Joy at a festival last year. Photo: Koiya Tuttle.
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Yurok Tribe press release:
All are invited to the Yurok Tribe’s 60th Annual Klamath Salmon Festival on Saturday, August 17, in Klamath.
The 60th Annual Salmon Festival offers fun for everyone. The family-friendly event includes a parade, Ney-Puey Fun Run, live music by Blue Rhythm Revue and Brett McFarland and the Freedom Riders, children’s activities, basket weaving demonstrations, stick games, softball, basketball, arm wrestling and Native American card game tournaments, quality gift items from more than 100 local vendors and 20 delicious food options.
The Yurok Tribe has decided to make this year’s festival a celebration of tribal elders as the event celebrates its 60th anniversary. This year’s theme, put together by the Yurok Language Program, is an expression of appreciation for the tribal elders who have paved the way for the tribe’s continued success. The theme is Cho’ skuy’ soo huuew kue no’-o-muen-o-wo-nee. “May those who persevere live well.” All festival attendees over 60 will receive a free home-cooked lunch.
The living Yurok elders have sacrificed so much for everything the tribe has today. They fought in the Salmon War in the late 1970s to preserve the tribe’s federal fishing rights. Also in the 1970s, local tribal elders prevented logging companies and the U.S. Forest Service from building the Gasquet-Orleans Road (GO-Road) through the sacred highlands. Had the road been built, it would have permanently desecrated the irreplaceable intertribal place of worship.
Tribal elders made equally great sacrifices during the decades-long process leading to passage of the Hoopa Yurok Settlement Act in 1988. This federal law laid the foundation for modern tribal government.
In 2002, after catastrophic fish kills, tribal elders and younger generations accelerated efforts to remove four dams on the Klamath River. Through pie-base fundraisers, lawsuits, and protests at shareholder meetings on two continents, the campaign made dam removal a reality against tremendous odds. The dams will be removed by early fall as part of the largest salmon restoration project in history.
As a token of appreciation for the dam removal, Brett McFarland and the Freedom Riders will perform original music from their brand new album Humboldt at the festival. The album includes a poignant single called Klamath, which describes the near demise of the river and the tribal-led efforts to remove the dams and restore the Klamath.
Dam removal will reopen approximately 400 miles of historic habitat and largely restore the river’s natural flow regime. Over time, dam removal will also significantly reduce the amount of fish pathogens and toxic algae in the river. Fisheries experts expect salmon populations to increase as the river ecosystem recovers.
In recent years, salmon stocks in the Klamath have declined sharply, largely due to the dams. The fish forecast for 2024 is slightly better than last year, but still below average and nowhere near large enough for a commercial fishery. For the second year in a row, there will be no salmon at the Salmon Festival.
The Yurok Tribe is confident that the removal and restoration of the dams will lead to a recovery in salmon runs in the Klamath. Right now, the Klamath is showing more positive trends than ever before. Large-scale river restoration work is currently underway in the lower, middle and upper Klamath, and more habitat restoration projects are planned for next year.
The Yurok Tribe is optimistic that salmon will soon be back on the festival menu.
*This year’s festival received generous support from Clean California, Green Diamond Resource Company and LACO and Associates.The Salmon Festival parking lot and shuttle are located off Klamath Mill Road. Please do not park on Highway 101.
