Social impact assessment of Klamath dam removal: Learning from the Karuk Tribe’s leadership for eco-cultural revitalization

Abstract

This collaborative research initiative with the Karuk Tribe seeks to understand the social, cultural and economic impacts of dam removal and river restoration in the Klamath Basin from a Tribal perspective (California, Oregon, US). Dam removal is part of a broader Tribal strategy for basin-wide ecological and cultural revitalization of the Klamath watershed, where Indigenous knowledge systems elucidate deeply interconnected ecological and cultural processes that co-shape this place and its peoples. Importantly, Klamath dam removal is coming to fruition at the same time that Karuk leadership is gaining traction on its strategies for reintroducing cultural fire.

This paper reflects on twenty years of Indigenous-led advocacy, policy, and science leading to the removal of four dams on the mid-Klamath this year, and shares initial results of our social impact assessment of Klamath dam removal with Tribal partners, https://damremovalsocialimpact.com. The assessment provides a learning opportunity, illustrating how Karuk community leaders are recasting dam removal as Indigenous eco-cultural revitalization, thereby shifting the meaning of the infrastructure removal project and subsequent restoration. Eco-cultural revitalization further illustrates the Tribe’s holistic engagement with Klamath River restoration, where active stewardship of fire and water as interconnected elements are both essential to tribal community well-being.