Join the California History Section for a live webinar on Toward a Decolonial Future: Klamath River Temporary Dams on Wednesday, November 13, at 4PM! 

The lower Klamath River Basin, home to the Hupa, Yurok, and Karuk people, is vitally important to the cultural and physical health of each tribe. While this point has been made in numerous publications, this talk will focus on one little-explored aspect of the relationship between the three tribes and the Klamath River and its tributaries: fish weirs. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, fish weirs, or temporary dams, disappeared as settlers invaded the Klamath River region building permanent dams and irrigation infrastructure all but ended the fall and spring salmon runs on the river and its tributaries. Despite this, fish weirs, and their cultural significance, have not been forgotten. In this talk, Dr. Orona will reflect on fish weirs as decolonial future for the Hupa, Yurok, and Karuk people. She is interested in how the balance of a temporary dam structure, such as fish weirs, benefited the Klamath Basin and how this symbiotic relationship may be established again after the permanent dam structures are gone. As four dams are removed on the Upper Klamath River, this talk explores the relationship of the lower Klamath River and how Hupa, Yurok, and Karuk story and ceremony intertwine on the Basin to build a new, decolonial future for the river itself.

Guest Speaker 

Dr. Brittani R. Orona is currently a UC President's and Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Santa Cruz. In Summer of 2025, she will join the Department of Native American Studies at UC Davis as an Assistant Professor. Her research and teaching focus on Indigenous history and human rights, environmental studies, public humanities, and visual sovereignty.

Orona received her Ph.D. in Native American Studies with a Designated Emphasis in Human Rights from University of California, Davis, an M.A. in Native American Studies from UC Davis and an M.A. in Public History from Sacramento State University, and her B.A. in History from Cal Poly Humboldt. In addition to her academic work, Orona has worked for several federal, local, and state government agencies. Orona is Hupa and an enrolled member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe in Northern California.