For the first time in more than a century, salmon are swimming freely along the Klamath River and its tributaries — a major watershed near the California-Oregon border — just days after the largest dam removal project in U.

The recently completed removal of dams on the Klamath River is raising hopes of rebuilding the population of threatened spring-run chinook salmon.

Advocates see their work as far from finished, with some already focusing efforts on revegetation and restoration on the Klamath River and surrounding land.

Rivers don’t fix themselves and heal overnight from 100 years of degradation and damage," one expert said. "This is a process, and the healing process is