Founded in 2012, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Rios to Rivers (R2R) brings together Indigenous and rural youth from threatened watersheds in the Americas through cultural exchanges, river navigation and leadership training. R2R’s programs integrate ecosystem protection, youth skill development, storytelling and advocacy, addressing root causes of environmental damage that have also damaged traditional cultures.  Its mission is to inspire the protection of free-flowing rivers by investing in youth who are intimately connected to their local homelands and tribal communities, encouraging them to become the next generation of activists for healthy watersheds and communities. 

R2R operates globally, with programs across the Americas and through international forums. Its Paddle Tribal Waters program equips Native youth of the Klamath River basin to confidently navigate and defend their ancestral waterways, helping restore community health as the multi-year restoration of the Klamath River begins, while urging continued action to restore river health throughout the Basin. R2R supports a growing network of alumni-led local paddling clubs to deepen opportunities for more Native youth to become river stewards and learn about environmental careers that could allow them to remain in their home Basin if they choose.

R2R also operates comprehensive programs with Indigenous youth in Bolivia’s Amazon and in Chile’s Bio Bio River Basin, and international exchanges that connect youth from each of the programs.  R2R actively participates in the River for Climate Coalition’s “UnDam the UN” campaign, raising awareness of the negative impact of dams on climate change, and develops visual storytelling and filmmaking campaigns to promote greater understanding and ensure Indigenous voices are heard.

For more information on R2R’s programs, go here LINK

For brief bios of R2R’s leadership, go here LINK

Tribal Allies: 

R2R’s Paddle Tribal Waters program serves Indigenous youth and young adults from Native communities in the Klamath Basin - including from the Hoopa Valley, Karuk, Quartz Valley, Shasta, Klamath-Modoc-Yahooskin, Winnemem-Wintu and Yurok Tribes – as well as the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs. The Tribes provide support by conducting outreach, recruitment and feedback for the program, hold cultural celebrations, co-host media and inter-generational community events and join Paddle Tribal Waters youth on intergenerational watershed activities.  See examples here:  LINK  & LINK

Traditional culture-bearers serve as Community Advisors for Paddle Tribal Waters’ documentary filmmaking, including Dr. George ‘Pordie” Blake (Hupa/Yurok), sculptor who preserves the traditional practice of building dugout redwood canoes; Mary Hall (Karuk/Yurok), tribal elder who witnessed the damming and subsequent ecological degradation of the Klamath River; Dale Ann Sherman (Yurok) retired Native American Studies professor at Humboldt State University, Yurok Tribal Council member, and traditional basket weaver; Willard Carson (Yurok) who developed Ah Pah Village, a traditional Yurok village designed to restore cultural traditions. 

R2R’s Amazon River Initiative is a joint effort with the Common Wealth of the Beni River Basin Indigenous Communities, an organization that activates and leads advocacy efforts in the six Indigenous nations in the Beni-Tuichi-Quiquibey River basins in Bolivia, and CONTIOCAP (National Coordination for the Defense of Native Indigenous & Campesino Territories & Protected Areas) an umbrella organization of Indigenous rights movements throughout Bolivia.  R2R’s Kayakimün program in Chile is led by youth and young adults of the Mapuche-Pehuenche people who call the Biobío River Basin home.  R2R’s Board of Directors includes Ashia Grae Wolf Wilson (Klamath-Modoc), Danielle Rey Frank (Hupa/Yurok), Jaren Robenson (Dine/Hopi). 

Environmental and Advocacy Community: 

R2R works closely with American Rivers, Ancestral Guard, International Rivers, Mid Klamath Watershed Council, Save California Salmon, Waterkeeper Alliance, Water Climate Trust, and the Rivers for Climate Coalition, among others. This summer’s Global Free Rivers Symposium is co-sponsored by R2R, Ridges to Riffles Indigenous Conservation Fund, Save California Salmon, and Water Climate Trust. 

Outdoor and Recreational Community: 

R2R partners with and has support from World Class Academy, Otter Bar Lodge, the National Recreation Foundation, North Face Explore Fund, REI Cooperative Action Fund, Justice Outside, and outdoor recreation companies including Northwest River Supplies, Jackson Kayaks, OARS, Alpacka Raft, Dagger, Werner paddles, Patagonia, among others. 

Arts/ Storytelling: 

R2R’s partners closely with filmmaker Rush Sturges and River Roots production company. The Paddle Tribal Waters Storytelling Collaborative is a recipient of the CA Arts Council and funding from numerous private philanthropies that include documentary film-making in their programmatic support for R2R’s programs.  R2R’s short films have received numerous film festival awards.  See more info here:  LINK

Financial Supporters:

A list of funders and supporters can be found here: LINK

R2R’s 990 reports are available upon request by email to:  Weston.boyles@riostorivers.org

The dam removals on the Klamath River are the largest in history; the Paddle Tribal Waters youth will be the first to paddle the full length of the free-flowing River from source-to-sea; the Global Free Rivers Symposium will be the first international gathering of Indigenous leaders and allies to be held in the Klamath Basin since the dams have been removed; and the Klamath River Accord that will be signed will mark the historic launch of joint commitments to ensure the protection of free-flowing rivers around the globe.  

These history-making events bridge the tenacious advocacy of elders and allies that fought to secure the Klamath dam removals - and will continue to fight for its full restoration -  with the activism of Indigenous youth who will inspire the next generation of leaders for healthy environments and communities. They shine a spotlight on what can be achieved from sustained activism despite overwhelming odds and, at a time when environmental protection policies are under attack, provide a timely and concrete message of hope as to what is possible from concerted action. 

For more on historical context and citations: LINK 

Grounded in R2R’s commitment to Narrative Sovereignty for peoples who have not always had control over how their world views are presented, the Paddle Tribal Waters youth participating in the First Descent will have authority over how their story is told, including in the feature-length documentary film Rios to Rivers is making in collaboration with River Roots production.  The film follows the youth over 3+ years of their preparation for and through the history-making first descent.  Scheduled for completion and wide distribution in 2026, it will convey the impact of their journey and importance of healthy rivers and communities to a broad audience.  

For more examples of the Film & Storytelling Aspect of this effort, go here:  LINK

Samples of previous press about each of R2R program are below.  For a full list, go here: LINK 

United States: 

• “Salmon and Paddlers To Make Historic Descent on the Free Klamath River”, November 14, 2024, https://paddlingmag.com/stories/news-events/klamath-river-oregon-undammed/

• “Reviving Indigenous Traditions on the Klamath River”, October 17, 2024, https://adventuresportsjournal.com/paddle-tribal-waters/

• “Native Teens Preparing to Kayak Undammed Klamath Set off on Trinity River Community Float”, July 25, 2022, https://kymkemp.com/2022/07/25/native-teens-preparing-to-kayak-an-undammed-klamath-set-off-on-trinity-river-community-float-will-arrive-in-klamath-on-tuesday/

• In August 2024, the First Nations Development Institute announced a grant award to the “Paa Aama Paddle Club to Support Native Youth on Historic Klamath River Descent”, https://kymkemp.com/2025/03/09/paah-aama-paddle-club-receives-60000-grant-to-support-native-youth-on-historic-klamath-river-descent/

South America: 

• Canal 13 (Chilean National TV)Estos Son Los Futuros "Guardianes de Los Ríos"

• El Mercurio (Most read newspaper in Chile) Del Baker al Klamath, La Historia de Dos Ríos Unidos por Sus Jóvenes

• This is Chile:Us and Chilean Student Exchange Celebrates River Conservation

• The Santiago Times:Activists Bring US Teens to Patagonia in Anti Dam Campaign

• Defensoras del TerritorioFernanda Castro Purran, the Mapuche Pewenche champion of free rivers

• InterferenciaFernanda Purrán Defensora Mapuche Pewenche de los Ríos Biobio y Queuco

• La Voz De Cataratas Rios to Rivers: Participan en Iguazu Jóvenes de Seis Países

• Canal Abierto (National Press Argentina)Los Guardianes Del Río Santa Cruz

• La Opinion AustralRíos to Rivers Inspirando a Los Futuros Guardianes de los Ríos

• “Rios to Rivers Is Not Your Average Exchange Program”, July 6, 2018, https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2018-4-july-august/act/r-os-rivers-not-your-average-exchange-program

UnDam The UN | Global: 

• “Indigenous Advocates for Removal of Klamath Dams Speak Out at COP 27”, November 15, 2022, https://www.times-standard.com/2022/11/15/indigenous-advocates-for-removal-of-klamath-dams-speak-out-against-hydropower-at-cop-27/

• Global Rivers Coalition Exposes Severe Climate and Human Rights Risk of New Hydropower Dams

• Aspen Delegates Advocate for Climate Action at COP27 in Egypt

This summer’s history-making events can help the general public better understand the impacts that dammed vs free-flowing rivers can have on climate change, noting research that shows large hydroelectric dams can actually contribute to global warming. Despite the “green energy” reputation of hydropower among policymakers, some reservoirs emit greenhouse gases through the release of significant amounts of methane. 

“Much more methane either bubbles out of reservoirs or is emitted just downstream from reservoirs than was previously known,” found researchers who developed a new framework for calculating reservoir emissions. When taking these factors into consideration, they found that global reservoirs emit around 29% more greenhouse gas emissions per area than previously calculated. “By providing both mitigation and adaptation, dam removal can lower greenhouse gas emissions and restore carbon sinks.” 

A recent study found that hydropower dams in tropical environments were “methane factories,” with “methane bubbling (ebullition) the most relevant conduit for greenhouse gas emissions in most reservoirs studied.” While the study focused on tropical environments, the unnatural process of methane released through the decomposition of organic materials occurs anywhere there is a dam. Methane is produced underwater by the anaerobic decomposition of organic material like algae and other vegetation sequestered in a dam’s reservoir. This process happens naturally in lakes, but is unnatural when a dam causes it. Free-flowing rivers do not emit methane.  

At the United Nations COP26 climate summits, a diverse coalition of 346 organizations from 78 countries issued a joint statement  and asserted that "funding hydroelectric power construction would not only fail to prevent catastrophic climate change, it would also worsen the climate crisis by exploding methane emissions and diverting scarce climate funds away from meaningful energy and water solutions in a world that is already grappling with severe impacts of climate change."

Restoring natural river flows can enhance ecosystem resilience to climate change by improving habitat connectivity and supporting biodiversity. Free-flowing rivers can act as natural buffers against floods and droughts, providing essential ecosystem services that help communities adapt to changing climatic conditions. 

For Sources & Citations, go here:  LINK

The health effects of large-scale dam and diversion projects on the Klamath River have been well documented, with the negative impact to watershed health and Native species intertwined with the physical, mental, and social determinants of health to Native people and river-based communities.  The lived experiences of most youth in the Klamath Basin are ones of degraded and unhealthy watersheds, in contrast to the abundance the River provided their elders and previous generations before the dams. Paddle Tribal Waters celebrates the ability for future generations to know the restoration of a healthy environment, healthy lifestyles, and the freedom to confidently enjoy ancestral waterways.  The holistic impact to health is outlined more fully below.

Watershed Health:

Hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River, paired with nutrient pollution from upstream agriculture, created an ideal environment for toxic “algae blooms” that regularly exceeded the World Health Organization's "Moderate Probability of Adverse Health Effect" levels by 10-1000 times. These toxins were transported downstream, affecting river communities along the river’s entire path to the pacific ocean which can cause liver damage and they also accumulate in aquatic species, which further limits peoples' access to local traditional foods such as salmon that were once plentiful but had declined by more than 90% when the dams were removed. 

For Sources & Citations, go here:  LINK

“When the river is no longer healthy, we’re no longer healthy.”  One study found that food insecurity rates among Native American communities in the Klamath River Basin are higher than any other Native American communities in the US, with 92% of households suffering some level of food insecurity.  Another report summarized that, “the elimination of traditional foods has had extreme adverse health, social, economic, and spiritual effects on Karuk people include high rates of Type II diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension.” 

Seminal research on the intersection between river health and community health found that “the Klamath Basin is one of the most ecologically diverse ecosystems in the Western United States, yet tribal populations and rural communities residing there are among the poorest and most food insecure in the country. Once replete with an abundance of fresh, healthy, locally available traditional foods, including salmon, deer, elk, acorns, mushrooms, berries, and a host of other nutritious foods grown and traded up and down the river, the Klamath Basin is now a food desert. Denied access to traditional foods, the arrival of commodity foods, high unemployment, and limited availability and affordability of fresh, healthy foods have resulted in high rates of food insecurity, diabetes, obesity, and depression.”

“Tribal community health is intimately connected to the health of the river.” The unprecedented “fish kill” of 2002 on the banks of the Klamath River was the largest West Coast salmon kill in history: Over 30,000 salmon died from diseases that spread in warm waters. Lived experience on the Yurok reservation describes that “after that fish kill, everything changed; life along the river became more somber....The non-Indigenous world measures health solely by physical markers.  But the Indigenous concept of health considers community, mental and spiritual well-being in addition to the physical factors, and it relies on people’s direct contact with land and water.” 

For Sources & Citations, go here:  LINK

The mental health impacts from severing communities from a healthy river are also profound. Studies interviewing Klamath River-based peoples found “the most frequently expressed emotion in the face of the degraded water quality and diminished quantity of fish in the river was grief. People vividly described the experience as enduring an assault on one’s relations yet feeling powerless to stop it fully. Engaging in actions to reassert control over the fate of the river reduced feelings of despair.  Karuk Tribal members vividly expressed emotions of joy from being out in nature, and grief, anger, and hopelessness with the decline of the Klamath River. “

“When the fisheries are closed, both kids and adults often flounder in despair. Suicides, domestic violence and juvenile delinquency spike.” As reported in the LA Times regarding the Yurok reservation, “With no salmon, and an unemployment rate above 80% around Weitchpec, parents linked the unhealthy river to mental health, contributing to a suicide rate nearly 14 times the national average. As one father shared his lived experience “we have a suicide epidemic among young people who feel they have no hope for the future. They love their home and most want to stay here, but lack of training, jobs, or even recreational facilities, invites feelings of despair.” 

“As salmon runs decline and opioid addiction grips the region, the Yurok, Karuk and Hoopa tribes see a connection between the river’s struggles and their own,” reported the LA Times. There was a 519% increase in number of overdose deaths among rural Native Americans compared to an increase of 325% in rural areas overall, according to a 2017 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” and the “effects of heroin – alcohol and meth before it – have seeped into every aspect of life.…Among the Yurok, the Karuk and the Hoopa, it is difficult to find anyone who has not been directly touched.” Parents in the community reported that “It’s no coincidence that this opioid problem and the river crisis are happening at the same time; when that resource is gone, it leads to a sense of despair. The river’s intensifying troubles have caused spiritual pain, in addition to exacerbating economic anguish.” 

To the Native peoples of the Basin, losing Klamath’s native salmon and suckerfish is about more than protecting endangered species. It’s about losing the reason they live on the planet. “If we lose these salmon, we will have no more need to be here on Earth,” Yurok tribal member Frankie Myers told the Guardian last year. “It takes a toll on our mental health when we see what’s happening. A University of Southern California report addressing the opioid crisis in American Indian communities recommended that “Providing culturally centered activities and treatments to prevent and/ or treat OUD/SUD can provide healing modalities to develop the spiritual, mental, and physical strength of an individual. These services address the need to maintain resiliency in the community by emphasizing cultural connectedness, cultural services, positive role models, and having available supportive services and programs.” 

“The Klamath Tribes once relied upon thousands of pounds of c’iyaals from upper basin rivers for not just subsistence but for good health. ‘The return of these fish (after dam removal) will lead directly to both improved mental and physical health among our people,’ said The Klamath Tribe’s Secretary Roberta Frost.

Paddle Tribal Waters’ program also helps addresses the root causes of many of these challenges by providing opportunities for Native youth to engage in actions to reassert control over the fate of the river, restore feelings of joy being out on the water, and provide supportive programs that provide positive role models and cultural connectedness. 

For Sources & Citations, go here:  LINK

Paddle Tribal Youth leaders express that, after centuries of systematic attempts to remove Indigenous people from our homelands, boarding schools that disrupted our family bonds and culture, limited access to traditional fishing rights, river-based livelihoods, or freedom to travel on our waterways, we now have the opportunity to reshape how Native youth experience rivers.  Equipping Native youth to confidently enjoy and advocate for their ancestral waters defy these colonial legacies and reconnects Indigenous communities with wellness practices, reinforcing cultural identities. 

Tribes in the Klamath River Basin have long asserted the connection between the health of ancestral rivers and the wellbeing of all that depend upon them, with the damage from a century of dams to native species, traditional cultures and food sources, physical, mental, spiritual and economic health well documented, including links to epidemics of suicide and substance misuse among Indigenous youth.  Rather than despair in the degradations, Paddle Tribal Waters taps into the resiliency developed and sustained through those harmful decades, and unleashes Native youths’ passion for activism, healing, and celebrating connections to the environment and each other. 

Paddle Tribal Waters program uses an interdisciplinary approach that integrates river literacy and skills training with a curriculum that includes traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), inter-generational cultural celebrations, storytelling, and advocacy opportunities. Importantly, it focuses on the interconnected perspective of what it means to be healthy and allows Native youth to define that for themselves as they listen to the river and are an integral part of its holistic restoration. It trains them to be confident as advocates for the environment from their own cultural perspectives, providing hope and opportunities for youth to embrace lifestyles of activism, health and joy.  

Examples of the impact as expressed in their own voices by program participants, family and community members can be found in short films here: LINK

R2R is fundamentally a youth- and young adult-led program, with the historic first descent of the Klamath River a testament to the power of youth to lead, supported by experienced and supportive adults. The young kayakers paddling the 316 miles of the undammed Klamath are youth (ages 13-17) and young adult alumni of Paddle Tribal Waters’s comprehensive training program, prepared to make the month-long expedition.  Yet their leadership goes far beyond whitewater paddling through unknown terrain; it includes leading community events along the way, role modeling to their peers a healthy lifestyle that values cultural traditions. It includes speaking publicly about the importance of this journey and free-flowing rivers at local, national and global forums to ensure Indigenous perspectives continue to be heard in decision-making, and networking to learn from and support other Indigenous youth advocating to protect threatened waterways in other parts of the world. 

The impact of this commitment to youth leadership is that Indigenous youth are making their powerful voices heard. R2R youth have spoken at the White House, shared their poetry at the Kennedy Center, presented documentary films and conducted Q&As at film festivals, testified in policy hearings, given press interviews, and been featured in major publications.  Importantly, they have assumed increasing responsibilities for the program itself, including as interns, staff, leadership positions, and Board members of R2R, at other nonprofit organizations and within tribal governments, helping sustain their leadership long after the dams have come down and the first descent celebrations have concluded.  

One measure of impact is the growing network of new organizations started by young adult alumni with R2R’s support.  Building off the example of Maqlaqs Paddle in Klamath-Modoc territory, Pàah Àama in Karuk territory, and Wana Waixtishama on the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs reservation, these local paddling clubs deepen opportunities for more Native youth in the United States. Programs such as Pàah Àama’s can play a huge role in overcoming adverse Social Determinants of Health in Indigenous communities with few opportunities and poor infrastructure resulting from decades of systemic racism and geographic isolation.  They provide healthy activities that nurture connections between Native youth, their cultures and their homelands.  

Indigenous youth and young adults are leading R2R programs in South America as well. They are at the forefront of efforts to stop hydroelectric dams from being erected and protect threatened ecosystems in the Amazon in Bolivia and along the Biobio River in Chile.  This summer’s events celebrating the Klamath dam removals are intentionally designed to include these young leaders from other river basins to magnify the impact that this growing cadre of young leaders will take on for our shared futures.  Having them witness first-hand the impact of dam removals on the Klamath allows youth from communities fighting to stop large hydroelectric dams from being built to enter into “a time machine” to see how the United States is demolishing dams rather than erecting them. They can see with their own eyes the degradations and costs to nature, economies, and communities of dams whose costs outweigh any benefits. Coming together, they learn first-hand the lessons each can bring for resistance to these large-scale projects that threaten their own communities and global health.  They recognize the shared challenges, the need for youth voices to carry on the advocacy, and ensure the health of free-flowing rivers.  

The events this summer in the Klamath Basin build upon other successful international youth exchanges, such as these powerful examples: Paddle Tribal Waters youth from the U.S. witnessed first-hand in (year) the impact of Indigenous leaders and allies successfully defeating dams along Chile’s Baker River (LINK )to keep it free-flowing; Indigenous youth from four different countries representing 9 distinct Indigenous groups and 12 different rivers in North and South America completed a three-week exchange program in 2022 in the endangered Beni River Basin in the Bolivian Amazon, raising awareness and increased local political support (LINK here and here) and All three programs - Paddle Tribal Waters (USA), Kayakimuun (Chile) and Amazonian Rivers Initiative (Bolivia) – met in Chile in 2024 through Rios to Rivers, unifying the energy of the Indigenous young paddlers and further developing the next generation of river stewards.  In January 2025, PTW youth joined with Kayakimuun on the Alto Biobio for joint learning and resisting a new Raculhue dam underway in Pehewenche Mapuche territory. 

Youth leaders from each of R2R’s programs present at global forums such as UN COP events, which you can see more of here: 

R2R helps support viable economic opportunities for Indigenous youth for whom economic opportunities often are lacking. It equips Indigenous youth from underserved communities with concrete skills, certifications, equipment, advice and financial support to pursue economic ventures that depend upon healthy rivers as alternatives to destructive extractive industries. Its programs expose youth to scientists, policy makers, journalists, filmmakers, educators and outdoor recreation professionals, encouraging ways for the young leaders to envision careers that allow them to stay in and/or support their homelands. 

The Paddle Tribal Waters youth leading the first descent, for example, live primarily in isolated, rural areas that score in the bottom percentiles of most California Healthy Places Index indicators.  For example 98% of the state has healthier economic conditions than the Humboldt area that is 82% American Indian.  The communities along the Klamath River have been designated as Disadvantaged, Low-Income, Overburdened and Underserved Communities by various State of California criteria. For example, the Hoopa Valley Tribal community is designated as “Severely Disadvantaged” by CA’s Office of Environmental Health & Hazards Assessment.  This summer’s events on the Klamath River highlight the resilience and tenacity of youth from these underserved regions and the families and communities that support them throughout their comprehensive training and leadership development.  The events also highlight opportunities that exist for the youth in a future where the restoration of the watershed leads to economic benefits as well as health and environmental benefits.

The economic benefits from the dam removals on the Klamath have been well documented.  For example, the state utility commissions in both California and Oregon determined that the successful implementation of the hydro-electric dam removals is in the best interest of ratepayers. Local job creation has been stimulated through the removal and restoration process, and the return of healthy salmon runs will strengthen commercial fishing opportunities estimated as worth $150 million per year to the local economy. Water quality and fisheries improvements will substantially reduce the risk of fishery disasters, such as the complete commercial closure of 2006, which cost more than $100 million in economic losses.  

Long stretches of free-flowing rivers also provide economically valuable recreational opportunities, including boating and fishing, along with associated economic stimulus from travel, lodging, food, and equipment that is estimated to contribute  millions to the Klamath Basin economy.  Further, the public as a whole will benefit from reduced public spending on disaster relief. Over the past ten years, hundreds of millions in public dollars has been spent on emergency measures for fishermen, tribes, and farmers in response to rotating Klamath crises. Fully implementing the dam removal restoration is one significant piece of the broader solution to resolve the root causes of these problems.

The region is already seeing the economic benefits from dam removal and restoration. The American Society of Civil Engineers noted that “The Klamath River dam removal project produced positive results almost immediately.” And the salmon are leading the way, showing what is possible: Within 10 days of completing the removal of Iron Gate Dam on the Klamath, more than 6,000 Chinook salmon were observed migrating upstream, exceeding biologists expectations by orders of magnitude. The R2R’s sponsored events this summer will highlight the interconnectedness of these environmental, economic, cultural, and health benefits from free-flowing rivers, as evidenced by the success to date in the Klamath basin, and ensure the lessons learned are shared with other economically challenged communities in critical river basins in the world.  

Sources & Citations Link here