Monday, July 1, 2024 – Assessing a century of cultural destruction from dams

For the first time, the federal government acknowledges the devastation to Native America tribes caused by a century of dam building on rivers in the Pacific Northwest. The report by the U.S. Department of Interior notes the benefits for the region’s burgeoning population in need of cheap power, irrigation, and steady jobs. But that same push dismissed the needs of the tribes that already occupied the land, resulting in flooding homes and sacred sites, and the decimation of salmon runs, their chief reliable food source.

GUESTS

Erik Holt (Nez Perce), chairman of the Nez Perce Tribe Fish and Wildlife Commission

Corinne Sams (Cayuse, Walla Walla, Cocopah), chair of the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission and member of the board of trustees and chair of the Fish and Wildlife Commission for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation

Keola Awong (Kanaka Maoli), program manager interpretation and education

James Pepper Henry (Kaw and Muscogee), vice chairman of the Kaw Nation and director emeritus at the First Americans Museum