Rivers and waterways are life.

I live right beneath Crater Lake.

That's Giiwas.

That's our sacred place.

That's where our medicine people would go to pray.

And these rivers, marshes, creeks, they sustain all life for us.

Without them, life goes away.

My name is Paul Robert Wolf Wilson.

I'm a Klamath and Modoc tribal member and I'm Chief Storyteller for Rios to Rivers.

When I look at the outdoor recreational community, I don't see that many people that look like myself.

And I understand why, because we've been systemically removed from our lands.

And so outdoor recreation is a radical idea.

Paddle Tribal Waters was born out of the idea that there weren't enough Indigenous whitewater paddlers.

Paddle Tribal Waters.

offers developed curriculum specialized for beginning paddlers, while also getting them access to advocacy trainings and storytelling roles.

We are working to inspire the next generation of river stewards.

And when you're looking for the best stewards, the best spokespeople that are engaged with their rivers at young ages, you typically find that those are Indigenous youth.

It feels actually very good to know that I'm an advocate for the river because the river can’t talk, so you're talking for it.

Just to know that I'm a part of the restoration process for it, I feel glad.

Built into our cultural identities are these traditional ecological knowledge systems that require us to have a really in-depth relationship with the land and water and manage these so-called natural resources that have stewarded us.

Indigenous groups and communities.

They aren't really too focused on going on river trips.

It isn't really something that's normal in the community.

Some people are more focused on like getting food and maybe even getting an education.

Our youth come from a really diverse scope of backgrounds.

I'm from the Karuk Tribe.

Klamath and Moduc.

Inupiaq and Mescalero Apache, and I'm from the Hoopa Villages.

I'm 13 years old.

I'm 17.

I am 15 years old.

I feel like a lot of the kids in Hoopa just feel trapped, like there's nowhere to go or anything.

So when somebody comes out and wants to interact with somebody, it gives them hope.

Building those networks to be able to find resources to allow companies into our spaces and build trust between outdoor industry and our Indigenous communities and make sure it's not performative, make sure that it's building these lasting and meaningful relationships is huge.

The connection that we have with our lands and our rivers is a familial connection.

It's something that we feel in our hearts.

When I see our lands and our river sick, it feels like a family member is sick.

When I watch our river die and our fish die.

Feels like I'm losing a piece of my family.

On the Klamath River, we have six dams and four of those are going to be removed, making it one of the longest whitewater sections of river in the United States and it's the largest removal in history behind the dams that water produces toxic alga..

So on an annual basis, there's public health announcements that tell us to stay out of our rivers and lakes.

My father used to tell me stories growing up of how the Klamath used to be so much more healthy and so full of fish and so full of abundance for our people.

This dam removal will be life changing, and I've had this dream to bring young Indigenous delegates to the Klamath River to to raft and to canoe our freed river to celebrate that story, that process, that fight that's been a 100 year battle for my people.

First descents are really colonial in nature.

We take this person, this is the first person that we know of and we write dow.. And those are the people that we recognize and celebrate within the outdoor community, whether it's mountains or climbing, or rivers.

And as we were talking through it, we kind of recognized that this is a moment of really deep opportunity.

If somebody is going to be centered and recognized for being the first to go down this river that has been dormant, that has been sick for a hundred years, it's tribal youth that are inheriting these struggles and so I wanted to center them in recognition.

We have a multiyea.. youth to be able to hardshell paddle white water kayaks down the Klamath River.

This is the start of the program, but we need to be able to get the kids up to be paddling class four or five water, and that's going to take a huge level of progression to get there.

And so to be able to make that happen, we're going to need long term support.

Getting tribal youth paddle clubs set up to be able to get youth out on the rivers regularly and get them Swiftwater Rescue and Wilderness First Aid certification so that they feel confident being around the water.

They have the infrastructure around them necessary to do this for a prolonged period of time.

We are the answer to our ancestors prayers.

They prayed and they fought for our people to be here, to be on these rivers, to keep these connections to this land.

And we're here.

We're doing it.

We're fighting for our rivers.

We're following their footsteps.

We're taking the knowledge that has been passed down to us from our mothers and their mothers and their mothers into today's world.

Our fights are different now, a lot of them happen in courtrooms and and protests, but we're adapting and we're doing it with joy.

We're learning how to have these connections with our rivers in a way that our ancestors didn't.

They didn't get the chance to learn these things.

I feel like I'm way more connected with my ancestors.

They've been on this river.

They know this river and I think they're ha.. You know, I think they're really happy when we're out here, you know, reconnecting with our river in these ways.

It feels good to hear those songs and those stories running through my mind and to have them going while I’m mid-rapid.

It makes my heart really happy.

I feel rejuvenated after a long day paddling.

I think that they're looking down on us and more proud than they've ever been.

And we're keeping that connection to our rivers.

We're making sure that our kids get to have these rivers and that they can have these salmon and that they know the stories of, you know, our K’ixinay giving us these first foods and that we were building a familial bond with all the tribes up in from the top of the Klamath basin to the bottom.

Once again, those familial ties are something that we're building that together here at the paddle Tribal Waters program.