Pact recognizes undamming of the Klamath River as a ‘model for future climate resilience efforts’
By Steve Mitchell, Ashland.news
Nearly 200 Indigenous young people representing tribes from across the globe signed a declaration on Sunday, July 13, at the mouth of the Klamath River calling for a halt to new dam construction and the removal of them worldwide.
Dubbed the Klamath River Accord, the signing capped a two-day symposium in which participants shared stories of cultural, ecological, and economic loss tied to dam projects. It also came on the heels of the first source-to-sea descent of the Klamath River, which saw youth from various tribes kayak the river for the first time since four hydroelectric dams were removed in 2024.
The document was conceived and written by Indigenous youth, according to the press release. The accord proclaimed the undamming of the Klamath River a “model” for other activist groups.
The accord and the kayaking trip were sponsored by Rios to River, a nonprofit that protects rivers and helps Indigenous youth from communities located in threatened river basins.
Other organizers included Water Climate Trust, Ridges to Riffles, Save California Salmon, and Rivers For Climate Coalition. The Yurok Tribe hosted the event.
The declaration, according to a Sunday, July 13, press release from Rios to Rivers, calls on the signers to protect free-flowing rivers, oppose new dam construction, and work for dam removal as a means to fight climate change. The youth also agree to uphold Indigenous rights.
The document also recognizes the removal of the hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River as a “model for future climate resilience efforts.”
Youth from other countries, which included Chile, Bolivia, New Zealand, and China, were inspired by the removal of the dams on the Klamath River.
“Seeing with our own eyes what is possible on the Klamath River fills us with energy,” said Ashly Jara Castro, a participant and member of the Mapuche-Pehuenche community. Castro, 15, is also a youth leader in the Kayakimün organization and a delegate from Chile.
They were among several dozen Indigenous youth who completed a 310-mile, month-long source-to-sea “first descent” of the undammed Klamath River on Friday, realizing a dream of Klamath basin tribes that was years in the making.
As the youths, ages 13 to 20, approached the sand spit adjacent to the Klamath’s mouth in their bright-colored kayaks, tribal elders, family members, friends and supporters waved and cheered them on.
The young paddlers trained — some for three years — to run whitewater with kayak instructors from the Paddle Tribal Waters program operated by the nonprofit group Rios to Rivers. The program includes youth from the Klamath, Yurok, Karuk, Quartz Valley and Hoopa Valley tribes.
Four hydroelectric dams blocked the river for more than a century, impeding once-abundant salmon runs. The last of those dams was demolished last year, completing the biggest dam removal in history. The young kayakers set out June 12 to run the river, free-flowing for the first time in more than 100 years.
Email Ashland.news associate editor Steve Mitchell at stevem@ashland.news.
Related stories:
First Descent kayakers nearing Pacific Ocean (July 11, 2025)
‘First Descent’ underway: Kayakers following undammed river (June 13, 2025)
First Klamath River descent by tribal youth begins June 12 (June 5, 2025)
