Episode 52: Water Sovereignty and Artistry
“I’ve always been struck that people don’t know the very intensive history of activism in Northwestern California. There have been Supreme Court cases that have decided major land issues. The Klamath River dam removal, when it happens, will be the largest dam removal in the United States if not the world.”
A conversation with Dr. Brittani Orona (San Diego State University) about visual sovereignty, Indigenous history, artistry, and advocacy on waters. Released May 12, 2023.
guests on the show
Brittani Orona
Dr. Brittani R. Orona is currently Assistant Professor of American Indian Studies at San Diego State University, and soon to be a UC President's Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Santa Cruz. Her research and teaching focus on California Indian history and human rights, Indigenous science and technology studies, environmental studies, public humanities, and visual sovereignty. She serves as the Board Secretary for Save California Salmon.
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 including: California State Parks, California Department of Toxic Substances Control, California Government Operations Agency, California State Indian Museum, the California State Office of Historic Preservation, California State Archives, National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC, and the Maidu Museum and Historic Site. Dr. Orona is Hupa and an enrolled member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe in Northern California.
Transcript
Faith Kearns
Welcome to Water Talk. In today's episode, we're talking with Brittani Orona, Assistant Professor of American Indian Studies at San Diego State University. Dr. Orona focuses her research and teaching on Indigenous history and human rights, environmental studies, public humanities, and visual sovereignty. Dr. Orona is Hoopa and an enrolled member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe in Northern California.
So, today, it's just Sam and I, and we're super excited to talk with Brittani. I will say that Brittani has been on my list of potential guests for Water Talk since the very beginning. And so, it's really exciting to actually have this happening today. The reason that I had wanted to talk with Brittani has to do with a lot of her work on the Klamath River, and some of the work related to the dams on the Klamath River. But also, she just does a lot of really interesting work on the role of Indigenous arts and artistry in some of these social, environmental justice movements. Sam, what are you looking forward to talking with Brittani about today?
Sam Sandoval
I'm really looking forward to this conversation because we're going to be talking again about the Klamath River. And for me, the Klamath River is very interesting. It's something that I always like to talk about from the Indigenous perspective. And also, to not only know about the ways of living of the Indigenous community, but also to talk about the artistry, their expression, with the artistry movement that they have been doing. For me, this is really important, as we have traveled from the south, from the Salton Sea now all the way to the north part of the state, I am really looking forward to it. And also, good conversations about sovereignty, and different types of rights, water rights, sovereignty rights, to have the right to decide the fate of their homelands. I think that is important. So, I'm really excited for that.
Faith Kearns
Yeah, I think Brittani is so interesting, because she is both a scholar who has looked at some of these movements through a scholarly lens, and also is someone who has this lived experience of having grown up along the Klamath River, and experience some of the work that she will talk about today. Just as a, you know, human being living there. And she also has this really interesting background, doing a lot of practice-based work with government agencies in California. And so, she's a really well-rounded scholar and person. And so, without further ado, let's go ahead and talk with Brittani today.
So, Brittani, we are truly honored to have you as a guest on Water Talk. And to start, we'd love to just hear a bit about your very unique and interesting background and some of the work that you're doing right now.
Brittani Orona
Well, thank you so much for having me. I'm a huge fan of the show. I've been listening to many of the past podcast episodes to get ready for this conversation. So, I really do appreciate you asking me to join Water Talk.
As you mentioned, I am a member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe in northwestern California. So, my family is from the Hoopa Valley. And so, I grew up in the Sacramento Valley region, going up to Hoopa and spending a lot of time on the reservation with my grandfather, on my grandfather's property, my family's property. I'm from the Marshall-Hostler family. Families for those that know those families in the valley.
I was really interested in Indigenous history growing up, I very much viewed myself as being a Hoopa person having been raised around that culture. And so, when I went into school, I decided to do history and really look into the history of advocacy. And so originally, it was like world advocacy. So, looking at China, revolutionary China, and then I kind of integrated into thinking more about advocacy in northwestern California. So, I have a background in public history. I got my master's degree in Public History at Sacramento State, where I was interested in Indigenous arts and Indigenous public history. And then decided to go into a PhD program and Native American studies, where I worked with Dr. Beth Rose Middleton Manning, who you interviewed for this podcast on water infrastructure issues in the state of California, specifically focusing on the [Feather] River Basin. So, I really wanted to blend this history of Indigenous activism, Indigenous visual sovereignty on the Klamath River. So, looking at artists from Hoopa, Yurok, and Karuk peoples, and also this long history of resistance against water infrastructure on the Klamath River Basin.
And so, I did all that, but then in between that I was working in environmental policy for the state in Cultural Resources Management Policy for the state. I was really interested in how the state of California has impacted Indigenous environmental policies of Indigenous tribal cultural resources. And to me, to understand that, meant that I needed to be involved in it in some way. So, I became involved with the state of California and worked for various agencies, such as the California State Parks, the Department of Toxic Substances Control, as well as government operations agencies, amongst many others. So, it's a very eclectic background. And now I'm going into predominantly academia where I'm bringing all of these kinds of perspectives into an academic space. So, I work a lot with students and then also doing a lot of research focused on water history, Indigenous water history and California.
Sam Sandoval
Thank you. Thank you, Brittani, for that background. And you have gross different lines, right, the as you were experiencing your life, the state government, and of course, the academic life. Glad that you came to the Native American studies at UC Davis and your dissertation research relates to issues on the 2002 Fish Kill in the Klamath River Basin. And how Hoopa, Yurok and Karuk artists and activists work to center the colonial efforts including dam removal and human rights abuses. Here we are 20 years later, and the removal of the four dams of the Klamath looks like it is good to go. So, could you talk about your research to us?
Brittani Orona
Yeah, definitely. So, I was a teenager when the fish kill occurred in 2002 and I remember when it happened. It was at a pivotal point in my life, too, with family stuff, but I remember it happening, and being very aware of the devastation that was happening in that place on the Klamath River, the lower Klamath River Basin. I was keenly aware of what was going on in that area and had followed it over a period of time between 2002 and 2013. But I didn't get really, really involved until 2013 when I curated an exhibit called Stories of the River, Stories of the People: Memory on the Klamath River Basin. And I worked with Indigenous activists, so I was working with people who are on the ground, such as the Klamath Justice Coalition, which is made up of Karuk, Yurok, and Hoopa tribal members, Klamath River tribal members, and then also artists.
So, I was really interested in the artwork that had been produced out of the movement over a period of between 2002 and 2013, when I started the project, and it really got me thinking about how activism has been the fundamental point in the Klamath River dam removal efforts. That native people from 2002 and prior to 2002 had always been doing this activism around the Klamath River and had looked and seen the unhealthy status of the Klamath River Basin and had been making commentary on this, not just in 2002, but prior to that for decades, activism on the Klamath River is generational, and it started with colonialism. Like we have always been resisting these water projects. And that's something that I hope that my manuscript will show. But 2002 is such a pivotal time period, and it really brings to fore these issues out in the public and through the media. So that's when we see a lot more attention being brought to the Klamath River by activists such as Karuk, Yurok, and Hoopa activists.
It's also important to note that this is also a cross coalition effort as well. So, you look at environmental organizations that were a part of this effort too. But what my point really is about this is that it was native people who brought this to the attention of people using direct action methodologies. [Such as] when the dams were owned by Scottish Power, going to Scotland. When they moved to PacifiCorp, going to Portland, going to Warren Buffett's house and protesting, going to the Bureau of Reclamation, going to the state of California and Oregon capitals, doing this very intensive activism to save this river. And so now we're seeing in 2023 the efforts of these people coming to fore, that this dam removal is real and it's happening now. I really want to do justice to that and really center the Native people, Native artists, who have brought this attention for a very long time.
Faith Kearns
Yeah, that seems like such an important thing to keep emphasizing because I find in a lot of the organizations I've worked for, there's this need to sort of take credit for things in terms of trying to continue a set of work. And I think, sometimes, as somebody who watches it kind of from afar, it can seem like there are lots of different groups putting forth the amount of effort they put in there. And I think it's great to hear your emphasis on the work, which totally makes sense by Indigenous people and artists in that area.
So, I am really intrigued by your work on issues that you describe as being sort of beyond the scope of environmental policy. I think there can often be this sense and I think it's particularly true in the world that Sam and I are in, the natural science community, that working to shape policy is sort of this end all be all of good science. But you know, I personally have found it to be a really limiting goal in a lot of ways. So, when I touched on your work, it was like, "Oh, that's yeah, that's an interesting concept". So, I'd love to hear you talk a little bit about what you see as efforts that are beyond environmental policy, particularly as they relate to your work with Indigenous artists and activists, but maybe more broadly as well.
Brittani Orona
Yeah, I use that terminology, because I think about it in the ways in which there are Native activists who have been working on these issues for decades, going to the State Water Board's meetings, or Department of Water Resources meetings, or Bureau of Reclamation meetings, and saying the same things over and over to new set of people. And so, I always think about this story I heard about Chief Calleen Cisk, who is chief of the Winnemem Wintu Nation. So when she went to one of these meetings, she said, "We're going to be here long after you are gone. We're not stopping.”
And that's so relevant to what I've seen from activism from Native people. And, you know, it's not just about going to these meetings and going and writing comment letters, though that's a big part of it. Many people are involved and do that, like the organization, I sit on the board of Save California Salmon, we do a lot of that kind of work. But in addition to that, it's important to think beyond the scope of this environmental policy where it affects people's lives.
The ways in which environmental policy is passed is often within these, you know, the CalEPA building, or these informational meetings that happen. And it's like, that's not actually at the core of how people are affected by water policy. Like, you see it on the Klamath River when the river is sick, and the warning that happens for that river. It's very intense. And it's not just, you know, a resource for us. It's a living being. It's a relationship that we have to this land and this space that moves beyond environmental policy in a state or federal or local lens.
I think, based on my experience, when I was working at these agencies, I think sometimes it's easy to forget that when you're working in those spaces. And it's really powerful when you have like, I worked a lot with EJ communities at DTSC. It's really powerful when you have them come to you and tell you that you're not quite getting it. Like this is actually impactful to our lives and what we're dealing with on the ground. So, I think about that a lot when I think about my tribe Hoopa and then neighboring tribes as well, Karuk and Yurok peoples- that we're not trying to save this river because it looks good in the media, it's not for that, for political gain. It's because it's our lives. And if that river goes away and dies, we go away and die. We're very interconnected. And I think that's a harder thing to explain when we're on this legislative schedule, we're on a gubernatorial schedule, when we're trying to hit these marks, and it's like, what did those marks mean to an actual lived experience?
Sam Sandoval
Thank you for bringing this because academics or activists typically focus on passing the policy, and then kind of thinking that what comes next will be all the things, all the thoughts that they had, but the reality is that there is a lot of work after that. Making sure that all these bureaucratic machinery policies are really implemented. And what you mentioned, that people will live longer in those places, than sometimes these decision makers are there.
Faith Kearns
I had never heard the term visual sovereignty until I encountered it in your work. So, both Sam and I were trying to figure out in advance what this meant we couldn't quite get there. So, could you tell us what this phrase means to you and about your work in this arena?
Brittani Orona
Yeah. So, in Native American and Indigenous Studies, sovereignty and tribal sovereignty is very important. It is a very important concept. And there are many theorists that have theorized those concepts too, whether it be tribal sovereignty as it's enacted by the federal government or inherent sovereignty as it existed prior to colonization. And so, in the same vein as some of those thought processes around inherent sovereignty, there's a term called visual sovereignty, which was developed by several scholars, but I think of Jolene Rickard, who is Tuscarora, and who is an artist and does a lot of work around this issue of visual sovereignty.
And so visual sovereignty is how Native people, Native artists have used visual methodologies. So, you think about media, fine art, traditional artistic practices, anything that you think of in the arts, and how they've used those methodologies to assert tribal nationhood, tribal sovereignty, tribal identity, and culture as a response to the dominant narrative around Native people. So that terminology of visual sovereignty becomes really important when we're looking at Native artists. And for me on the Klamath River, it's very important when we're looking at artists like Lynn Risling, who's Hoopa, Yurok, and Karuk. Or Julian Lang, who's Wiyot, Shasta, and Karuk, as they're doing art pieces that are surrounding issues on the Klamath River. So, a lot of their work is enacted through visual sovereignty and really pushing forward a concept called world renewal. We are World Renewal People; our ceremonies are based in world renewal. We believe it's our responsibility to remake the world, not just for us, but for everybody.
And so many of these artists use those conceptions around world renewal to talk about the destruction of our lands through settler colonial violence. And a lot of these works focus on water. And so that was the aha moment I had 10 years ago when I was looking into these artists, and how they were using their work of visual sovereignty to assert tribal nationhood in place and on the Klamath River. So that's the very short, this is what visual sovereignty is and what it looks like for me and my work.
Faith Kearns
Is it possible to describe a work that you would consider to be in that vein, maybe from some of the artists that you just talked about?
Brittani Orona
Yeah. So, one of the hardest things about teaching art history is sometimes you're not able to like to be up next to the art piece itself. But one work that I really think of a lot is from Lynn Risling, who again is Hoopa, Yurok and Karuk, is a really wonderful artist and a really wonderful person. And she completed a painting entitled, Hope and Renewal: Swim Against the Current, in 2008. So, this painting has a circle, and it's different motifs of salmon and then there's a fetus in the middle of the circle that's representing life and then the salmon are surrounding it and then on the lower corner is a picture of a factory. And like some form of environmental destruction, so a dam. So that's an ineloquent description of the piece. It's very vibrant, very beautiful. If you Google it, you can find a picture of it. It's really a wonderful and powerful piece. And it actually was a part of the show that I did in 2013. She created it in 2008, as a response to the lack of salmon during that year, in 2008. It's really a direct response to the mismanagement of salmon fisheries resources. And then, as well as the dams that had caused this destruction on the river.
And so, I think it's a very powerful and important piece to show the importance of salmon to who we are, again, like it's very much tied to who we are, we have a long-standing relationship with the salmon since time immemorial. And we can't really separate us from them. In these pieces, you see a lot of that in the fore. Other artists such as Brian D. Tripp, whose Karuk, did many sculptural pieces around the Klamath River and also did murals. So, in Eureka, there's a lot of murals that he and his nephew, Alme Allen, did in Eureka, California, around these issues of decolonization, and also, Native land rights.
So, I've always been struck that people don't know much about the northwestern art scene, because it's so powerful. I've also been struck that people don't know this very intensive history of activism in Northwestern California. There have been Supreme Court cases that have come out of our area that have decided major land case issues. The Klamath River dam removal, when it happens, will be the largest dam removal in the United States, if not the world. These are major events, but sometimes when I talk to my students, they're like, "I don't know where the Klamath is at all". So, it's just an interesting thing, how we can be citizens of California and not quite understand where we're at in certain places.
Faith Kearns
Thanks for sharing those examples. I know, it's hard to describe a visual, but I felt it at a pretty visceral level at a certain point, so I think it was very effective and helpful. So, we’ve touched on a few of them, certainly on the Klamath, and you know, talking a little bit about Shasta. But there are just so many big water issues across the state. And I know you've done some work related to water planning and sort of this idea of the public good, and how tribes are, or are not, included in the planning process. And so, I'm wondering about the history of Indigenous people in water planning and California and what you might see as an alternative for the future.
Brittani Orona
Native people haven't really been involved, or haven’t historically been included in the water planning process. So, this is why I'm really interested in this research. I mean, when you look at the beginning of colonization in California, it's extremely violent. We went through a genocide, a state sanctioned genocide from federal and state governmental militias that attempted to annihilate us and kill us. And that was very strong in Northwestern California. So Northwestern California has a long history of what are known as the Indian Wars, the Northwestern Indian Wars. During that time period, though, you get the establishment, both of the water rights system.
So, what we deal with today, around water rights, is established in the period shortly after this military violence. And then you also get the construction of early infrastructure projects. So, if you look across the state, the state almost as soon as it forms, begins thinking about how to manage water, how do you manage water? How do we stop flooding in the Sacramento Valley? How do we get rid of Tulare Lake, which is something that we're dealing with now. Something that I like to bring up though, even as tribes were not included in that process of, you know, environmental policy, that stretches back to colonization, we always resisted.
There were always these acts of resistance that were happening throughout these processes. And I'm going through several Indian commission meetings now from the 1930s. And there are tribal members from Hoopa, Yurok, and Karuk territories that are going to these meetings, United States congressional meetings, and say "We are having issues around damming and proposed dams on the Klamath River from private entities". So, the Klamath River dams that are being removed are private entity dams. But then also there's resistance around federal projects like the Klamath Irrigation Project up in the upper basin, and then also the Trinity Diversion Project, that was completed in the early 1960s. So even as we've been left out of these planning documents, and these planning processes, we've always done resistance, like direct action. The Klamath irrigation issues really culminated in the 1970s with the 1978 Klamath salmon wars. That was a very violent event against Native fisher people and wildlife enforcement officers from both the state and federal entities.
So, we talk a lot about 2002 and 2002 is really important. But these issues have been long standing since colonization began. And I also think about this document that the Bureau of Reclamation came out with looking for places to dam in California. And one of the proposals was the Ah Pah dam, which was going to flood the Hoopa, Yurok and Karuk tribal territories. And it's just one policy document. There's not a lot written about it. So, I'm trying to find more information about it in the archives and talking to tribal members too. But it's really interesting to me that this dam was proposed, and it's called Ah Pah, but Ah Pah is a village site, a Yurok village site, but Native people are not mentioned at all. Even the reservation is not really mentioned, though it would flood reservation lands, Yurok tribal territories and Karuk tribal territories too. So I was thinking about this question when you brought it up, and that, to me, speaks so much about how Native people have been treated in the water planning processes here in California. And beyond that, too.
Faith Kearns
Yeah, it's so interesting. I kind of want to ask a follow up that may or may not be a good question. But this whole conversation has made me really curious about just the history of resistance and activism by tribes, by Indigenous people, in the face of these, what I would refer to as, procedural and justices. And so, you, I'm just wondering about that history of resistance and whether you feel like those outside of the system actions have arisen because of those procedural injustices? And a somewhat related question, is activism or resistance work, something that gets passed on through generations? Or is this sort of an emergent, constantly sort of emergent set of work that folks are doing?
Brittani Orona
Yeah, it's definitely an intergenerational activism, I would say, and also an awareness of these issues. I think as soon as most kids who are from this area are born, they start learning about the issues of the Klamath River, and the issues of water. And when I look at the Sacramento River, I often think, wow, that's a lot of it is Trinity River water. And that's our home. My tribe's home water base is the Trinity River. We're Trinity River tribal people. So it's very much intergenerational. And people pass down these stories of being involved in the fish wars, being involved in the G-O road, the Gasquet-Orleans Road activism, being involved in the formation of tribal fisheries in the 1990s. It's very much a part of that genealogy of Native resistance that is very relevant in Northwestern California, but also very relevant across California itself.
So that's definitely a big thing, and it is a response to the ways in which the federal government, through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, through the Department of the Interior and state government has enacted these water infrastructure projects and environmental policy, water policy decisions without considering or really interacting with tribes at all. And I often hear this, “well, we have a Tribal Consultation Policy, or will we consult with tribes in that way.” But how do you do that when you consider this long history of violence, procedural violence? I like that terminology, procedural violence. A Tribal Consultation Policy isn't going to fix that. It has to move beyond that. And then also, the direct understanding that we are nations. We're nations. And we're not stakeholders. We actually have nationhood that has existed prior to the formation of both California and the United States.
Faith Kearns
I think thank you for sharing that, Brittani. I also just want to stop for a second and acknowledge all of the stuff that you're talking about, we're sort of talking about in this intellectual way, but this is profoundly violent. Actions and events that have happened, ongoing violence that continues to happen, and I imagine it must be somewhat challenging to talk about all the time. So, I really appreciate you talking with us about it today.
Sam Sandoval
Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Brittani. And consultations are not enough. I'm not sure if it is a permission or put in at the same level, because consulting is not enough. And the bureaucratic violence, or the structural system that has been oppressive and violent [towards] Indigenous people, it's just simply not right.
I think that at the beginning, you mentioned that you have vast experience, not only in academia, but also in governmental work. In the state of California, you have several different roles with the California State Parks and Recreation and Department of Toxic Substances. So, is there anything that you would like to share with us about that work, and particularly how that work has informed your views as Indigenous scholar?
Brittani Orona
I mentioned at the beginning that one of the reasons that I went into state government or governmental work is that I really wanted to understand how these decisions are made about us and about, not just water planning, or environmental planning, but also through cultural resources management. So Cultural Resources Management looks at archaeology, traditional cultural properties, cultural heritage, so like basketry, native arts, how state parks talk about Native peoples, all of that. So, I was very interested in that aspect of work. And I thought that that's what my career would be going into tribal cultural resources. But then I got into more environmental policy, and I started to realize that for us, for Native people, you can't really separate the land from our culture, like it's very much tied to culturally who we are. You know, we do everything around the land and that relation, that deep tied relationship to the land.
And then I also thought a lot when I was working at these different agencies is how things move so fast, like you're expected to consult with 109 federally recognized tribes, and then over 100 non-federally recognized tribes on projects that move fast, or move slow. So, it's also the fast and the slow. And it's dependent on the project that either has the political will behind it, or like this media attention that's behind it as well. So, I was really fascinated by that. And I was fascinated by how we tend to cut up these things in policy, like we're only going to look at this issue with water. What about these issues around toxic substances that might be in water or affect waterways? Which many EJ groups have done a fantastic job of pointing out. So, I want to give that credit where credit is due, especially in the Central Valley.
And then also, this mindset of, when we fix this one problem, then we'll move on to the other thing, without looking at it holistically. You can't separate the environment. It's holistic, everything that happens to a water system on the Klamath River happens to a water system on the Sacramento River because they're deeply tied. And were always deeply tied too. So that taught me a lot. And then also just learning about some of the history of these water infrastructure projects and how they impacted tribal cultural resources, like native burial sites being removed to create the levee systems, the aqueduct project. Native sites being disturbed for "progress", quote, unquote. And how Native people are not asked about that, were not asked if their ancestors could be removed and placed in these museums. And so that's a part of this too, We tend to think of water issues only as agriculture versus fish. And it's so much more than that. It really impacts everything for us about our cultures.
And that's what working for the State gave me. It gave me that perspective to understand how these things happen. And what a process looks like, what a CEQA document looks like, how it’s very much a checkbox. So, I wasn't an appointed official, I was a rank-and-file worker. So, my perspective, I think, is different than people who are at the top of these things. Because we're doing that work to enact these policies that are passed down to us. And so, I learned a lot from that experience. But I also, at a point, I've learned everything I need to know here. I understand how this works now. And I don't feel necessarily comfortable being in an environment that I don't feel that tribal perspectives are listened to seriously, or treated in a way that is respectful.
Faith Kearns
Yeah, thanks for sharing that, Brittani. I think it must be somewhat challenging to almost move into the belly of the beast in terms of really working for all of these state agencies at a work-a-day level, like being a civil servant. So, I kind of wanted to ask you now about what's ahead for you. So, you've just started your professorship at San Diego State. And, you know, I'm curious about the kinds of things you're focused on and interested in today. And, just what's on the horizon as you develop your program there.
Brittani Orona
I am based now and Kumeyaay lands in San Diego. So, it's really nice. I'm actually making a transition, though. So, I'll be joining UC Santa Cruz as a UC president's Postdoctoral Fellow. So, I'll be working for two years on my book manuscript. And San Diego gave me so much and I'm so appreciative to the community here for that, but I am moving forward in a different direction now. So, I'll be working on my book manuscript that focuses on this long history of the Klamath River. It really started with 2002 but has expanded out to looking at all of these water histories on the Klamath and what that looks like. I'm also working right now on an article on these proposed but never realized water infrastructure projects in California that were to flood tribal lands. So, there's Ah Pah dam and then there's also Dos Rios dam, which Dr. William Bauer has written about, he's from the Round Valley tribes, and he has written extensively about California Indian history. So, I was kind of inspired by that work. And so, looking into Ah Pah dam on the Klamath River too, hoping to get more information on that.
But yeah, my major activism work is with the Save California Salmon, where I sit on the board, I'm the board secretary for them. And we do a lot of work around this environmental policy around issues of land back and water back, creating healthy river systems in California, and really supporting the efforts. So, we extend from the Klamath River down into the Bay Delta Sacramento region. So, we work a lot with the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians. So that's a really great thing and we do a lot in that realm. And I should say that the staff, like Executive Director, Regina Chichizola, she does so much and so do many of our interns and staff people like Charlie Reed, who is the educational director and also a Karuk activist who has been an activist since he was a child. So, his father was Ron Reed, who's a very well-known Karuk activist, too. So, that's everything I'm doing. I'm hoping that the book will come out in a few years, there's still quite a bit to think about and look at it in that perspective. But that's where I'm heading now. So, it's exciting.
Sam Sandoval
And please let us know when your book is released. So, we can share it with our audience. And definitely, we will be reading it. We always like to end our conversations with our guests by asking you if there is anything that you want to share with our audience? And how can we support your work, the work that you're doing?
Brittani Orona
Yeah, I think the major thing that I want to share with the audience is, wherever you're at, you're on Indigenous lands. You're on California Native lands. And there is a long history of dispossession and violence that happened to us here in the state. But we survived, and we exist. That's a big thing for me, and that we have been making great strides in protecting our home space. And that being the Klamath River dam removal, that's a huge deal. And so, if you don't know about it, learn more about it. It's a really important event. And support these kinds of grassroots Indigenous led organizations.
I think a lot about Save California Salmon, that's the organization I'm a part of, but also, the Sogorea Te trust that's based in the Bay Area, they do a lot of great work about repatriation of their lands in the Berkeley Oakland area. The Amah Mutsun band in Santa Cruz does a lot of work. Chairman Val Lopez has been quite the amazing advocate for his people. And then of course, the Winnemem Wintu, who do work on the Run for Salmon issues. So, there's so many Native organizations across California that do amazing things and support us in our efforts to get our lands back and find some justice within these systems, I think is really important.