CSP DE student Brook Thompson was interviewed by the Los Angeles Times on May 3 as the Iron Gate Dam on the Klamath River began to be dismantled.
Excerpt: “Brook, a Yurok tribe member, was 7 when she saw the river filled with dead salmon in 2002. In her high school years, she often traveled by bus to rallies and protests in Sacramento, Portland and other places. “Really my whole life has revolved around this dam removal since seeing that fish kill,” said Thompson, now a 28-year-old doctoral student in environmental studies at UC Santa Cruz. Seeing that excavator take that first scoop out of the dam, she said, “it feels like I can take a deep breath now.”
In case you missed it, watch this short video by ABC 10 News about the dam removals in which Brook talks about the decades-long effort to remove four dams along the Klamath River in California and Oregon; and what it means to her as a Yurok tribal member.