Photos and content provided by
S. Craig Tucker, PhD
These pictures were taken between Indian Creek which flows though Happy Camp and Seiad Creek about 20 miles upstream.
Observations suggest that this was a temporal event. That is to say a massive debris slide out of areas impacted by the #McKinneyFire entered the mainstream Klamath River at or near Humbug Creek and McKinney Creeks.
This led to dissolved oxygen levels dropping to 0 on the nights of August 3 and 4 according to Karuk Seiad Creek water quality station.
The result was a fish kill in this reach of river. We think the impact is limited to 10 or 20 miles of river in this reach and the fish we are seeing in Happy Camp and below are floating downstream from the ‘kill zone.’
We are still working to better understand the event and the Karuk Tribe continues to monitor the situation.
