River of Renewal Benefit Screening to Build Public Support for Dam Removal

P R E S S R E L E A S E

For Immediate Release: May 11 , 2009

For more information.email:
Stephen Most, author of River of Renewal, Myth and History in the Klamath Basin and writer/producer of the film, River of Renewal, smost [at] earthlink.net

RIVER OF RENEWAL BENEFIT SCREENING TO BUILD PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR DAM REMOVAL


San Francisco, CA –River of Renewal, a film describing the Klamath Basin tribes’ struggle to establish fishing rights, restore river flows, and remove dams that block salmon from hundreds of miles of spawning habitat, will have a benefit screening at the Delancey Street Theater in San Francisco on May 29 at 6 pm. This 54-minute documentary won the Best Documentary Feature Award at the American Indian Film Festival last November.

Since then, it has appeared at numerous film festivals, universities and other venues, including fund-raisers for conservation organizations. The filmmakers' outreach plan includes a national PBS broadcast that will build public support for dam removal and habitat restoration in the Klamath Basin. The goal of the Delancey Street benefit is to cover the costs of having the national broadcast.

River of Renewal follows Jack Kohler, a self described ‘sidewalk Indian’ who grew up in San Francisco. The audience follows Jack on a journey of self discovery in the land of his Karuk and Yurok ancestors. Jack learns not only about the ancient cultural traditions of his people but also their modern day struggles to defend tribal rights and the Klamath River.

“The story moves from the fish wars of the 1970s to the current fight to remove Klamath River dams,” explains Kohler. “I hope audiences learn some of what I learned on my journey. Native People are still here performing their ceremonies, speaking their languages, fighting for their rights and making progress.”

Using interviews, archival sources, and contemporary cinematography, River of Renewal documents acts of protest and civil disobedience by Klamath Basin stakeholders whose ways of life are jeopardized by the decline of the region's wild salmon. These dramatic scenes include "protest fishing" by gillnetters in response to a federal ban on Indian fishing in 1978, the Bucket Brigade by Klamath Project farmers to protest a water cut-off complying with the Endangered Species Act in 2001, a commercial fisherman's demonstration in San Francisco in response to the curtailment of the salmon fishing season in 2006, and guerrilla theater by tribal members who crashed Warren Buffett's shareholders' party in May, 2008 to protest the refusal of Pacificorp, a subsidiary of his company Berkshire Hathaway, to agree to the removal of Klamath River dams.

In November, 2008, Pacificorp signed an agreement in principle with the governors of California and Oregon and the Secretary of the Interior to remove the four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath. But it delays dam removal until 2020, and numerous political and financial hurdles must be cleared before then. Public concern about the condition of the Klamath River and the fate of its wild salmon species can create pressure for a binding agreement with better terms, one that will bring about the largest river restoration ever achieved.
Seats for the benefit are limited. To RSVP, email harriet [at] moss.net

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