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Press release from the Klamath Indigenous Land Trust and PacifiCorp:

Klamath Basin, CA/OR — Today, as salmon return to the headwaters of the Klamath River for the first time in over a century, the newly formed Klamath Indigenous Land Trust (KILT) and PacifiCorp announced the landmark purchase of 10,000 acres in and around the former reservoir reach of the river. This transaction represents one of the largest private land purchases by an Indigenous-led land trust in U.S. history. 

“Dam removal allowed the salmon to return home. Returning these lands to Indigenous care ensures that home will be a place where they can flourish and recover,” said Molli Myers (Karuk), President of the Klamath Indigenous Land Trust Board of Directors. “Our communities spent generations fighting for this moment and we honor our ancestors who carried this vision forward. The healing that’s underway is real, and this acquisition reflects the future we’re building together as People of the Klamath Basin.  

PacifiCorp, the previous landowner, partnered with KILT to complete the sale following a decades long Indigenous-led effort to remove four dams on the Klamath River, completed last year. The purchase includes lands upstream and adjacent to the former hydropower project that are central to the future health of the river and its fisheries. With this transfer, stewardship of these lands will be guided by Indigenous values and ecological restoration goals for the first time in over a century.

“PacifiCorp is gratified to see these lands transition to a stewardship model that honors their cultural and ecological significance,” said Ryan Flynn, president of Pacific Power, the division of PacifiCorp that serves customers in California, Oregon and Washington. “We recognize the leadership of the Klamath Basin Tribes and KILT in shaping a restoration vision that will benefit the entire region.”

KILT was formed by Indigenous leaders from four different Klamath Basin Tribes who met after the 2002 Fish Kill and spent the next two decades committed to the grass roots movement to un-dam the Klamath and bring their salmon home. “We are from different Tribes and we each have our own cultural traditions, but it was through working together and by bringing Tribal People from all over the Basin together that created this moment,” said KILT Board Vice President Wendy Ferris-George (Hupa/Karuk).

With the acquisition complete, KILT’s next steps include developing comprehensive land management plans with input from area Tribes, ensuring stewardship reflects both cultural values and ecological priorities. These plans will address habitat recovery, cultural resource protection, fire management, and public access considerations.

“This is the next chapter in the Klamath River’s renewal,” Board member Jeff Mitchell (Klamath/Modoc) added. “It’s proof that Indigenous leadership and community partnerships can achieve transformational change at a landscape scale.”

Funding for the purchase was kindly provided by The Catena Foundation, the Community Foundation of New Jersey, and an anonymous donor.

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About KILT:

The Klamath Indigenous Land Trust was formed last year by a group of colleagues and friends who worked together for over two decades on the Bring the Salmon Home campaign that led to the eventual removal of the lower four Klamath River dams. KILT’s Mission is to protect and preserve land for the benefit of Klamath Basin Tribal communities and to advance public interest purposes such as fish and wildlife habitat restoration and enhancement, public education, and public recreational access. In this way we seek to empower Klamath Basin tribal communities by providing them with greater control over their land and resources through facilitating and supporting land returns, conservation easements, and other mechanisms.

About PacifiCorp:

PacifiCorp is one of the lowest-cost electrical providers in the United States, serving more than 2 million customers. The company operates as Rocky Mountain Power in Idaho, Utah and Wyoming and as Pacific Power in California, Oregon and Washington. PacifiCorp provides safe and reliable service through a vast, integrated system of generation and transmission that connects communities with the largest regulated utility owner of wind power in the West. For more information, visit PacifiCorp.com.