The Tribe that's Moving Earth (and Water) to Solve the Climate Crisis

The Yurok tribe is reversing centuries of ecological damage to their land and making it more resilient to climate change by marrying two systems that might seem contradictory: indigenous land management practices and modern Western economics.

In this episode we talk to Yurok Tribe Vice-Chairman Frankie Myers about how the Tribe recovered stolen land with the help of a carbon offset program, the creative ways they're bringing the salmon back, and the role beavers play in the ecosystem.

Guests: Frankie Myers

Calls to Action

• Check out Save California Salmon and their advocacy work for Northern California’s salmon and fish dependent people.
• Check out the Klamath River Renewal Corporation to learn more about the dam removals and restoration efforts on the Klamath River.
• Look up your address on native-land.ca to find out what land you live on, and learn more about how and why you can use land acknowledgements to insert an awareness of Indigenous presence and land rights into everyday life.
• If you own land you can donate, contact a local tribe to find out how you can donate land to them.
• Check out and support the work of Indigenous organizations like the NDN Collective and their #landback campaign, the Native American Land Conservancy, Indigenous Environmental Network, and Indigenous Climate Action.
• Study the history of Indigenous people – read Custer Died for Your Sins, The Indian Reorganization Act, and other books by Vine Deloria, Jr., and read A Brief History of American Indian Military Service.

If you take an action we recommend in one of our episodes, do us a favor and tell us about it! We’d love to hear how it went and what it felt like. Record a short voice memo on your phone and send it to us via our Listener Mail Form. We might use it in an upcoming episode.

Check out our Calls to Action archive here for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

This episode of How to Save a Planet was produced by Felix Poon. The rest of our reporting and producing team includes Kendra Pierre-Louis, Rachel Waldholz and Anna Ladd. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music from Emma Munger.

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