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  "path": "/p/the-largest-dam-removal-in-us-history-943",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-27T10:06:58.000Z",
  "site": "https://fixthenews.com",
  "tags": [
    "'The Water Remembers'",
    "Ridges to Riffles",
    "Fix The News",
    "Hear That!"
  ],
  "textContent": "**The battle to restore the Klamath River lasted generations. When the dams finally came down, salmon returned within three days - far faster than scientists expected, marking a turning point for Indigenous rights, ecological restoration and cultural survival.**\n\nMeet Amy Bowers Cordalis - attorney, activist and member of the Yurok Tribe - who helped lead one of the most significant river restoration efforts in modern history. Amy shares the story behind America’s largest dam removal project: from growing up alongside the Klamath River and witnessing the devastating 2002 salmon die-off, to becoming the first General Counsel for the Yurok Tribe and helping navigate a long fight against political, legal and corporate interests that many believed was impossible to win.\n\nThis isn’t just a conversation about dams or conservation. It’s about what comes after victory - and what repair truly means for ecosystems, communities, culture and our collective future.\n\n**In this episode:**\n\n  * How Amy blew up a dam on her birthday\n\n  * Why salmon returned to the Klamath River in just three days\n\n  * The cultural and spiritual connection between the Yurok people, the river and salmon\n\n  * What the 2002 mass death of 70,000 salmon meant for Indigenous communities\n\n  * How grief and anger led Amy to law school and environmental advocacy\n\n  * Warren Buffett - and why his team ended up on the banks of the Klamath River\n\n  * The surprising economics of dam removal and river restoration\n\n  * Finding the joy in advocacy\n\n  * What the Klamath story teaches us about hope, persistence and ability of nature and communities to heal\n\n\n\n\n**Timestamps:\n**\n00:54 - Introduction to the Klamath River story\n\n02:26 - Meet Amy Bowers Cordalis\n\n03:59 - The Yurok's relationship with the Klamath and the salmon\n\n07:05 - The turning point in 2002\n\n10:59 - How Amy's great-grandmother told her to take action\n\n12:53 - 80,000 salmon died, no media showed up\n\n13:38 - What a decades-long battle felt like on the inside?\n\n15:13 - When Warren Buffet's team came out to the Klamath\n\n19:02 - Midpoint reflections\n\n20:43 - How the Klamath restoration changes the story of environmental activism\n\n22:55 - Why restoration and economics can go hand in hand\n\n23:49 - What it's like to blow up a dam, on your birthday\n\n25:04 - How the elders have responded to the Klamath flowing again\n\n27:32 - How salon beat scientific predication and returned after three days\n\n29:23 - The myth of the lone hero\n\n32:11 - Other river restoration projects happening in America\n\n34:26 - What comes after victory? Healing.\n\n38:21 - What the Klamath story tells us about what's possible\n\n40:22 - Final reflections\n\n**Want to dive deeper?**\n\n👉 Find out more about Amy and her book 'The Water Remembers'\n👉 Amy's non-profit Ridges to Riffles\n\n**About Fix The News:**\nFix The News is a solutions-focused media platform sharing stories from the frontlines of progress - exploring what’s working in the world and the people making it happen.\n\n**Subscribe & follow:**\nIf you enjoyed this episode, follow the podcast and leave a review - it helps more people find these stories.\n\n**Production credits:**\nHosted by Angus Hervey and Amy Davoren-Rose\nProduced by Fix The News\nAudio production: Anthony Badolato, Hear That!\n\n****_This episode was produced in Australia on the lands of the Gadigal, Wurundjeri and Woi Wurrung peoples._",
  "title": "The Largest Dam Removal in U.S. History: Indigenous Leadership, the Klamath River & Lessons in Repair"
}