HAPPY CAMP, Calif. — A wildfire burning in a remote area just south of the Oregon border appears to have killed tens of thousands of Klamath River fish, the Karuk Tribe said Saturday.
The tribe said in a statement that dead fish of all species were found Friday near Happy Camp, Calif., along the main stem of the Klamath River.
Tribal fisheries biologists believe a flash flood caused by heavy rains over the burn area caused a massive debris flow that entered the river at or near Humbug Creek and McKinney Creek, said Craig Tucker, a spokesman for the tribe.
Debris entering the river caused oxygen levels in the Klamath River to drop to zero Wednesday and Thursday evening, according to readings from tribal monitors at a nearby water quality station.
A Karuk photo taken about 20 miles (32 kilometers) downstream of the flash flood in a tributary of Seiad Creek shows several dozen dead fish belly up amid sticks and other debris in thick, brown water along the riverbank.
The full extent of the damage is not yet clear, but the tribe said late Saturday that the fish found dead 20 miles downstream appeared to have been swept there after their deaths and that the fish kill was not affecting the entire river.
“We believe the impact is limited to 10 or 20 miles of river in that stretch, and the fish we’re seeing at and below Happy Camp are floating downstream from the ‘kill zone,'” the tribe said in an updated statement, adding that it continues to monitor the situation.
The McKinney fire, which has burned more than 90 square miles (233 square kilometers) in the Klamath National Forest, this week destroyed the picturesque village on the Klamath River, home to about 200 people. The flames killed four people in the small community and reduced most homes and businesses to ashes.
Scientists said climate change has made the West warmer and drier over the past three decades and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive. Across the American West, a 22-year megadrought deepened so much in 2021 that the region is now in its driest period in at least 1,200 years.
When it started, the McKinney fire burned just a few hundred acres, and firefighters thought they would quickly get it under control. But thunder-storms came with fierce gusts, which for hours threw it into an unstoppable conflagration.
The fire was 30 percent contained Saturday.
The fish kill was a blow to the Karuk and Yurok tribes, who have fought for years to protect fragile salmon populations in the Klamath River. Salmon is revered by the Karuk and Yurok tribes, the second largest Indian tribe in California.
The federally endangered fish species has suffered from low flows in the Klamath River in recent years, and a parasite that’s deadly to salmon thrived in the warmer, slower-moving water last summer, killing fish in huge numbers.
After years of negotiations, four downstream dams that impede salmon migration are on track to be removed next year in what will be the largest dam removal project in U.S. history in an effort to help for the fish to recover.
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Flaccus reported from Portland, Oregon.
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