Watchlist: ‘First Descent: Kayaking the Klamath River after the largest dam removal in US history’

By Kamiah Koch

Social media/digital journalist

In the summer of 2025, Oregon Public Broadcasting followed a group of Indigenous teens who were the first to kayak the entire Klamath River to commemorate the largest dam removal project in American history.

“They removed four out of the six dams that were built on the Klamath River,” a narrator said. “This was a battle Tribal communities have been fighting for over a century. The first descent is to celebrate the work that went into dam removal and to show why it’s necessary.”

The 300-mile stretch of river flows through southern Oregon and northern California and took the Tribal youth a month to complete.

On launch day, Klamath Tribal member Jeff Mitchell spoke to the kayakers about the significance of this journey through his peoples’ homelands. He shared it was an emotional day because it had been 100 years since salmon had been able to reach upriver spawning areas because of the dams.

With a prayer and sage, they began their journey in a good way.

Tasia Linwood, 15, was one of the Indigenous youths participating in the journey. She said her grandparents never thought they would see the Klamath River undammed.

Linwood’s mother, Nisha Supahan (Karuk) says she held some concerns about kayakers’ safety because they are kayaking on a river that is unknown. With the dams removed, it’s now flowing in new directions. Kayak guides from the Paddle Tribal Waters program had heard warnings about “strainers,” meaning downed wood and trees that can be dangerous to kayakers.

But many of the Tribal youth had been kayaking and training for this journey for two years and rafted many of the white water sections a year before in preparation.

With Go-Pros strapped to several of the kayaks, the nervous teens braved the class-four rapids.  

After paddling through the previous dam sites, many of the kayakers marveled at seeing the river in its new form.

“I have only ever seen Iron Gate (Reservoir) as this big ugly blockade on the river, and I was looking at it from river level and I never thought that I would see it like this,” Paddle Tribal Waters Director Danielle Frank said. “This is the river I grew up on but I have never known this river like this.”

You can watch the full Tribal youth kayak journey on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FuGuWeAra4.