The struggle in the West over water has been long and bitter, pitting family farmers against Native Americans, fishers, and environmentalists. No case has brought more attention to these multiuser conflicts than the fight over habitat restoration for the five species of Pacific salmon – most notably the favored commercial and sport fishing species, Chinook (or king) and coho salmon. Over the past hundred years, salmon populations have declined precipitously on the Pacific coast, and many stocks of Chinook and coho are now threatened or endangered due to declines in habitat quality and dams that block upstream passage of adults to their natal spawning grounds. A River Between Us highlights these conflicts in one of the formerly most productive and most politically sensitive river basins, the Klamath in California and Oregon.
Historical records indicate that the Klamath River supported immense runs of salmon, including both Chinook and coho that sometimes...
University of California Press