Why We Blew Up Four Dams — and Saved a River | Amy Bowers Cordalis | TED

The Yurok tribe's creation story describes shapeless spirits asking the creator for a place to be together, leading to Earth's creation under the condition of stewardship. This isn't a parable but practical instructions: live in balance, take only what's needed, give thanks, and protect life. The Yurok nation, living by these rules, saw the lower Klamath River's salmon runs become the third largest in the continental US. In the 1800s, newcomers disrupted this balance with a focus on extraction, leading to genocide and the slaughter of over 90% of California’s Indigenous population by 1910. By the 2000s, dams, habitat loss, and pollution had devastated the Klamath River, reducing salmon runs to 5% of historical levels. The dams, lacking fish passage, blocked salmon from 400 miles of spawning grounds and emitted significant methane. A catastrophic salmon kill in 2002, the largest in US history, prompted the speaker to pursue law, becoming the Yurok nation's first tribal member and woman general counsel. Cofounding the Ridges to Riffles Indigenous Conservation Group, they championed dam removal, a seemingly impossible feat against powerful corporations. Armed with traditional knowledge, ancient legal rights, and constitutional protections, the "Un-Dam the Klamath Movement" built coalitions and litigated, winning on almost every count. Empathy and shared responsibility emerged, leading to a $500 million settlement for dam removal, valuing nature, business, and Indigenous rights. This created the world's largest salmon restoration project and the largest US dam removal project. In 2023 and 2024, four dams were removed. The river reconnected, and salmon returned to historical spawning grounds. The river's rapid recovery—cleaner, colder, and teeming with salmon—demonstrates that nature can heal. Indigenous peoples are returning to their homelands, restoring land, and planting billions of native seeds, creating ecosystems that prevent significant CO2 emissions. This project reminds us that we can heal nature, and by working with it, balance, life, and hope return.