… Rivers are easily wounded. But given a chance, they heal themselves with remarkable speed. Their life pours back. On 2 October 2024, the century-old Iron Gate dam was removed from the upper Klamath River, who flows out of Oregon and into California. Its demolition concluded the largest de-damming project in US history, and was the outcome of two decades of campaigning and watershed activism, led by members of the Klamath Tribe. Only a few days later, something extraordinary happened. A sonar camera set up by scientists detected a single chinook salmon migrating upstream to spawn, past the pinch-point where the Iron Gate Dam had stood. It was the first fish to make that journey in more than 100 years, guided by an ancient navigation system and driven by an undeniable urge.