Officials are still not close to reaching their goal of returning at least 5 million salmon and steelhead to the Columbia River Basin. However, new data shows a positive trend in total abundance of fish in the basin.
The Klamath River was once a major habitat for salmon, but hydroelectric dams along the Oregon-California border region caused their population to plummet.
Hydropower generated for electricity from Oregon and Washington dams fell to historically low levels last year, and experts expect it could drop further by year’s end.