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The Independent
15-07-2025
- General
- The Independent
Native American teens kayak major US river to celebrate removal of dams and return of salmon
As bright-colored kayaks push through a thick wall of fog, voices and the beats of drums build as kayakers approach a crowd that has formed on the beach. Applause erupts as the boats land on the sandy spit that partially separates the Klamath River from the Pacific Ocean in northern California. Native American teenagers from tribes across the river basin push themselves up and out of the kayaks and begin to cross the sand, some breaking into a sprint. They kick playfully at the cold waves of the ocean they've been paddling toward over the last month — the ocean that's seen fewer and fewer salmon return to it over the last century as four hydropower dams blocked their ideal spawning grounds upstream. 'I think our ancestors would be proud because this is what they've been fighting for,' said Tasia Linwood, a 15-year-old member of the Karuk Tribe, on Thursday night, ahead of the group's final push to the end on Friday. The Klamath River is newly navigable after a decades-long effort to remove its four hydropower dams to help restore the salmon run — an ancient source of life, food and culture for these paddlers' tribes who have lived alongside the river for millennia. Youth primarily from the Yurok, Klamath, Hoopa Valley, Karuk, Quartz Valley and Warm Springs tribes paddled 310 miles (499 kilometers) over a month from the headwaters of the Wood River, a tributary to the Klamath that some tribes consider sacred, to the Pacific Ocean. The teens spent several years learning to navigate white water through Paddle Tribal Waters, a program set up by the nonprofit Rios to Rivers, to prepare local Native youth for the day this would be possible. During their last days on the water, the group of several dozen swelled to more than 100, joined by some family members and Indigenous people from Bolivia, Chile and New Zealand who face similar challenges on their home rivers. Dams built decades ago for electricity Starting in the early 1900s, power company PacifiCorp built the dams over several decades to generate electricity. But the structures, which provided 2% of the utility's power, halted the natural flow of a waterway that was once known as the third-largest salmon-producing river on the West Coast. With the dams in place, tribes lost access to a reliable source of food. The dams blocked the path to hundreds of miles of cool freshwater streams, ideal for salmon returning from the ocean to lay their eggs. Salmon numbers declined dramatically along with the water quality. In 2002, a bacterial outbreak caused by low water and warm temperatures killed more than 34,000 fish, mostly Chinook salmon. That galvanized decades of advocacy by tribes and environmental groups, culminating in 2022 when federal regulators approved a plan to remove the dams. Through protests, testimony and lawsuits, the tribes showcased the environmental devastation caused by the dams, especially to salmon. From 2023 to 2024, the four dams were dynamited and removed, freeing hundreds of miles of the Klamath. The renewable electricity lost by removing the hydropower dams was enough to power the equivalent of 70,000 homes, although PacifiCorp has since expanded its renewable sources through wind and solar projects. Two dams used for irrigation and flood control remain on the upper stretch of the river. They have 'ladders' that allow some fish to pass through, although their efficacy for adult salmon is questionable. On the journey, the paddlers got out of the river and carried their kayaks around the dams. For teens, a month of paddling and making memories The journey began June 12 with ceremonial blessings and kayaks gathered in a circle above a natural pool of springs where fresh water bubbles to the surface at the headwater of the Wood River, just upstream of the Klamath River. The youth camped in tents as they made their way across Upper Klamath Lake and down the Klamath River, jumping in the water or doing flips in their kayaks to cool down in the summer heat. A few kayakers came down with swimmer's ear, but overall everybody on the trip remained healthy. Nearly everyone had a story to share of a family's fishing cabin or a favorite swimming hole while passing through ancestral territory of the Klamath, Modoc, Shasta, Karuk and Yurok. More than 2,200 dams were removed from rivers in the United States from 1912 through 2024, most in the last couple of decades as momentum grows to restore the natural flow of rivers and the wildlife they support, according to the conservation group American Rivers. 'I believe that it was kind of symbolic of a bigger issue,' said John Acuna, member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe and a leader on the trip. Removal of dams represents end of long fight with federal government The federal government signed treaties with these tribes outlining their right to govern themselves, which is violated when they can't rely on their traditional food from the river. Acuna said these violations are familiar to many tribal communities, and included when his great-grandmother was sent to boarding school as part of a national strategy to strip culture and language from Native Americans. That history "comes with generational trauma,' he said. Their treaty-enshrined right to fish was also blatantly disregarded by regional authorities in the 1970s but later upheld by various court decisions, said Yurok council member Phillip Williams. Standing on a fog-shrouded boat ramp in the town of Requa awaiting the arrival of the youth, Williams recounted the time when it was illegal to fish here using the tribes' traditional nets. As a child, his elders were arrested and even killed for daring to defy authorities and fish in broad daylight. Fifty years later, with the hydropower dams now gone, large numbers of salmon are beginning to return and youth are paddling the length of the Klamath. 'If there's a heaviness that I feel it's because there's a lot of people that lived all in these places, all these little houses here that are no longer here no more," said Williams. 'They don't get to see what's happening today. And that's a heavy, heavy, feeling.' Even as a teen, Linwood says she feels both the pleasure of a month-long river trip with her friends and the weight of the past. 'I kind of feel guilty, like I haven't done enough to be fighting,' she said. "I gotta remember that's what our ancestors fought for. They fought for that — so that we could feel this joy with the river.' ___
CNN
10-07-2025
- General
- CNN
Young indigenous kayakers about to complete historic river journey, after ‘largest dam removal in US history'
Ruby Williams' birthday was not your average 18th. She celebrated it on the Klamath River, with a group of young people making a historic journey paddling from the river's headwaters in southern Oregon to its mouth in the Pacific Ocean, just south of Crescent City, California. It marked the first time in a century that the descent has been possible, after the recent removal of four dams allowed the river to flow freely. Williams, together with fellow paddler Keeya Wiki, 17, spoke to CNN on day 15 of their month-long journey, which they are due to complete on Friday. At this point, they had just 141 miles (227 kilometers) of the 310-mile (499 kilometer) journey left to go and had already passed through some of the most challenging rapids, such as those at the 'Big Bend' and 'Hell's Corner' sections of the river. Both were exhausted and hadn't showered in days — although they promised they 'aren't completely feral.' However, despite tired minds, they were steadfast in their commitment. 'We are reclaiming our river, reclaiming our sport,' said Williams. 'We are getting justice,' Wiki, who is from the Yurok Tribe, added. 'And making sure that my people and all the people on the Klamath River can live how we're supposed to.' The Klamath River runs deep in the cultures of the native peoples living in its basin, who historically used dugout canoes to travel along it. They view it as a living person, a relative, who they can depend on — and in turn protect. 'It's our greatest teacher, our family member,' said Williams, who is from the Karuk Tribe, which occupies lands along the middle course of the Klamath. 'We revolve ceremonies around it, like when the salmon start running (the annual migration from the sea back to freshwater rivers to spawn), we know it's time to start a family.' Historically, it was also a lifeline, providing them with an abundance of fish. The Klamath was once the third-largest salmon-producing river on the West Coast of the US. But between 1918 and 1966, electric utility company California Oregon Power Company (which later became PacifiCorp), built a series of hydroelectric dams along the river's course, which cut off the upstream pathway for migrating salmon, and the tribes lost this cultural and commercial resource. For decades, native people — such as the Karuk and Yurok tribes — demanded the removal of the dams and restoration of the river. But it was only in 2002, after low water levels caused a disease outbreak that killed more than 30,000 fish, that momentum really started to build for their cause. Twenty years later, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission finally approved a plan to remove four dams on the lower Klamath River. This was when Paddle Tribal Waters was set up by the global organization Ríos to Rivers to reconnect native children to the ancient river. Believing that native peoples ought to be the first to descend the newly restored river, the program started by teaching local kids from the basin how to paddle in whitewater. Wiki and Williams were among them — neither had kayaked before then. Related article This 1,000-mile river suffered decades of oil spills. Now it's a legal person, things could change In the fall of 2024, the last of the four dams was removed – completing what has been called 'the world's largest dam removal effort' by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Upriver (beyond where the Klamath River technically begins), two smaller non-hydroelectric dams remain, where the paddlers had to disembark and carry the kayaks overland; there are currently no plans to remove them despite an ongoing campaign. Wiki recalled feeling giddy when she heard that the last dam had fallen. 'So many of our elders and our aunties and uncles… fought so hard to get these dams down,' she said. 'It was a really long, hard fight, and a lot of people thought — even my grandma thought — they would never see the dams come down in their lifetime. 'So, for us to paddle down the river… it's very surreal. I think we're all just so grateful, knowing that the salmon can finally go from the mouth to the headwaters, and that we can go from the headwaters to the mouth too.' Weston Boyles, founder and director of Ríos to Rivers, who is also on the journey, said that it was critical that native people lead the first descent. 'Historically, 'first descents' have been a colonial idea: outsiders staking claims on waterways that indigenous communities have navigated for millennia,' he said. 'We're reclaiming a stolen narrative. It matters because those waters flow through ancestral homelands, and these young paddlers are reasserting sovereignty, healing cultural trauma, and honoring their tribes' deep connections to the river.' The ecological impact is also something to celebrate. Within a few days of the final dam being removed, chinook salmon (the largest of the Pacific salmon species) were seen swimming past the former location of Iron Gate Dam in northern California — a spot where no fish had passed in 60 years, said Dave Coffman, director of northern California and southern Oregon for Resource Environmental Solutions (RES), the company working on the Klamath's restoration. 'We were hopeful that within a couple of years we would see salmon return to Southern Oregon. It took the salmon two weeks,' he told CNN. 'No one saw that coming — the response has exceeded our wildest hopes. It demonstrates the remarkable resilience of these fish: if we give them a chance, they will make their way back home.' But there is no denying the landscape has changed dramatically since before the dams and it will take years to recover, according to Coffman. RES is working to accelerate the natural process by reshaping channels, excavating sediment, planting billions of native seeds along the riverbanks, and even using helicopters to place downed trees in tributaries to provide crucial cover for fish and wildlife. 'Sometimes we give nature a gentle nudge, but sometimes we give it a great big shove in the right direction,' says Coffman. Wiki and Williams have already witnessed the results. 'It's been so cool to paddle through where the old reservoirs were and see all the new growth,' said Williams. 'I got to see it earlier this year and it was kind of looking sad, and then I paddled through a couple days ago and it looks like a completely different river.' Related article Lost underwater forests are returning to Sydney's coastline After completing the epic journey, the girls will go their separate ways. Williams will head off to college in fall and Wiki is starting her final year of high school. But despite living on different sections of the river and being from different tribes, they are confident their paths will cross again. Both strongly believe their futures are grounded in the Klamath. Williams dreams of coming back in her college breaks and becoming a paddle instructor, while Wiki sees herself doing advocacy work for her community. 'We are celebrating (now), but there's still so much work to be done in the United States and also globally around dams and dam removal,' said Wiki. '(I want to) create a larger global community.'
CNN
10-07-2025
- General
- CNN
Young indigenous kayakers about to complete historic river journey, after ‘largest dam removal in US history'
Ruby Williams' birthday was not your average 18th. She celebrated it on the Klamath River, with a group of young people making a historic journey paddling from the river's headwaters in southern Oregon to its mouth in the Pacific Ocean, just south of Crescent City, California. It marked the first time in a century that the descent has been possible, after the recent removal of four dams allowed the river to flow freely. Williams, together with fellow paddler Keeya Wiki, 17, spoke to CNN on day 15 of their month-long journey, which they are due to complete on Friday. At this point, they had just 141 miles (227 kilometers) of the 310-mile (499 kilometer) journey left to go and had already passed through some of the most challenging rapids, such as those at the 'Big Bend' and 'Hell's Corner' sections of the river. Both were exhausted and hadn't showered in days — although they promised they 'aren't completely feral.' However, despite tired minds, they were steadfast in their commitment. 'We are reclaiming our river, reclaiming our sport,' said Williams. 'We are getting justice,' Wiki, who is from the Yurok Tribe, added. 'And making sure that my people and all the people on the Klamath River can live how we're supposed to.' The Klamath River runs deep in the cultures of the native peoples living in its basin, who historically used dugout canoes to travel along it. They view it as a living person, a relative, who they can depend on — and in turn protect. 'It's our greatest teacher, our family member,' said Williams, who is from the Karuk Tribe, which occupies lands along the middle course of the Klamath. 'We revolve ceremonies around it, like when the salmon start running (the annual migration from the sea back to freshwater rivers to spawn), we know it's time to start a family.' Historically, it was also a lifeline, providing them with an abundance of fish. The Klamath was once the third-largest salmon-producing river on the West Coast of the US. But between 1918 and 1966, electric utility company California Oregon Power Company (which later became PacifiCorp), built a series of hydroelectric dams along the river's course, which cut off the upstream pathway for migrating salmon, and the tribes lost this cultural and commercial resource. For decades, native people — such as the Karuk and Yurok tribes — demanded the removal of the dams and restoration of the river. But it was only in 2002, after low water levels caused a disease outbreak that killed more than 30,000 fish, that momentum really started to build for their cause. Twenty years later, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission finally approved a plan to remove four dams on the lower Klamath River. This was when Paddle Tribal Waters was set up by the global organization Ríos to Rivers to reconnect native children to the ancient river. Believing that native peoples ought to be the first to descend the newly restored river, the program started by teaching local kids from the basin how to paddle in whitewater. Wiki and Williams were among them — neither had kayaked before then. Related article This 1,000-mile river suffered decades of oil spills. Now it's a legal person, things could change In the fall of 2024, the last of the four dams was removed – completing what has been called 'the world's largest dam removal effort' by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Upriver (beyond where the Klamath River technically begins), two smaller non-hydroelectric dams remain, where the paddlers had to disembark and carry the kayaks overland; there are currently no plans to remove them despite an ongoing campaign. Wiki recalled feeling giddy when she heard that the last dam had fallen. 'So many of our elders and our aunties and uncles… fought so hard to get these dams down,' she said. 'It was a really long, hard fight, and a lot of people thought — even my grandma thought — they would never see the dams come down in their lifetime. 'So, for us to paddle down the river… it's very surreal. I think we're all just so grateful, knowing that the salmon can finally go from the mouth to the headwaters, and that we can go from the headwaters to the mouth too.' Weston Boyles, founder and director of Ríos to Rivers, who is also on the journey, said that it was critical that native people lead the first descent. 'Historically, 'first descents' have been a colonial idea: outsiders staking claims on waterways that indigenous communities have navigated for millennia,' he said. 'We're reclaiming a stolen narrative. It matters because those waters flow through ancestral homelands, and these young paddlers are reasserting sovereignty, healing cultural trauma, and honoring their tribes' deep connections to the river.' The ecological impact is also something to celebrate. Within a few days of the final dam being removed, chinook salmon (the largest of the Pacific salmon species) were seen swimming past the former location of Iron Gate Dam in northern California — a spot where no fish had passed in 60 years, said Dave Coffman, director of northern California and southern Oregon for Resource Environmental Solutions (RES), the company working on the Klamath's restoration. 'We were hopeful that within a couple of years we would see salmon return to Southern Oregon. It took the salmon two weeks,' he told CNN. 'No one saw that coming — the response has exceeded our wildest hopes. It demonstrates the remarkable resilience of these fish: if we give them a chance, they will make their way back home.' But there is no denying the landscape has changed dramatically since before the dams and it will take years to recover, according to Coffman. RES is working to accelerate the natural process by reshaping channels, excavating sediment, planting billions of native seeds along the riverbanks, and even using helicopters to place downed trees in tributaries to provide crucial cover for fish and wildlife. 'Sometimes we give nature a gentle nudge, but sometimes we give it a great big shove in the right direction,' says Coffman. Wiki and Williams have already witnessed the results. 'It's been so cool to paddle through where the old reservoirs were and see all the new growth,' said Williams. 'I got to see it earlier this year and it was kind of looking sad, and then I paddled through a couple days ago and it looks like a completely different river.' Related article Lost underwater forests are returning to Sydney's coastline After completing the epic journey, the girls will go their separate ways. Williams will head off to college in fall and Wiki is starting her final year of high school. But despite living on different sections of the river and being from different tribes, they are confident their paths will cross again. Both strongly believe their futures are grounded in the Klamath. Williams dreams of coming back in her college breaks and becoming a paddle instructor, while Wiki sees herself doing advocacy work for her community. 'We are celebrating (now), but there's still so much work to be done in the United States and also globally around dams and dam removal,' said Wiki. '(I want to) create a larger global community.'
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Historic land deal more than 20 years in the making returns vast swath of land to Native tribe: 'An unprecedented step forward'
A historic land-back deal 20-plus years in the making is complete, more than doubling the Yurok Tribe's holdings after the transfer of 73 square miles along the lower Klamath River. On June 5, the Western Rivers Conservancy announced that it, along with the California Wildlife Conservation board and the California State Coastal Conservancy, had conveyed the 73-square-mile portion of land along the eastern side of the river to the federally recognized tribe. "On behalf of the Yurok people, I want to sincerely thank Western Rivers Conservancy for their longtime partnership and commitment to return a major part of our homeland," Yurok Tribe chairman Joseph L. James said. "The impact of this project is enormous." In addition to having cultural significance to the Yurok Tribe, the Klamath River is crucial to the survival of commercially beneficial fish species like salmon, imperiled by rising global temperatures and human activities along the river, like the construction of dams. Restoration projects, including the largest dam-removal endeavor in U.S. history, have helped reverse some of the damage. The recent acreage transfer that brought the Tribe's holdings to 47,097 acres (valued at $56 million) is the largest in state history and will further support the health of the area, including Blue Creek, a site with spiritual importance to the Yurok. "Returning these lands to the Yurok Tribe is an unprecedented step forward for the Klamath River, and it comes at a critical moment following the removal of the Klamath River dams," said Jennifer Norris, executive director of the California Wildlife Conservation Board. The Western Rivers Conservancy had been working toward the full transfer for 23 years. "This project exemplifies the power of partnership, showcasing how conservation efforts and the land back movement can come together to benefit the rivers, fish, wildlife and people of an entire landscape," added Nelson Mathews, president of Western Rivers Conservancy. "Blue Creek and its watershed are critical to the health of the entire Klamath fishery. The Yurok Tribe has the resources and the deep cultural connections that sustained this land for millennia, and now they can continue to do so." Do you think America is in a housing crisis? Definitely Not sure No way Only in some cities Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Miami Herald
15-06-2025
- General
- Miami Herald
After a century of logging, lands along California's Klamath River returned to tribe
LOS ANGELES - Along the Klamath River in Northern California, where logging companies once cut ancient redwood trees, vast tracts of land have been returned to the Yurok Tribe in a years-long effort that tribal leaders say will enable the restoration of forests and the protection of a watershed that is vital for salmon. The effort, which unfolded gradually over the last 23 years, culminated in May as Western Rivers Conservancy turned over 14,968 acres to the Yurok Tribe. It was the last portion of 47,097 acres that the nonprofit group acquired and transferred to the tribe in what is thought to be the largest "land back" deal in California history. Members of the tribe say they are celebrating the return of their ancestral lands along Blue Creek, a major tributary that meets the Klamath about 40 miles south of the Oregon border. Blue Creek holds cultural and spiritual significance for the Yurok, and its cold, clear waters provide a refuge for salmon. "We are salmon people," said Joseph L. James, chairman of the Yurok Tribe. "The river takes care of us, and it's our job to take care of the river." In all, the tribe now owns an additional 73 square miles along the lower Klamath River, including much of the Blue Creek watershed. The conifer forests, which were heavily logged over the last century, will be managed by the tribal government as two protected areas, the Blue Creek Salmon Sanctuary and the Yurok Tribal Community Forest. Yurok leaders say regaining stewardship of these lands contributes to larger efforts to revive the ecological health of the Klamath watershed, where last year the removal of four dams farther upstream restored a free-flowing stretch of the river and enabled salmon to reach spawning areas that had been inaccessible for more than a century. "This land is back home with us now, and we'll continue that work that we have done as Yurok people to protect the land, protect the streams, provide for our people and provide for the environment," James said. In addition to Blue Creek, the land includes other streams that flow into the Klamath. The tribe plans projects to create healthier stream habitats for fish, and to restore meadows and prairies. In the forests, they plan to use controlled burns to thin vegetation that has built up. Some old logging roads are being decommissioned, while other roads are set to be upgraded. "We're going to continue to work to bring back our wildlife population, our fish population," James said. "It's going to take a lot of work, but a lot of people are going to benefit from this." Beyond the local benefits, James said the effort serves as an example for the Land Back movement, in which Native people in many areas are seeking to regain ancestral lands that were taken from them generations ago. "This is what it looks like when we talk about land back," James said. "Land back means giving the land back to its original people with no strings attached. Let them provide their traditional knowledge to heal the land, the environment." He said reaching this successful conclusion involved years of efforts by leaders of the tribe and Western Rivers Conservancy, as well as help from other partners. He said the deal should start more discussions nationwide about how other tribes can advance toward regaining their traditional lands. "It's a big win for Indian Country," he said. "Here is a model that people could use, from our experience, to get land back." The effort has more than doubled the tribe's landholdings. The lands were previously owned by Green Diamond Resource Co. and its predecessor Simpson Logging Co., which harvested timber there for nearly a century. The last time logging occurred on the property was in 2007. Western Rivers Conservancy, a Portland, Ore.-based nonprofit, signed a purchase agreement with Green Diamond in 2008 after five years of negotiations and efforts to identify funding. The lands were gradually acquired by the group between 2009 and 2017, and were transferred to the tribe in multiple phases. The conservation group used an innovative funding strategy, assembling $56 million from foundations, corporations and philanthropists, as well as other sources such as tax credits, public grants and the sale of carbon credits. State funding and support for the effort came from the California Wildlife Conservation Board and the California State Coastal Conservancy, as well as other agencies. "We put together this mosaic of different funding sources," said Nelson Mathews, president of Western Rivers Conservancy. "This is the result of commitment, persistence and tenacity." Mathews' organization focuses on protecting rivers for fish, wildlife and the public, and was drawn to the project for its conservation benefits. By establishing the salmon sanctuary in Blue Creek, the deal safeguards a vital cold-water habitat for fish including Chinook salmon, coho salmon and steelhead. "With climate change, cold water is at a premium for these rivers, and it's critical," Mathews said. "So having complete protection of that watershed is important." He said the deal shows how conservation goals and tribes' efforts to regain lands can align in ways that bring tremendous benefits. "It's good for the soul to protect these rivers, and it's a double benefit to see the tribe get their land back," Mathews said. Members of the Yurok Tribe say this effort and others like it are a critically important step in grappling with the lasting effects of colonization. During the 1800s, California's Native population was decimated by diseases, displacement and violence, including state-sponsored killings. The Yurok reservation was established by the federal government in 1855, confining the tribe to an area that covered only a tiny fraction of their ancestral territory. In the late 1800s, white settlers and speculators found ways to secure additional lands along the Klamath River where they could extract valuable redwood, in some cases by bribing U.S. General Land Office officials as they fraudulently acquired thousands of acres of timberlands. Today, the Yurok Tribe is the largest tribe in California, with more than 6,400 enrolled members. "We are trying to recover from colonization," said Amy Bowers Cordalis, a lawyer for the tribe and executive director of the Ridges to Riffles Indigenous Conservation Group. "And we are just now getting into a place where we are starting to see some of the fruits of our efforts, between dam removal and now land back efforts." Regaining these lands enables the tribe "to start rebuilding and to start taking care of our land and our resources," she said. "We are strongly committed to living in a balance with the natural world." She said for members of the tribe, visiting the cold, clear waters of Blue Creek is a spiritual experience. "It's one of the most wild places in all of California, and it is glorious." It's possible to see some of the area by boat, traveling from the Klamath River to the mouth of Blue Creek. But for now, access to the area is limited. James said that could change in the future, once restoration and other work is completed. "At some point in time, we have an opportunity to turn that into a big, beautiful park," James said. "We've got to heal it first, put our resources in it, and it's going to take some time." He said the tribe's members feel delighted to be once again stewarding these lands and waterways, as their ancestors once did. "It's a beautiful feeling knowing that we'll have this land in our hands moving forward for the next seven generations, for our Yurok people and our grandchildren." Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
