Hi, I'm Flora Lichten, and you're listening to Science Friday.

Today in the show, we are taking you behind the scenes on the biggest damn removal project in U.S. history.

And what's happened since?

I thought, oh my gosh, my nation is still at war with the U.S., and we've got to do something about this.

The Klamath River runs from southern Oregon to California, and right now it is the site of a monumental restoration experiment.

The river used to be a top salmon run until a series of dams were installed around 100 years ago,

and salmon populations tanked.

This is the prologue to a really remarkable story about a coalition that fought to restore the river,

led by members of the Uruk and Karuk nations

who've lived along the river for millennia, a group of lawyers, biologists, and activists

successfully lobbied for the removal of dams. The fourth dam was removed last year. It was the

biggest dam removal project in U.S. history. Here to tell us the story and

what's happened since are Amy Bowers Cordales, legal counsel for the Iraq Nation, and author of the

upcoming book, The Water Remembers, which chronicles this effort to get the dams removed, and Barry

McCovey, Jr., director of the Iraq Tribes Fisheries Department.

Amy, Barry, I want to welcome you both to Science Friday.

Thanks for having us.

Yeah, thank you.

Okay, Amy, take me back to 2002.

It sounds like this was a turning point for you.

It was.

I was on a different career path and I was in college and I was home

...