What is a river for? Applying a moral economy framework to understand dam removal and river restoration in the Klamath Basin

In 2023–2024, four hydropower dams were removed from the Klamath River in southern Oregon and northern California in what is now the largest salmon recovery and river restoration project in US history. This restoration effort is the culmination of more than 20 years of scientific research, advocacy, conflict, negotiation and litigation over the river, its water, and the surrounding ecosystem. In this article, we present results from archival and ethnographic research with farmers and ranchers, conservation advocates, fishing communities, and others whose identities and livelihoods are intertwined with the river ecosystem. We analyze the normative values that these groups have about ‘what the river is for’, and the strategies these groups use for accomplishing their water management objectives. We situate the decades-long struggle over dam removal in the context of recent theoretical and empirical research on ‘moral economies for water’ and consider the implications of our findings for ongoing policy challenges, including a regional water-rights adjudication process in the courts. We also consider how our research contributes to a broader understanding of water management scenarios involving complex tradeoffs.