59th Annual Salmon Festival

Northcoast Environmental Center Staff

Photo by Mark Larson

The Yurok Tribe’s annual Klamath Salmon Festival in Klamath, California was celebrated on August 19, 2023. This annual event is a great opportunity to learn more about the Yurok Tribe, the largest tribe in California, their culture and the Klamath River.

Photo by Mark Larson
Under smoky skies in Klamath on Saturday, these pro-salmon activists performed multiple dam-removals in the morning parade at the Klamath “No-Salmon” Festival. Members of the the Yurok Tribal Court, Yurok Wellness coalition and Playhouse Arts with help from the Northcoast Environmental Center repeatedly “removed” each of the four Klamath River dams during the parade. The theme of this year’s festival, “Celebrating Dam Removal and the Healing of the Klamath River,” honored the successful tribally led effort to remove four antiquated dams. The first dam will be completely dismantled in September.

 Unfortunately, no salmon was served at this year’s festival because the Klamath River’s forecasted fish run is the lowest on record.

Photo by Mark Larson

Northcoast Environmental Center (NEC) staff had the honor of joining the parade as part of the float hosted by the Yurok Tribal Court and Arcata Playhouse. The photos below show the community performance about how salmon will be free to run the Klamath River once the dams come down.

Photo by Mark Larson

A big thank you to Mark Larson Photography for these wonderful photos.