From the Wild Salmon Center
New research findings from a team led by UC Davis, and including WSC Science Director Matt Sloat, is upending our understanding of spring Chinook.
Samples of spring Chinook from ancient fishing spots in the upper Klamath — some sites dating back to 3100 BC — combined with new DNA science, show spring Chinook derived from a single genetic mutation. Once lost, these ecologically and culturally important populations can’t easily be recovered.
Read the full article here: Spring Chinook
Prior to the arrival of hydraulic mining and other niceties in the 1850s, spring Chinook were the predominate run in the Klamath and undoubtedly the most important to the indigenous peoples. By the time salmon canner and hatchery operator extraordinaire R.D. Hume had set his sights on the Klamath in the early 1890s, “the [Klamath’s] main run, which were the spring salmon, are practically extinct…and the fall run reduced to very small proportions.”