A recent grant recipient from the Klamath River Fund, Save California Salmon (SCS) is a Northern California-based organization that has supported cultural and ecological revitalization throughout the Klamath dam removal movement.
Because of their deep ties to the river—their staff and board represent four local Tribes, and they work with many more—SCS plays a significant role in restoring and revitalizing the Native cultures and waterways of Humboldt, Del Norte, Trinity and Siskiyou counties.
Our families and youth are responsible for fixing a world they did not damage and fighting harmful projects that will not benefit them.
Regina Chichizola, Save California Salmon
The Klamath River Fund awarded Save California Salmon a general operating grant to help the organization expand its work with Klamath River Communities to fight climate change, restore and reconnect watersheds and lands, advocate for land return, host community youth events and field trips, and train and mentor Native youth and families to create policy change.
“We focus on fighting for a healthy environment and empowering education systems, because they are related,” explained Regina Chichizola from Save California Salmon. “Our families and youth are responsible for fixing a world they did not damage and fighting harmful projects that will not benefit them. This is why it is exciting to have an example to share of what communities can accomplish when they work together across generations and divides.”
According to Chichizola, decades of activism on the Klamath have proven that climate and water action and application of traditional sciences, cultural learning, and restorative practices are prevention for Tribal communities and lead to both land and community restoration.
Most importantly, SCS has shown a generation of young people what can happen when you show up, organize, and advocate: in this case, the largest river restoration project in the world.
“It’s really powerful for Indigenous youth to have been there during deconstruction and all the way to post dam removal and return of the salmon,” says Klamath River Fund Senior Program Officer Holly Hensher. “Exposure to this type of work provides them with a model for achieving extraordinary things.”
“Save California Salmon made sure the kids who went on field trips to the dams and took part in river clean up days were the same kids who had chances to participate in Indigenous Peoples Day events in Sacramento,” adds Hensher. “With organizations like SCS, you get to see how advocacy starts small and grows into something big.”
SCS routinely hires youth as interns, exposing them to leadership and learning opportunities, while offering chances for participants to experience their cultural heritage and get outdoors in meaningful ways. At the heart of this work is a focus on education.
In 2022, SCS published a free middle school curriculum (Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Science, and Mangement) for use by organizations and schools throughout California. The curriculum was also featured at SCS’s Klamath River Indigenous Science Camp, which brought Native youth and families to the former Iron Gate Reservoir on the Klamath River.
The camp, a collaborative effort of SCS, Klamath River Tribes, and the Klamath River Renewal Corporation, offered tours of the dam removal sites, and let participants get hands-on with making bark skirts and plant-based medicine, processing acorns, and creating traditional art. It is just one of the Indigenous Science Camps that SCS hosts.
“It’s imperative that we include local families and youth in these monumental movements. These efforts have, and will, directly impact the river, people, wildlife and land,” explained Star Gibbens, Save California Salmon’s Youth Coordinator. “By including families and youth in restoration efforts we hope to strengthen and encourage the people’s relationship with the land and the water. Education is a powerful tool.”