Amy Cordalis

Amy Bowers Cordalis is a Yurok Tribe attorney and Indigenous advocate whose work focuses on protecting the Klamath River and restoring its salmon ecosystem, including advocacy for removing four dams.

Four Dam Removals Reconnected the Klamath River and Revived Its Salmon Run

After the Klamath River’s salmon runs fell to five percent of their historical abundance, Yurok advocate Amy Bowers Cordalis argued that removing four dams was necessary to restore the river and sustain Yurok life. She says the removal—the largest dam-removal project in US history—became possible through tribal rights, litigation and a coalition of Indigenous nations and other allies. Three days after the first dam breach, salmon moved upstream past historical spawning grounds they had not reached in a hundred years.

TEDOct 12, 20265 min read