What does it take to reawaken a Native language?

November 28, 2022.Reading time 10 minutes.

This is a question that hardworking, dedicated tribal staff throughout California and many other regions are living every day. The ongoing efforts of my friends and colleagues Julian Lang in Karuk territory, Loren Bommelyn in Tolowa Dee-Ni, Nakia Zavalla in Samala[Chumash], and Jennifer Malone for the Wukchumni, are accompanied by hundreds of other people in […]

Why a trio of articles on tribes + fire = essential reading

September 1, 2022.Reading time 8 minutes.

Wildfires are a permanent part of the landscape. Climate change – and a host of “positive” ecological feedback loops (a positive loop is one that is self-reinforcing; a negative loop indicates reactions that move in the opposite direction) – mean that things will only get worse, not better, unless we enact radical changes. We have […]

The Language of Silence

August 11, 2022.Reading time 21 minutes.

Why America’s oldest lake is in so much trouble Recently during a lunchtime conversation with a well-read, well-traveled friend, I mentioned Clear Lake. “Where’s that?” she asked. “California’s largest lake?” I responded, doing a quick calculation of how much contextual information I needed to share. “It’s in Lake County, a few hours from here. I […]

The Fight for an Invisible Fish

May 23, 2022.Reading time 8 minutes.

Allow me to introduce you to fish you’ve likely never seen in the wild. The Clear Lake hitch, the California salmon, the Pacific lamprey, the Owens Lake pupfish, the surf fish. These fish, ranging from tiny minnows to toothy eels to historical behemoths providing nitrogen fertilizer to forests hundreds of kilometers from waterways where the […]

Wildfires affect California tribes in myriad ways: some more visible than others

December 26, 2021.Reading time 10 minutes.

In my most recent article for PBS Southern California, KCET News, “California tribes support each other and seek inclusion in State wildfire response,” I relate how different tribes across Northern and Southern California address ongoing wildfire emergencies that impact tribal members living on tribal trust lands (reservations and rancherias). Flames were racing towards the Big […]