From Quarterlife Crisis to Identity Crisis

I've been thinking a lot about identity lately and what it means when you finally take a look at yourself and realize that you're no longer the person you once thought you were or were always going to be.  For me, this really breaks down into two main facets: where I come from (physically), and where I come from (ethnically).

Being from Hawaii and being native Hawaiian is an incredible thing because the place I grew up is also where I can trace my ethnic identity.  It's where my people come from.  It's where they fought ancient battles and had their religious ceremonies, it's where they were colonized and turned into second-class citizens.  The land itself is intrinsically connected to the native Hawaiian culture, religion, way of life.  And with that identity comes this responsibility -- driven into me by my education at a private boarding school for native Hawaiian kids -- to give back, to serve my community, to make a difference as a native Hawaiian for native Hawaiians.

The thing is...I left.  Ever since I was a little girl I knew I was going to leave one day.  It was something I looked forward to, this opportunity to see the world and experience something so very different from the sand box that was Hawaii to me.  And so when I was 18, I lit out of there as fast as I could and I didn't look back.  I could do that because in my head and my heart, I was always headed back there eventually.  I didn't know when -- it's gone from moving back in my late twenties to early thirties to early forties to when I finally retire -- but I was going to move "home" one day.

And that idea of Hawaii being "home" has been the reason that was possible.  You see, Hawaii is a beautiful place, but it's not an easy place to live as an outsider.  If you don't belong, you're made to feel that way.  It's a very insular community, whether that's admitted or not.  And for the longest time, I knew I belonged to that community, I knew I belonged to Hawaii.  But lately, that's changed.  Over the passed couple of years, little things have been happening to make me acknowledge the fact that...maybe I don't belong to it anymore.  For the most part, those little things have been external, they've been things that have been said to me by others, or the ways others have made me feel.  Because I'm beginning to be treated like an outsider by my own community.  My skin isn't dark enough anymore; my accent isn't thick enough; I'm educated so I think I'm better than everyone; I don't speak my language or practice traditional native Hawaiian culture so I don't understand its needs; I've been gone so long that I don't know Hawaii anymore.  And as recently as yesterday, one of my closest friends treated me like I wasn't native Hawaiian, I hadn't grown up there, I didn't have a clue about how to help with the issues we face, and I therefore had no right to try and serve my community.

And I know I shouldn't let anyone tell me who I am, but sometimes that's easier said than done.

So all of this just got me thinking about who I am now, and if I ever truly want to go home again.  It seems like a simple enough thing -- people move away from home all the time.  But, for me, the question of where I live, where I consider home, is so wrapped up in who I was taught to be, who I thought I was, the responsibilities I was told were mine.

And I just don't know anymore.

news from hawaii

i thought this would be an interesting follow-up to my article, since it recalls a situation extremely similar to this one (and put on, in fact, by the same organization) some years ago. it was a success and, hopefully, this one will be as well. if you are in hawaii, i encourage you to participate. if not, it may just be a good opportunity (if you're interested) to be introduced to the kind of issues native hawaiians face on a daily basis, and to read more about it.

i'll post more regarding the supreme court when it comes out!

Aloha Kakou,

'Ilio'ulaokalani Coalition is gathering at the State Capitol Rotunda at 4 am on February 25th, 2009. (I know most of you are not doing anything at that hour) We encourage all native Hawaiians and supporters of protecting our ceded lands from being sold and/transferred to join us.

We will be sharing our pule, drumming and chanting every hour on the hour from 5 am to 4 pm. At 5 am Honolulu time, the US Supreme Court will be hearing the case brought by Gov. Lingle who is seeking the right to sell our ancestral lands. We need to send our pule to give strength and mana to those that are representing us.

Please bring your pahu, pu kani and/or pu 'ohe to assist in the calling of our people.

Bring your 'ohana, haumana and hoaloha.

Bring your own water, mea 'ai (food), chairs, hali'i (mats) for resting in between.

Kumu hula will be sharing/teaching oli between sessions so you can lend your mana and voices to this effort.

We encouarge you to visit your state legislators in between protocols to encourage them to support bills calling for a moratorium on the sale and transfer of ceded lands. Write and submit your testimony.

Talk story with our kupuna and find out more about these issues.

If you are on the neighbor island or on the continent, gather your own 'ohana and join us in spirit. If you have any questions, can kokua in any way or need more information please call Kaho'onei at 224-8068 or Vicky at 754-2301. And feel free to pass this information on to those you may know that should be participating.

Mahalo nui loa!

Vicky Holt Takamine

Kumu Hula, Pua Ali'i 'Ilima

'Ilio'ulaokalani Coalition

ranting

what could very well have been the worst semester of my entire academic career is now officially over.

i've finished my ethics presentation, my trial, my ethics paper, my fed indian law exam, my writing requirement/article, and work. and i get to go home tomorrow.

life couldn't get much better this second.

so the way this writing requirement/article thing works out is that i originally wrote this paper for comparative law final last spring. because i want to go into indian law, the topic i chose was violence against women. amnesty had just done this huge project on sexual violence against women that really inspired me to do my own research from a more legal perspective, and so my paper was born. once that paper was done, i decided to continue to pursue it as my upper division writing requirement, meaning it would have to be longer and better than the original. at the same time, a law journal at school decided to publish it in their upcoming april/may volume. so i spent nearly every minute over the weekend revising it and adding sections, taking sections out, cite checking, all for my writing requirement. and over the course of the next several months, i'll be working with editors at the journal to bring it up to publication standards.

i should probably be more excited, because i'm finally getting published. but i'm more stressed actually. it's really scary when your thoughts and theories are going to be out there for people to read and quite possibly attack. i'll guess we'll see what happens.

to give a brief summary, native american women are 2.5 times more likely to be raped and/or sexually assaulted than any other woman in the united states. 86% of the time, the perpetrators are non-Native men. unfortunately, tribes have no jurisdiction over non-Indians. that jurisdiction, in most cases, lies with the federal government. the federal government, however, rarely prosecutes perpetrators (we see this in rape/sexual assault cases against non-Native women as well), mainly because of a lack of resources, the distance and time it takes to get to a lot of these remote areas in Indian country (think: reservations for Sioux nation, Alaska Native villages, etc.), and the fact that even the federal government is confused about it's authority to prosecute these perpetrators. compounded with this is the fact that the severity of the crime also matters. one U.S. attorney from michigan can be quoted as saying that in order for this sort of case in Indian country to see any sort of action, "there needs to be stitches, practically a dead body."

so tribes don't prosecute because they can't. the federal government doesn't prosecute because of a lack of resources, a lack of effort, and general overall confusion.

and then you have the states. so in some states, the federal government has decided to chuck it's jurisdictional responsibility off of itself and on to state governments. so in those states, when a Native woman is raped by a non-Native man, the state is the one with exclusive jurisdiction to prosecute. BUT, when the federal government decided to give states this responsibility, they neglected to also give them extra funding, and tribes, as we all know, don't pay state taxes since they live on the res and are quasi-sovereign entities. states now have a much larger jurisdictional area, much more responsibility for a much larger population, and they have to police this increased area with the same small budget. added to that, there's already hostility between tribes and states when it comes to jurisdictional issues, so states rarely choose to prosecute crimes committed by non-Indians against tribal members.

where does this leave Native women? without remedy for crimes against them. and this is not to say that tribes wouldn't prosecute if they had the authority to do so; many tribes have tribal codes which cover these sorts of crimes. but tribes are also limited in the sentences they can impose under the Indian Civil Rights Act. so, for example, if a Native man rapes a Native woman, the tribe can prosecute, but they can only give the perpetrator either one year in jail, a $5000 fine, or both. and a lot of tribes feel that this isn't enough, so they'd prefer to leave even this sort of prosecution up to the federal government (especially because the government can vacate the sentences if they feel it doesn't measure up to federal standards).

and again, Native women get no remedy.

there's a lot more to it, obviously, since i write 50 pages on it, but this is just a really rough and tumble sort of summary.

it's okay if you don't understand it. i had to literally draw myself graphs and pictures until i really got it. like i said, fed. indian law is ridiculously complicated.


OFF TOPIC:
so not to be 13, but i'm one of those who think the twilight movie people should keep the dude who plays jacob instead of recasting him. i'm not saying he's the best actor, or that he can necessarily handle a leading man role, but come on, you let rp have a leading man role... it's kinda shady (not that that isn't the movie biz as a whole...).

AND, maybe you should have thought of all this before casting him in the first place, no? even if there was only the possibility of a sequel. it's called planning ahead, hollywood studio. little jake fans (of which i, for the record, am not) all over the place are attached to him now. first you change directors, now this? ever thought of changing the screenwriter instead?!

oh, and the dude from oth circa-season 2 as jacob is a no-go, imho.

haters.



reminders to myself for future blogs:

• new camera!
• home!
• decision to take the bar
• writing
• book reviews
• new layout?
  

interesting...

a crash course in hawaiian history...or not.

on one hand, i'm glad that a movie is being made, because i don't think a lot of people are aware of what happened to hawaii. and i guess i understand why they had to add a romance that for all intents and purposes never even happened into it. this is hollywood, after all. but on the other hand, i definitely think it could have been compelling enough without the romance.

i guess i can only say that i hope q'orianka kilcher (who, don't get me wrong, i support whole-heartedly as a native actress) plays princess ka'iulani as a strong woman. because i'd like to think she was a strong woman who would have made even more of a difference in the fate of hawaii had she lived.

Native Hawaiian Independence?

Hey Everyone!

Please feel free to cut-and-paste this message and forward it on to family, friends, colleagues, listservs, and organizations you feel would be interested in participating!

I am currently conducting a survey to measure opinions regarding the possible creation of a sovereign government for native Hawaiians. I am hoping that individuals (whether they be Native Hawaiian, Native American, residents of Hawaii, non-residents, or simply interested parties) may be willing to weigh in on this topic, providing thoughts and suggestions as to the pros and cons of federal recognition, indicating whether there is support for the federal recognition of native Hawaiians, and more.

To participate in the survey, please visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=1gyih87QmmxyZJrLqAJA_2bA_3d_3d

The survey has been designed so that you can answer anywhere from one to all of the questions.

As you all know, I am a third year, native Hawaiian student at the University of San Francisco School of Law. My intent is to publish the results of this survey in an article that will be available for consideration by lawyers, judges, legislators and the general public. This article could make a significant contribution in terms of policy making regarding the future recognition of native Hawaiians. I am committed to sharing the results of this survey with Indian country, as well as with the Hawaiian and Native communities at large.

Thank you, in advance, for your participation.

summer update!

i guess i haven't really taken the time to write down my thoughts about the job i'm currently interning at this summer. well...i'll just do that right now, while i'm taking a short break from said internship.

so for the first half of this summer, i'm working at a small law firm in berkeley which represents native american tribes exclusively. i have to say right off the bat that i love this job. it was the perfect choice for me. i mean, the office is close to home, it's really casual (i can wear jeans and slippers, if i want to, though i usually don't), everyone is really nice, they bring their dogs in to work sometimes, they work in the very specialized field that is one of the few parts of law that actually interests me, the hours are flexible (though i'm usually here from 9-6 daily anyway), and it pays. so all in all, it's been fantastic.

i obviously can't talk about the cases i've worked on, but a majority of them have had something or other to do with environmental law, which i love as well. it's surprising how, in practicing tribal law, you gain this cursory knowledge of all other types of laws (i.e. environmental, tax, criminal, constitution drafting, statutory interpretation, etc.). and in a few of the projects (on in particular, see last post), i've gotten really interested and will definitely keep tabs once the internship is over.

so my days usually start around 9-ish. i get to the office and pretty much just jump right in. i'll spend most of my days researching whatever project one of the attorney's has given me, then i'll generally draft up a memo for them to let them know what i've found in my research. as you can imagine, knowing me, the handing in of these memo's tends to be really nerve-wracking each time i do it.

i think i'm probably learned more in these short few weeks than i have in the two years i've been in law school, but i guess that's to be expected. and it's not just the legal stuff either (i.e. what pro se or in pro per means, what a general stream adjudication is, just how important legislative history is since Congress has decided to be perpetually vague, etc.). i think i've learned a lot, particularly in regards to how i operate in a work environment, my strengths and weaknesses, and where i want to be in my future.

for example, i should be a little more confident in my work. generally (and i stress, generally), i tend to do good work. my memo's tend to be thorough and well written, and i'm an average to good researcher. but i need to work more quickly. i feel like i'm producing the work, but i'm doing in rather slowly. and while my researching skills tend to go in my favor, i get really anxious when i can't find the things the attorneys need me to find in the time they need me to find it in, even though we all know its out there and accessible. and then, of course, there's be one or two times when i've turned in a memo and the work i did just wasn't what the attorneys wanted/needed. and they're really nice so they'll tell me in the best way possible that i interpreted the question they gave me slightly different from the one they needed me to answer (this one happened this morning, in regards to this case on water rights - which i admit is really complicated and i know nothing about, but still), or that i didn't find support for the answer, which was an extremely reasonable one, that our client needed so my memo was sort of useless(which happened last week and involved a statute that has so many vague provisions and so little caselaw that i was going crazy just to come up with any arguments at all). but i beat myself up over those times because i really want to do well here and make a good impression (especially because i'm applying for a fellowship here after graduation).

and i get it that i just started and i can't expect to know everything and find everything when i've never practiced law before...but i don't like not being good at what i set out to do. in fact, i hate it. i want to be perfect at this now. i want these people to be like, "wow, she's great!" you know? it's stupid, and i know it's impossible, but when i'm not perfect, or when i'm not producing everything these attorneys need me to produce, i feel incompetent. i can't stand being incompetent. this is a learning experience, yes, but this is also a job. i need to do well at it.

i don't know. i think i've just be feeling like, because of the short time i'm going to be working here (only 2 more weeks!), there's no coming back from doing bad work. there's no time to make up for it and prove that i really am capable and smart or whatever.

and yes, i also realize that i'm paranoid. none of the attorney's have given me the impression that i'm any different than any other summer associate they've ever had. but i'm a worrier. as N. said, i get nervous about everything.

that's why i've listed these things under the "weaknesses" category. i need to work on them. i know.

but all of this has also really made me think about my future as an attorney. do i really want to be an attorney? i think i do...right now. but i know that i don't see myself being one 10 years down the road. am i just wasting my time then? but i can't think of any other job that i would want to do besides what i'm doing. and i'm so close to getting my j.d...it would be stupid to stop now. and again, what would i do with myself??? *sigh* i hate being an adult.

ANYWAY, that's me in a nutshell right now. i'm going home next weekend (just for the weekend) to watch L. get married, and to [hopefully] meet my new niece. then i'm coming back to work to finish out the week, and then i'm officially off for summer! i've finally accepted that i need the break. i'm at the burn-out stage, i can feel it. so i'm taking july and most of august off, heading to ireland for 10 days, and just relaxing. sounds like heaven...

what i want to do with my free time:

join a gym. take yoga. do more hiking. go bike riding. read lots and lots of trashy romance novels. write something...finally. rearrange/redecorate my room. buy new book shelves. visit A. (providing i have the money to do so). hang out with boyfriend and friends more. revamp the JLSC office at school. make some headway on the article i'm writing with prof. K. get a dog (not going to happen). go apartment hunting (probably not going to happen). learn to drive on the freeway (will have to drag myself bodily out of the house to do this). bake more. cook more. take pictures. go camping at yosemite. go to lake tahoe. so much more.....

native issues

Battling Upstream

The tribes on the Klamath know that as the river goes, so go the salmon

Glen Martin

Sunday, April 13, 2008

The Klamath River surges just below Merk Oliver's house. Right now, the water is slightly turbid, clouded and green - perfect for steelhead fishing. The Klamath is the second largest river in California, following the Sacramento, and its watershed encompasses a landscape that seems removed from the rest of the state by time as well as distance. Freeways, the digital economy, the entertainment industry, industrial agriculture - up here they seem like ill-recalled dreams. But what happens on this river affects Lower California greatly. It determines whether commercial fishermen and recreational anglers can take salmon - and whether there'll be fresh wild salmon in markets and restaurants in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Ultimately, it figures into the availability of water for the state's homes and farms.

Oliver's home is several hundred yards from the river's mouth, and from his property you can hear the muffled reports of big combers breaking on the beach. A group of Yurok Indian youths are in the yard, grilling Pacific lampreys - anadromous, eel-like fish with circular mouths filled with sharp radula. Lampreys are highly esteemed by the Yurok, and are gaffed in the winter during low tides, when they skitter across flooded sandbars from the sea to the river. The close proximity to the big surf makes eel snagging a dangerous business, and fatalities from sleeper waves occur with some regularity.

Inside the small, clapboard house, Oliver, a tribal elder, is eating strips of smoked salmon. Oliver is thin but not frail, an exceptionally handsome man with long iron-colored hair and dark eyes glimmering with humor. He is 78, and has lived in this home for 55 years. A wood stove provides radiant heat. On the walls are photos - of family and tribal members, but also of fish: big salmon arrayed on a plank, skewered salmon staked around a fire, a close-up of a lamprey in shallow water, a huge sturgeon hanging from a tree limb. The room smells pleasantly of smoke and fish. A few Yuroks are seated and standing around Oliver, who is ensconced in a comfortable chair near the stove. As he nibbles on the fish - symmetrical, long strips of blood orange chinook, translucent as stained glass - he uses a jack knife to carve a lamprey hook handle from yew wood.

Lamprey hooks are the essential tool for eel fishing. The requisite technique is to chase an eel as it lunges across the sandbar, snag it with the hook, then flip it high up on the beach with a flip of the arm and wrist. Oliver's eel hooks are held in particularly high regard, a set of finished hooks hang on a wire above Oliver's chair, the golden yew wood handles glossy. They are carved with uncanny accuracy to represent a lamprey head, right down to the radula in the mouth and staring, inquisitive eyes. The lamprey is an intelligent fish, say the Yurok; when you run after them with the hook, you can see the alarm in their faces. Somehow, Oliver has captured that sentience in his carving.

The talk is discursive, humorous and mildly chaffing. Oliver asks one of the young men if he is still seeing a Tlingit woman. Tlingits are a southeastern Alaska tribe, accomplished fishers and marine mammal hunters who have long... enjoyed must be the operative verb... a reputation for pride and aggressiveness.

No, the young man says, a half-smile on his lips. She went back north. Oliver nods his head sagely, intent on his carving.

"That was a tough woman," he says after a time. He looks around the room, fixes on a visitor sitting nearby on a stool. "That woman could've whipped three of you," he says. "She was fierce. Ate too much seal meat." There are gentle laughs, and heads nod in agreement.

This is a conversation that has been going on for a long time - eight to ten thousand years, give or take a millennium. That's how long the Yurok, California's largest tribe, have occupied this reach of the Klamath River.

The three main tribes inhabiting the Lower Klamath - the Yurok, Hupa and Karuk - all have maintained strong cultural identities, but the Yurok are perhaps most closely identified with the river. This is because of the location of the ancestral Yurok lands: From the Klamath's mouth and surrounding littoral territories to more than 50 miles upstream. All the Klamath tribes depended on the fish runs, but the river and its coastal nexus assumed particular significance for the Yurok.

The Yurok had access to the migrating fish as soon as they left the sea, when they were at their fattest and brightest. Along with the river - and its salmon, steelhead, lampreys and candlefish - they also had the open ocean to exploit. Their food sources included Dungeness crabs, seaweed, mussels, abalone and periwinkles from the intertidal zone. They carved - still carve - elegant boats from redwood logs, and were redoubtable mariners, hunting marine birds, seals and sea lions and fishing for ling cod and rockfish in the rough inter-coastal waters. They had first rights to the dentalium and abalone shells that were the primary medium of exchange for the Klamath River tribes.

The river was their source of food and wealth, and it was their highway, their means of establishing commerce with other tribes. They were a water people, and still are. The photos on Oliver's walls are religious icons - graphic representations of all that is sacred to the tribe: the fish. Fishing nets and implements. Boats. The River. Because in any conversation with a Yurok, it always comes back to the river. To a very significant degree, the river is the reservation: Tribal holdings extend 1 mile inland along each bank from the mouth of the Klamath more than 40 miles upstream. Most of the land is exceedingly steep, of little utility for anything except conservative and limited forestry. What the tribe has always had, and still has to a significant degree, is the Klamath.

"The river gave us everything we needed to thrive," said Troy Fletcher, a tribal member and resource policy analyst. "It gave us food, wealth, beauty. This was paradise, and we knew it." But like most rivers in North America, the Klamath has suffered. Agricultural water diversions have depleted the river's once mighty flows; four moderately sized hydroelectric dams along the Klamath's main stem - plus a huge dam on its major tributary, the Trinity - have greatly reduced the spawning grounds for anadromous fish. Too, the main stem Klamath dams warm the river's water, encouraging destructive parasites and blooms of toxic blue-green algae. Increasingly, it is clear the Klamath can have the dams or it can have fish, but not both. For years, the Yurok have been at the vanguard in a battle to remove the dams. Allied with them are the other Klamath tribes, commercial fishermen and sport anglers. Opposing them are the dams' operators - which have shifted over the years, as the facilities have changed ownership - and farmers in the Upper Klamath Basin, who divert the river's water for potatoes, grain, alfalfa, horseradish and other crops.

The Klamath always has been a major front in California's water wars, one that has waxed especially hot throughout the Bush administration. In 2001, increased downriver flows by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to sustain salmon were resisted by Basin farmers, who seized irrigation canal head gates in protest. Water availability already was a flashpoint issue on the Klamath because much of the Trinity's flow is diverted south for the state's cities and agricultural lands. The Upper Basin skirmishes heightened the sense among the tribes and their allies that the entire system was being drained, with no regard for the fisheries and the people who depended on them.

In 2002, the Bush administration sided with the farmers and slashed the releases to the river, delivering the water up to the irrigation districts. A massive fish kill on the Klamath followed; the salmon never really recovered from the blow. The incident scarred the collective sensibility of the Yuroks, and it is a subject that still engenders deep anger on the reservation. The situation on the Klamath has far-reaching consequences - all the way down to Monterey. The scarcity of Klamath fish has resulted in multiple truncated commercial salmon seasons for California and Oregon, because the Klamath fish mingle with the nominally more plentiful Sacramento River salmon in the open ocean. As the Klamath goes, then, so go the fortunes of the West Coast's commercial fishing fleet - and the Bay Area availability of fresh wild local salmon. [Some fisheries biologists say it's already too late for salmon in the Lower 48 states. Development, logging, water diversions and dams, they claim, have compromised the spawning streams to an irreparable degree. Oceans warming due to climate change - and perhaps overfishing - are just additional nails in the coffin.

As of this writing, the Pacific Fishery Management Council - the regulatory body that governs West Coast marine fisheries - is poised to proscribe all salmon fishing for the 2008 season. The reason: An unexpected collapse in Sacramento River salmon stocks, which up to now have been relatively robust. If the ban is enacted as expected, it will be the first complete salmon closure for the California coast since commercial fishing began more than 150 years ago. But many fisheries experts maintain Pacific salmon and steelhead can be revived in the continental United States. Further, they say, salmonid restoration will have ancillary benefits. Bill Kier is a Humboldt County consulting biologist who has designed computer programs to track fishery restoration efforts on the Klamath; they are so accurate they have been applied by scientists across the country. Kier acknowledges that the data on southern range Pacific salmon is a mixed bag.

"But I still believe they have a very real fighting chance," he said. "The fact is that caring for salmon results in stabilized watersheds, better water quality, more wildlife - and in general terms, a cleaner environment. If you manage water and land for salmon, it doesn't matter if you're talking about the Klamath or the creek that flows through Mill Valley - life will be better not just for the salmon, but for the people who live in those watersheds, whether they're Native Americans, farmers or suburbanites."

Dams are not the only thing winnowing the Klamath's salmon. A couple of years ago, fluctuating ocean conditions off western North America reduced the production of plankton, the basic building block for all marine food webs. Pacific salmon typically run in two-to-four year cycles, so many biologists think the plankton paucity had a deep and negative effect on the fish populations that are now returning - or rather, not returning - to the rivers.

Oliver, who has been watching the fish runs all his long life, is convinced pollution also is a major factor in the decline.

"Everywhere in the world, people are using these harmful chemicals to do everything, right down to cleaning their toilets and dishes," he said. "The timber companies are spraying their lands with herbicides, and it runs into our rivers. The farmers are using too many pesticides. The whole system is poisoned, and the fish can't take it."

But for the Klamath, most biologists agree, the biggest problem is the dams. The battle over their disposition has raged in the courts, Congress and the media for two decades. Last year, the Yuroks and their allies caravanned to Omaha in an attempt to meet with Warren Buffett; his firm, Berkshire Hathaway, had recently purchased PacifiCorp Power, the company that owns the Klamath hydroelectric dams. Buffett declined to meet with tribal leaders to discuss possible dam removal, claiming he never interfered in the management of subsidiary companies.

He may have been unnerved by a similar trip the Yuroks, Hupas and Karuks took to Scotland in 2004 to engage representatives of Scottish Power, the company that owned PacificCorp at the time. The Scots, who consider themselves a tribal and salmon-loving people, hailed the Indians as kindred souls and heroes, and reviled Scottish Power. Chagrined, Scottish Power executives promised to negotiate a solution with the Klamath tribes. Instead, they sold PacificCorp to Berkshire Hathaway.

After getting stonewalled by Buffett, a certain level of depression settled in along the river. But it now appears that serious negotiations about dam removal and increased flows were not wholly undermined by Buffett's rebuff. Indeed, talks have continued - both with Upper Basin irrigators and PacificCorp. The negotiations, Fletcher said, are at a sensitive stage, and he won't discuss details. But other stakeholders who weighed in on the Klamath for this article indicated a deal is very close. Not everyone is completely thrilled by the prospect. Both commercial fishermen and the Hupa tribe - who live just upriver from the Yurok - have expressed concerns that the settlement now under consideration may not guarantee sufficient flows for the Klamath. "That worries us," said Zeke Grader, the executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations. "On the other hand, we're not going to actively oppose a settlement. We have to have good cops and bad cops on this thing, and the Yuroks are the good cops. We understand that."

Fletcher did say any settlement must be predicated on the removal of the main stem's four dams and adequate downstream flows for the fish. He also noted the tribe never really felt like its fight was with the farmers.

"After (the) 2002 (fish kill), we reached out to them," Fletcher said. "They share a lot of our values. They're rural people, people who are tied to the land, who are spiritual and hard-working. And like us, they face an unstable future. When we started talking to them, we realized, hey - we have a lot in common with these guys."

But there is still PacificCorp. The farmers aside, Fletcher acknowledges it is naive to think any corporation would sign an agreement that results in a significant financial loss simply because other parties consider it the right thing to do.

"We understand this has to make sense for PacificCorp," he said.

Fletcher is built like a logger: big shoulders and arms, and a torso like a keg. Arriving at tribal headquarters near the Klamath's mouth for a recent interview, he walks into the building with his hands blackened from grease and soot. He had just driven over a snowy mountain road from the hamlet of Weitchpec, about 40 miles upriver. En route, he had come across a car engulfed by fire, and had stopped to help its owner put it out. That kind of instinctive willingness to aid a neighbor in trouble is embedded in most rural cultures, but in Yurok society it extends to the landscape itself.

"We believe we were given an obligation by the creator to restore and protect our land and our fisheries," Fletcher said. "It's spelled out in the preamble to the tribal constitution. For us, this goes back to the beginning of time. The challenge right now is extreme. But the obligation has always been there, and it will never change."

As part of meeting that obligation, the tribe imposes fisheries closures and season quotas on its members, even though the Yuroks have the sovereign right to catch as many fish as they want. Not all members are happy with the strictures, though they comply.

One tribal member who feels the regulations should loosen up a little is Tommy Wilson. Orphaned at 13, Wilson went to Atlanta to live with a married sister.

"That big city," he said. "I couldn't hack it. After a couple of months, I came back here, lived on my own, and did what I had to do to stay alive."

That included selling salmon, sturgeon, black bear parts and home-grown marijuana to a friendly man who later turned out to be an undercover U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent. In court, Wilson argued that his sovereign rights allowed him to make a living from tribal lands through any reasonable means.

"I said that we should be able to thrive, not just survive," he said. "That means when I catch a fish or kill a bear, or plant a seed and harvest the plant, I should be able to do with it what I want. We were once a wealthy people - and it was this river that made us rich. I didn't feel the federal government had the right to force bare subsistence on us."

The judge agreed, and threw the case out of court. But despite his entrepreneurial views - by no means unusual among the Yurok - Wilson obeys the tribal fishery regulations without rancor. That, of course, is integral to being a Yurok tribe member in good standing.

"Individually, we don't define ourselves first and foremost by our professions," said Maria Tripp, the tribal chairwoman. "To us, the most important thing is to be Yurok. Work is what you do - Yurok is what you are."

Courtesy among tribal members and hospitality to visitors is written into the Yurok constitution. There isn't any emotive breast-beating or preaching, but everyone is expected to strive for right thinking and right acting. You see this manifest, especially, when it comes to boat building.

The Yuroks have been carving redwood log boats for thousands of years; the craft are exquisite artifacts by any measure, and sacred to the tribe. All the boats are carved by hand without jigs or other mechanical aids, and a long apprenticeship is required before an artisan is allowed to create one without direct supervision. More than a steady hand is demanded of the carver: A clear mind and quiet heart also are requisite.

"No one is allowed to approach a boat if he is angry or upset," said Fletcher. "We believe the boats are living things - we carve then with hearts, lungs and noses. They can be affected by bad thoughts and feelings."

On a large, grassy lot in front of tribal headquarters, tribal member Dave Eric Severns has been carving a boat every day, up to 12 hours a day, since Thanksgiving.

"It's not something you just - do," Severns said, slowly peeling away long strips of straight-grained wood with a gouge. He moves slowly and talks softly, seemingly out of deference to the boat. "You live it. I work on this boat all day, way into the night. And when I go to bed, I still see it in my thoughts. It stays with me in my dreams, and then I wake up early in the morning and come back out here."

This is the first boat Severns has carved on his own, after working for six years under his mentor, George Wilson. It's about 20 feet long. The log it is carved from was more than 5 feet in diameter, and weighed about 1,600 pounds. When the boat is finished, Severns said, four men will be able to lift it and move it with ease.

"This is a river boat," Severns said, moving his hand along the smooth, brick-red gunwales. "The ocean boats were up to 60 feet long and 12 feet wide. Eighty years ago, Yuroks used the ocean boats to deliver milk from Klamath dairies up to Crescent City (about 20 miles). They were incredibly seaworthy craft."

There is a knob in the bow section of the boat that is meant to represent its heart; a small black stone rests on it. The stone, says, Severns, is a lock that keeps the boat secure.

"Boats had primary owners, but anyone could use one if they needed it - unless there was a rock on the heart," Severns said. "Someone from the tribe comes by here and sees the rock on this boat's heart, they know it isn't supposed to be moved."

Up at Oliver's house, the lampreys have finished cooking on the charcoal grill. Nearby, a couple of young men check conditions in a large smokehouse. It is full of lampreys; they hang like golden stalactites from racks near the rafters. One of the Yuroks cuts off a slab of grilled eel, rolls it in a slice of white bread and hands it to a visitor. The meat is dense, rich, oily and incredibly sweet. Oliver walks among the youths, evaluating the cooking techniques, sampling eel, essaying humorous comments. Sometimes he simply looks at the river for extended periods of time. Tripp says Oliver and other elders are the tribe's bedrock assets, keeping the people anchored to their place in the world.

"When my friends and I were going to college (at nearby College of the Redwoods and Humboldt State University), Merk was always coming around to feed us with traditional foods," she said. "He was out of time - connected to the old, old ways. He kept us grounded, made us understand who we are and where we came from."

A map of the Klamath Basin area

The fog over the Klamath Valley

The toxic algae which grows in the warm waters of the reservoirs behind the Klamath dams. This algae has been shown to be dangerous to people and pets who play in or drink the water from the Klamath River, and is probably dangerous to the Klamath fish and those who eat it.

Dead fish.

More dead fish.

FYI: Kamehameha Schools

Kelly Hu on Doe v. Kamehameha.

This is old, since the case has now been settled, but I figured that this is a clearer way of explaining why I'm always ranting about my high school.

fellow natives from aotearoa

children, this is why we are proud to be pacific islanders.



go all blacks.