Sammy Gensaw III (Yurok) was born and raised as a fisherman along Northern California’s Klamath River. His journey reflects a blend of ancestral wisdom and contemporary activism, all centered around the profound significance of preserving ecosystems and Indigenous traditions.

From his earliest days, Sammy was steeped in the ethos of community organizing, a legacy passed down through generations within his Yurok heritage. This upbringing instilled in him a profound understanding of the interdependence between human communities and the natural world, a perspective that would shape his life’s work. As Director of the Ancestral Guard, a nonprofit dedicated to teaching traditional fishing and farming practices to Indigenous youth, Gensaw’s approach encompasses not just environmental advocacy but also food sovereignty, cultural revival, community resilience, and self-sufficiency.

Gensaw’s pivotal role in the remarkable dam removal project on the Klamath River stands as a testament to his unwavering commitment to environmental justice. The removal of these dams, which will be finished by fall of 2024, will mark a historic victory, not just in terms of ecological restoration but also in reclaiming ancestral lands and revitalizing Indigenous lifeways. 

In this Q&A with Bioneers, Sammy Gensaw III delves deeper into the intricacies of the Klamath River, the challenges posed by dam infrastructure, and the transformative power of grassroots activism. 

Sammy Gensaw delivered a keynote address at Bioneers 2024 about the Klamath River and anti-dam activism. Watch it now.

BIONEERS: You just won an incredible victory by helping get the removal of four of the six major dams on the Klamath River approved, with their demolition starting this year and ending this fall. Can you talk a bit about the Klamath River and its importance in your culture?

SAMMY GENSAW III: When we talk about the Klamath River, we have to realize how important it is to the health of California. Many things that happen within the Klamath Basin determine how the rest of California’s water year will look. 

Our river systems are so connected. My community is tucked away so far up north that it’s sometimes hard for people in California to imagine whole communities living and depending on these river systems. I really want people to know that these are whole families that have depended on these watersheds for thousands and thousands of years. We will continue to depend on these watersheds until the end of time.

It’s really important to me that people understand not just the benefits of removing dams on rivers, but also the significance for the communities around those rivers. 

BIONEERS: Tell us a bit about these dams. Why are there dams on the Klamath River, and what impact are they having? 

SAMMY: Beginning in the early 1900s, there was this huge infrastructure boom across America. Dams were new and exciting. There were originally plans to put dams all the way down the Klamath. Thankfully, the people at Blue Creek or Ah-Pah and the Yurok tribe along with people from all over the world stayed at the river bar, determined not to let this beautiful place be decimated by dams. They stopped those projects.

But unfortunately, four other dam projects on the Klamath River moved forward in the name of electricity. Those projects were publicized as being good for communities and the river. Resistance to the dams began in the 30s, so we know problems with the dams started much earlier than many people realize. The dams have been an issue practically since they were built.

Today, the way that we’re able to live our lives is based on our rights and access to this river. If the river is not healthy, then our people aren’t going to be healthy. You would expect people living on a river to have an abundance of salmon, steelhead, and fresh greens. But we don’t, because access has been denied to our people.

BIONEERS: What effect did the dams have ecologically? 

SAMMY: The Klamath River is a really special river because of the way it’s formed. We have wetlands at the top of the river, and then the river does a turnaround, goes back up north, and then runs out to the ocean. This has created a paradise for our people at the mouth of the river, but these dams have decimated the number of salmon. And there are more people depending on this river than ever before.

These dams slow or completely stop the natural flow of the river. The river should be almost breathing. It should rise and fall. It should pick up algae and other materials and throw them up higher on the bank. When the river gets low again, it should dry that stuff out. 

That process slows the creation of blooms that we see today such as toxic blue-green algae. We have natural moss paddies in our eddies, and they’ll collect toxins coming down the river from poor agricultural decisions, mining, and dams. Add that all up, and it creates a perfect disaster of shallow water conditions and places where salmon can’t spawn, where people can’t swim, and where even dogs can’t drink. And this is the river that our whole way of life is based around.

We get together in hopes that this river stays healthy enough to sustain our people, because our people are sick. I like to look at the whole situation. Being a fisherman, we’re sitting on the river and can tell that something is obviously wrong. The water’s super warm. You reach down, you feel it, you can touch it. When you can catch the fish, you can see sickness in them. There are all kinds of little things. When our people see that, they ask why it is like this. 

Then someone will say climate change. In reality, it’s not climate change that’s directly affecting our people this way. It’s people sitting comfortably in their houses that this river has paid for. It’s people who are deciding that we do not get to live a healthy lifestyle so they can cushion their bank account. It’s these types of decisions that are impeding our ability to live a good life. Some people claim to know the value of water. But it’s not like when you go into your gas station to buy a bottle of water. Our lives are not included in this estimate.

These dams—they’re not a monster; they’re not something that’s undefeatable. That’s something I want Indigenous people around the world to know. These dams are not mythical creatures. These are things that can be dismantled. These are things that can be organized against. And there are people all around the world who are willing to help you fight for your right to live a healthy life. You’re not alone.

BIONEERS: That’s a really strong message. Could you tell us about your activism and experience fighting to get these dams removed?

SAMMY:  I’m an old salty fisherman. I’m a fisherman first, and my whole life revolves around the river and the needs of my people. That’s what’s most important to me.

My activism started in the fifth grade. I spent a long time with my grandma, and she kind of coached me. The school district in Del Mar County was going to shut down fifth to eighth grade on one of the only elementary schools on the reservation instead of adjusting the budgets of neighboring schools in the city. That was the point in my life when I realized that the whole world wasn’t run by tribal council. I realized that the majority of the world wasn’t Indigenous.

Then when I went to school, we were forced into the back of these buses and driven two hours every day. When we got to school, we’d get in trouble for being late and sent straight to detention. It was this terrible thing that I experienced. 

The ACLU came in, and they started asking me questions. They became our lawyers. We fought the county. We advocated for the perfect environment for Indigenous students to thrive, but the court decided that was impossible to provide. We actually didn’t win that legal battle. That was my first experience with activism.

What we did do is strike a deal to make sure that none of these Indigenous children had to suffer the same way I did in school. None of them had to face the same problems that I faced, and that was something that made me feel really good. So it started there.

I wasn’t allowed to go back to that school. I had to be home-schooled. Then a school on the reservation opened up, the Klamath River Early College of the Redwoods, and I enrolled there in the eighth grade. From there, I became an organizer, and then an organizer for the Klamath River Justice Coalition. I’ve spent the majority of my life fighting for the removal of dams and the health of our community. I didn’t know what I was doing in the beginning. I just knew that if our people were to live a healthy existence on the Klamath River, we couldn’t do so while these dams existed. Something had to go, and we weren’t leaving. 

I moved into the teen advisory group through United Indian Health to teach about diabetes prevention, health awareness, and sexual education, among other topics in local schools and communities. From there, I moved into pretty much full-time activism. I’d leave my house sometimes for long periods of time without a dollar in my pocket. I would go on the road to these meetings, one after the other. Luckily I wasn’t on my own. There are so many people who have dedicated their lives to seeing these dams come down.

I grew up in this ragtag group of organizers, and I realized that what they were saying and the changes they were creating were monumental. I knew I was in the right place. I knew that I had to do something to make myself useful among these people so I could continue to be with them. 

It’s so important to have youth in every aspect of organizing. Children have the solutions. We’re making the decisions, but they have the solutions. If we continue to break that connection, we will forever be in this status quo. We have to make sure that we think about children as our next generation of elders and leaders.