When the largest dam removal in history begins, a group of Indigenous youth learns to whitewater kayak in hopes of becoming the first people to paddle the restored river from source-to-sea. As the young paddlers reconnect sections of the Klamath River that have not flowed freely for more than a century, they use kayaking to galvanize a movement while reconciling a stolen history and building a future of hope and healing.

In 2022, 13 Indigenous youth began learning to whitewater kayak with the goal of leading the first descent of the Klamath River once the dams were removed. In 2023, 16 new Indigenous students joined the program with the same goal. "Bring the Salmon Home" gives a sneak peek to this wild journey as the team trains for their descent in 2025.

In 2024, the largest dam removal in history will be completed on the Klamath River in California. A group of Native youth plan to be the first to descend the full length of the river once it is free-flowing. To prepare for the descent, the youth are training to become expert whitewater kayakers. This video follows them on their 3-day training journey down the Deschutes River in Oregon.

A powerful overview of what the largest dam removal project in the world means for the Klamath River Basin and the excitement of the Paddle tribal Waters Indigenous youth kayak team that is training to descend the restored river in 2025.

A teaser for the upcoming short film on how whitewater kayaking and cultural exchange are being used as river conservation tools in one of the most threatened biodiversity hotspots in the Amazon, the Beni River Basin. In 2022, a group of Indigenous youth from nine communities from North and South America gathered in solidarity in the Bolivian Amazon to bear witness to the region's story and learn from each other.

"Fluye Libre" is a collaboration between Peruvian artists Pedro Grandes, Doris Huancho, and Bolivian youth activists Erick Spiers and Claudia Limpias. The song is an appeal to protect the Bolivian headwaters of the Amazon River, the Beni, Tuichi, and Quiquibey Rivers threatened by gold mining and megs hydroelectric development. It advocates for the rights of nature and of Indigenous peoples to exist freely and without threat of destruction. This song and video was facilitated by the Amazonian Rivers Initiative under the nonprofit Ríos to Rivers.

In 2023, Ríos to Rivers' youth participants produced the powerful song "Fluye Libre" and its accompanying music video with Peruvian artist Pedro Grandes. The song champions the protection of the Beni River Basin in the Bolivian Amazon, currently threatened by aggressive gold mining that poisons Indigenous communities with mercury, and by mega-dam proposals that would flood one of the world's most critical biodiversity hotspots, Madidi National Park. This film was made as part of Ríos to Rivers' Amazonian Rivers Initiative, a multiyear program to empower young Indigenous leaders to protect the rights of their peoples, lands, and waters.

This short film follows the program, Kayakimün ("Kayak Knowledge" in Mapuche language Mapudungun), a powerful initiative created by Mapuche-Pehuenche community members in Chile in collaboration with the non-profit Ríos to Rivers.

A teaser for the short film on the Ríos to rivers program Kayakimün ("Kayak Knowledge" in Mapuche language Mapudungun)