in the valley include cattle ranching, farming, logging, and aggregate extraction and still some gold mining. Legacy impacts of mining, ranching, logging, and other land uses have all contributed to degraded conditions for fish.
The Scott River itself was historically known for its incredible steelhead fishing. Through the 1990s and into the 2000s fishing steadily declined. The drought years of 2011 to 2016 hit the Scott harder than most. There are still at least one or two fishing lodges along the river and fish stocks are trending up in good water years.
The fish have become a focal point in a watershed-wide approach to restoring the Scott River. The reality is all these economic activities can continue and we can still have fish recovery if historic practices are adapted to modern solutions. These days it does not have to be one or the other. With common goals in mind and good lines of communication, common ground can be found to achieve the best possible outcomes for wild fish and business owners.
For instance, in 2023 a historic MOU was signed between the Farmers Ditch Company (FDC), the Yurok tribe, and CalTrout. With this agreement, the FDC will allow the Yurok tribe to design and implement restoration of a highly degraded reach of mine tailings on their property. CalTrout will help design and implement infrastructure that protects fish and increases the efficiency of their irrigation systems resulting in improved habitat, reduced incidental take, and increased stream flow at critical times/locations. The FDC gains compliance with rapidly changing regulations and maintains their production ability. The goal is for these nine ranches to produce more with less water. This is a historic development in the Scott River Valley and a new path forward for agriculture interests and native tribes to work together to find common ground.
In 2023 a new bridge was built over Mill Creek—the lowermost tributary to the Scott River. This bridge replaced an Arizona crossing, which was a formidable obstacle to spawning salmonids during low-water years. Now salmon and steelhead have access to 3 miles of year-round coldwater habitat. (Michael Wier photo) Restoring Beaver Valley Recently The Wildlands Conservancy (TWC) purchased a large swath of land at the top of the Scott River Valley, along the East Fork. This 6,000-acre swath of land is going to be managed as an ecological preserve and will be open to the public in the future. They are calling the property The Beaver Valley Headwaters Preserve.
In this stretch of river, restoration practitioners plan on restoring 7 miles of salmon spawning and rearing habitat. This habitat was impacted by road building, overgrazing, and mining. One of the restoration actions will be installing beaver dam analogs on a section of river that currently goes dry in the summer but used to be home to many beavers. These are simulated beaver habitats created using wooden stakes and willow branches. They mimic natural beaver dams where they slow down and spread out the water. This both provides better habitat for fish and wildlife and aids with groundwater recharge. Another potential added benefit is that the project stores water higher in the system and releases it slowly throughout the summer months. It mimics a natural meadow system.
Other restoration actions also include adding trees to the river to create slow-water habitat and capture good spawning gravel, reconnecting the river to its floodplain, excavating off-channel habitat for summer and winter rearing, planting native plants to arrest erosion and increase shade, and fencing the river from cattle impacts.
Real beavers are also being introduced back into the valley. Beavers played an integral part in the ecosystem for centuries. Beavers and salmon have co-existed and adapted together. Local lore from the Native Americans says that beavers taught salmon how to jump. In a way it’s true because salmon adapted to jump over the beaver dams. In return the ponds created by beaver dams are ideal rearing habitat for juvenile salmon and steelhead.
Returning stable populations of beavers back to the valley will be a huge win for conservation in the long run. Historically ranchers have not been in favor of beavers because they dam parts of the river that can flood their fields and disrupt water diversions. But there’s lots of new technology out there in managing beavers and controlling the heights of their dams. Tricky biologist have figured out ways to insert pipes into the beavers’ dams that keep them at a certain water level. Managing beavers takes a little more work than killing them but more and more people are starting to become beaver believers in the fight for restoring lost Salmon abundance.
Removing Barriers Another huge problem in the valley has been fish barriers. Barriers take many forms including culverts, water diversion dams, and Arizona crossings. In the past two decades, a huge effort has been undertaken to categorize all barriers in the valley and address them in order from highest priority to lowest.
In 2023 a new bridge was built over the lowermost tributary to the Scott River (Mill Creek) in the town of Scott Bar. This bridge replaced an Arizona crossing, which is just a concrete structure built across the river with multiple culverts. In low water, like most of the summer and fall, the structure created an impossible barrier and blocked fish migration into that important tributary. This barrier had been in place since the 1980s. Now salmon and steelhead have access to 3 miles of year-round coldwater habitat.
A few years ago, a low-water ford crossing on Mill Creek was also replaced with a channel-spanning bridge. This project was also led by California Trout . Fish now have full and easy access
year-round to one of the most important spawning and rearing tributaries for coho salmon in the Scott. This bridge was used frequently by logging companies and has helped mitigate impacts from hauling out the logs on the river.
Currently, CalTrout is also working with CalTrans on a culvert replacement on upper Mill Creek in the headwaters of the valley. Upper Mill Creek is an important coldwater tributary that hosts miles of incredible spawning and rearing habitat for salmonids.
The Scott River produces more than half of the state’s wild cohos, but since the Gold Rush, the river and its fish face myriad challenges, from water diversion to deforestation and drought. (Nate Wilson photo) One of the big success stories in the Scott River watershed in recent years has been the purchase of the Bouvier Ranch on the South Fork Scott River, which included 2.6 cubic feet per second of instream flows for the benefit of salmonids in the watershed.
Coho salmon are listed as endangered throughout much of their range and are threatened in Northern California. The Scott River produces more than half of the state’s wild cohos, but since the Gold Rush, the river and its fish face myriad challenges, from water diversion to deforestation and drought. Perhaps the greatest stressor on cohos today is the lack of water in the river. Frequently, there is simply too little water in the river and its tributaries to sustain healthy populations of spawning, holding, and rearing fish.
To change this, Western Rivers Conservancy has purchased and conserved the Bouvier Ranch on the South Fork Scott River, conveying the property’s senior water rights to Siskiyou Land Trust, which allows for a dedicated 2.6 cfs of instream flows for the benefit of cohos, Chinook salmon, and steelhead. Keeping this water in the South Fork Scott will increase summer flows by up to 20 percent, exactly when the river and its fish need the water the most.
The project also conserved 2.5 miles of designated critical habitat for southern Oregon/northern California Coast coho. Combined with the rare opportunity to return water to the South Fork Scott, this is a major step in the right direction for the Scott River watershed and all its fish. Millions of dollars have been invested in coho recovery within the Klamath Basin, but success is dependent on the presence of water in important tributaries like the Scott.
Funding for the Scott River Project was made possible through generous contributions from multiple sources, including the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, The Joseph and Vera Long Foundation, the Bella Vista Foundation, the Betlach Family Foundation, the Giles W. and Elise G. Mead Foundation, and with the generous support of many additional individuals, foundations, and businesses. For more information or to donate to future projects visit westernrivers.org.
Mining Mitigation One of the greatest historic impacts to fish was legacy gold mining in the valley. From the mid to late 1800s into the early 1900s, mining took a heavy toll on this watershed. First, miners came with picks and shovels and started panning and mining for placer gold along the river’s edges. Later they built flumes, and hydro mining started to become popular. Using this method, miners would blast large sections of topsoil with hydraulic pressure from hoses.
Later, large barge dredging operations became popular. For this technique, miners would bring in or build large-scale dredge rigs that would either be fed mechanically by large machinery or would be floating barges. The barge dredges would create their own lakes by damming a section of river. They would then grind away and constantly move the small lake they created by moving materials from the front, sifting them through the barge, then depositing the materials behind it again. This process was extremely destructive.
The legacy of these mining operations can be seen all around the valley. If you get on Google Earth, you can see a huge swath of mining tailings that cover several miles of riverside along the upper valley. Environmental groups are now addressing these areas and trying to turn them back into usable habitat for fish.
In the South Fork of the Scott there is a large-scale restoration effort underway to mitigate historic mining sites and rebuild habitat. This type of restoration often entails removing thousands of pounds of aggregate to get back to bedrock or historic stream channels. From there, we can recreate natural stream channels off main channel habitat and natural floodplain once again. Large wood structures are also added to the river to provide habitat for fish.
Restoration in The Beaver Valley Headwater Preserve includes the installation of simulated beaver habitats created using wooden stakes and willow branches. They mimic the natural beaver dams that historically provided habitat for juvenile coho salmon. They also slow down and spread out the water to increase groundwater recharge. (Michael Wier photo) Similar efforts are now happening on the main stem as well. There has been some mine tailing mitigation work done in the upper valley and a much larger restoration project is currently being designed and funded to address the largest piles of aggregate.
This type of restoration is rewarding because it provides almost immediate results. After the completion of a large-scale restoration effort on the South Fork, there were cohos spawning and rearing in there within weeks of the tractors finishing up.
The Blueprint By now the blueprint should be clear for truly recovering native and wild fish stocks. It takes a basin-wide approach to restoration and nature-based solutions. Hatcheries aren’t going to cut it. While hatcheries can prop up fish stocks for a while, they have not proved to be a great tool for actual recovery. Recovery means wild fish spawning of their own volition, choosing their own mates, and fish having access to high-quality habitat for rearing. They need the type of habitat they are adapted to using before we decided to completely re-tool most rivers for our needs.
The Scott is a great example of using the latest science to inform land management, upgrade legacy water conveyance systems, ration water for fish and wildlife, remove barriers, and restore habitat. It’s also a great example of a multi-stakeholder collective of landowners, NGOs, and agencies working together for a common goal of saving species from the Endangered Species List. The hope for us anglers is that these actions will once again equate to an amazing fishery in the Scott River with large wild salmon and steelhead.
Michael Wier grew up in the Sierra foothills, where he split his time between snowboarding and fly fishing. He spent 15 seasons fishing and guiding the waters of the Truckee, Carson, and Walker rivers. He also started BURL Productions, producing outdoor films such as Trout Bum Diaries 1, Soulfish, and Cali Rush. He is a Patagonia ambassador and outreach coordinator for California Trout.
