Ridges to Riffles (R2R) works to help Indigenous Peoples protect and restore the natural and cultural resources essential to their identity and sovereignty. The organization played a leading role with Tribes in the removal of the four Klamath Dams, the largest dam removal project in U.S. history. R2R’s current project focuses on monitoring and securing instream water flows to restore the health of the Klamath River ecosystem in partnership with the Yurok Tribe. The Klamath River, stretching approximately 257 miles through southern Oregon and northern California, holds profound cultural significance for Indigenous peoples. Historically the third-largest salmon-bearing river in the continental U.S., current salmon populations have collapsed to just 1–3% of their historical run size due to habitat destruction, inadequate water flows, and climate change.
The 2024 removal of four dams was a landmark achievement, reopening nearly 400 miles of spawning habitat blocked for nearly a century. But dam removal alone is insufficient. Ensuring cold, clean, and adequate water flows is the essential next step — without it, the full restoration potential of dam removal cannot be realized. Low flows drive dangerous water temperatures that stress salmon and promote disease, as tragically demonstrated in 2002 when over 70,000 adult Chinook salmon died within the Yurok Reservation in the largest fish kill in American history.
Despite the Yurok Tribe holding senior federally reserved water rights, those rights remain unquantified, allowing the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to prioritize upstream agricultural deliveries over downstream fishery needs. R2R is working to change this through two parallel tracks: (1) a comprehensive instream flow study to scientifically quantify the water necessary to sustain salmon populations, and (2) legal advocacy to secure those flows, including active litigation challenging federal water management decisions that violate tribal rights and the Endangered Species Act. Restoring adequate flows would yield far-reaching benefits — revitalizing Indigenous fisheries potentially worth over $500 million annually, expanding eco-tourism and recreation, and building climate resilience for the entire Klamath Basin ecosystem.
