New Season of Changing Planet Follows Two River Restorations

Rivers, an essential ecosystem for humans and nature, have become threatened across the globe by dams that block water flow and pollution that harms wildlife. Changing Planet: River Restorations follows two ongoing restoration projects that are bringing life back into these waterways. The two-part new season premieres the week of Earth Day on Wednesday, April 23, at 10pm on CET, the station livestreams and the PBS App. Watch a preview: https://watch.cetconnect.org/video/season-4-preview-rfacra/.

In part one, host and global conservation scientist M. Sanjayan visits the Sacred Klamath river in northern California to investigate the largest river restoration ever attempted in the US. The Sacred Klamath was once home to one of the most significant salmon runs on the West Coast, but hydroelectric dams blocked the flow of the river and wildlife, damaging the river’s ecosystem.

The Yurok Tribe, the largest Native-American tribe in California, relies on the Sacred Klamath as a water resource and its salmon population as food supply. Members of the tribe had previously attempted to revitalize the river, but with the dams in place each mile of restoration took a year’s work. Finally, after decades of campaigning, the dams were dismantled in 2024 and the river flowed freely once again.

River Restoration follows Sanjayanas he witnesses the demolition of the dams, helps the Yurok fisheries assess the return of the salmon population and joins the revegetation crew to plant native species and transform 2200 acres of land into wildlife habitat. He meets with engineers, fishermen, Yurok tribe members and the CEO of Klamath River Renewal Corporation to see how they are each playing a role in rebuilding the river and its ecosystem.

In part two, premiering Wednesday, April 30, at 10pm on CET, journalist and paralympian Ade Adepitan investigates the cleanup of the iconic Seine river in Paris, France. For decades, the river was so polluted that swimming was made illegal and wildlife could not even survive, but a $1.5 billion engineering project that was initiated to make the water swimmable for the 2024 Olympics has helped transform the waterway.

The Seine’s history of pollution is so extreme that only three fish species were left after World War II; today, there are more than 40. In River Restoration, Adepitan explores the species of wildlife that have returned to the Seine’s waters and others that live off of them, from tracking bats that feed off the river’s insects to catching a giant Wels catfish.

Restoration projects like these are evidence that there is hope for a changing planet. As Sanjayan and Adepitan document threatened ecosystems in Changing Planet, the series also highlights the great solutions that are being implemented to reverse the damage and save our wildlife.

“When I started on this journey of documenting a changing planet, I expected to be documenting an obituary,” Sanjayan said in a press release. “Then you come here and meet these communities and see what these people are doing. We’re talking about something truly epic. And what blows you away is when everyone comes together, you have a planet that is changing for the better and it can change fast.”

Watch more episodes from previous seasons of Changing Planet on the PBS App: https://watch.cetconnect.org/show/changing-planet/.