If We Are Going to Save This Planet, Then We Must Listen to the Yurok Tribe

I listened to an inspiring podcast earlier titled “How to Save a Planet”, and the specific episode I was able to enjoy was titled The Tribe that’s moving earth (and water) to solve the climate crisis. The overall theme of this podcast is to observe and share sustainable practices in order to save the earth from the threats which are posed on it such as climate change. In this episode, a member of the Yurok Tribe was interviewed about the impressive and sustainable practices utilized by this tribe in order to fight climate change.

The member who was interviewed was Frankie Meyers who is the Vice-Chairman of the Yurok Tribe. In the beginning of the podcast, it was expressed that the Yurok Tribe originally controlled half a million acres of land, but unfortunately by 1986, they only controlled just under 5,000 acres. This injustice experienced by the tribe is startling, but in order to gain some land back, the Yurok Tribe took out a loan and purchased two watersheds. A watershed is the area of land that all drains into the same body of water, and these watersheds are important because they contain an ecosystem and are the water supply to the area. Specifically, the Yurok Tribe purchased the Pecwan watershed and the Blue Creek watershed because these watersheds have an abundance of biodiversity and old-growth and are at the core of the tribe’s ceremonies and spiritual beliefs.

In order to pay back the loan, the tribe was going to do some sustainable logging on the land they had purchased. This was a difficult process, but fortunately the California Carbon Offset Program was initiated. This program would pay the tribe as long as they proved that they were protecting the forest they owned and that the trees were growing, which would prove carbon sequestration. This work allowed for the tribe to protect the forest as they wanted to and make the money they needed to pay back the loan as well as finance tribal projects such as youth activities and housing. This work helped the tribe’s land size to eventually reach around a hundred thousand acres.

In addition, Frankie shares that salmon are very important to the Yurok people since they believe that once there are no more salmon in the river, there will be no need for Yurok people on earth. In other words, Salmon is their existence. However, salmon have been disappearing from the Klamath River due to channelization of the river, dams being built along the river, and global warming which all impact the spawning behavior of the salmon. The Yurok Tribe is going to continue using sustainable practices in order to restore this important species in the river.

Furthermore, the Yurok people believe that there is no inherent evil, they understand that things are only good or bad depending on what someone uses them for. This philosophy expands to their belief that the world was created out of balance and that it is the responsibility of people to bring the world to balance, and this notion is what guides their land management techniques and Conservation. Within this land management, the Yurok tribe understands the importance of beavers in an ecosystem since beavers create large beaver ponds which create areas for other species to thrive in. Additionally, they create large swaths of green vegetation which help to put out fires, and these swaths also allow for water to sit in place long enough for it to be absorbed back down into the water table which helps in maintaining the river. With this understanding, the tribe will continue inspiring through their sustainable land management practices. This became even more clear when Frankie was asked whether he felt we were screwed when it comes to climate change. He responded by sharing a story about how there was a time when his tribe was in a period of starvation, and the elders of the tribe sacrificed themselves so that there would be enough food for the youth and therefore the tribe would be able to continue. He then sounds optimistic when saying that no matter how bad off we are we will make it because we have done it before. 

Overall, I found this to be a wonderfully informative and inspiring story. This podcast shared how a tribe worked in order to get part of their own land back and then continued to work in order to restore balance to the environment. The practices shared here which the Yurok Tribe utilized must become more widespread in order to bring this balance to every ecosystem around the world. Lastly, the podcast made the following calls to action so that interested listeners can get involved. First, you can go to Klamathrenewal.org if you would like to learn more about and to support the renewal efforts on the Klamath River. Next, you can go to californiasalmon.org to learn more about the Save California Salmon efforts. Finally, you can find out which Native land you are living on by going to native-land.ca.