Kayla Carpenter and Erika Chase - Brower Youth Awards 2005

Friends since the fourth grade, Erika and Kayla were always active in their hometown of 4,000 people. They both worked on their school yearbook, participated in the Youth Tribal Council, and organized a Salmon Run Relay to raise awareness about the plight of the nearby rivers and the fish populations that depend on them. According to Erika and Kayla, more and more water from the Klamath and Trinity rivers was being used to grow strawberries, barley and other crops that require dams and heavy irrigation. As a result, the water tables grew low, and the salmon, sturgeon and trout populations rapidly dwindled. "If the river isn't healthy for the salmon it's not going to be healthy for us," said Kayla. The Salmon Run Relay, beginning at the mouth of the Klamath and traveling upstream, mimicked the salmon span to the Trinity. In addition to raising awareness about the rivers, the Salmon Run Relay also educated the community about their native diet and culture by holding a salmon ceremony based on the ancient rituals of the Yurok, Hupa and Karuk Indian tribes. Erika and Kayla organized town hall meetings and distributed pamphlets at the Relay to further their efforts to unite cultures, promote health and get people politically involved.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Brower
• Youth
• Awards
• stream
• salmon
• relay
• environment
• Native
• students

[osagekaw]

nice work ladies! Can't believe I just now saw this!

[kylebil]

I am Nomolaki, Pomo, and Wintun in northern cali, and im glad to see our native people doing great things like this. We are strong. And we can do great things when we apply ourselves. I am glad to see young native youth taking these issues to heart, and wanting to do something about them.

[mechoopda1986]

thanks President Bush

[rileyrox101]

Kayla and Erika are so beautiful!

[Nihba]

Erika and Kayla. You two are my heros, two strong beautiful women! i can't wait to see yall again. take care my sisters. much love.

[GreenPlease1]

Great work. Thank you so much.

[Karuk10]

Thank u so much for doin dat! ima Karuk n I used to live on da rez. But now i live in utah

now but ima move back up there n i just want to thank u so much for doin somethin dat matters for our tribes dat depend on dat river!

[yurok31]

good job!thank you for raising some awareness on this matter,i am a yurok from klamath,but i live in washington and i just wanted to say thanks for doing something that matters!!!