Fire is a regular visitor to the Klamath

When I look in the background of literally most of my river pictures its easy to see the evidence of fire… A ridge top here, a fire scar there.

It seems nearly every year now though there is is a fire on the Klamath. Much of it goes un-noticed, just the hassle of poor air quality and red flag alerts. But its particularly acute when it affects the people and communities that live along the Klamath. Hornbrook in 2018. Happy Camp in 2021 and now Klamath River in 2022.

I’m stricken imagining what it must have been like for the folks who lived in the fires path, using the road just behind me here to flee west and away.

On the day it blew up I was just 20 miles upriver and watching the pycrocumulus flare …

I have learning from being in and immersed in the Klamath’s landscape for months at a time each year that fire comes and fire goes. It shouldn’t be this frequent and intense, but it also is no stranger.

Three times now, I’ve literally been on the water when blazes started. Every year I’ve been astounded at this places fortitude and ability to spring back.

I’m heartened it appears the worst has passed. And I know as has been proven each year time and time again that the Klamath is as resilient a river as any that exists. It’s fish are no stranger to adversity. In spite of everything we can throw; Dams, toxic algae, disease, climate change, fires and floods, the river and its fish persist.

Hang in their K - it sounds like the ocean has been good to your offspring, and luckily, most are still out to sea. And a little relief so you can breath again is just around the corner at last.

So hang in there, Klamath, you got this…