News you can use about your foodshed!
Klamath Tribal Food Sovereignty News
Spring 2021
In this issue:  
  • Update from the May 2021 Karuk Agroecosystem Resilience Workshops
  • Community news, events & resources
Stories from May 2021 Karuk Agroecosystem Resilience Workshops
Many thanks to Dan Sarna-Wojcicki for this story
At the end of May, the Karuk and UC Berkeley team behind the Karuk Agroecosystem Resilience Initiative: xúus nu’éethti convened a multi-day workshop to share and receive feedback on initial findings from the multiple research and outreach activities conducted through the Initiative since 2018. In order to ensure our research findings and tools developed are relevant to the Tribe and the tribal community, our research team sought feedback from key Karuk Department of Natural Resources (KDNR) collaborators including KDNR managers and staff, Karuk Council representatives, leading community members, and Cultural Practitioners. The first day of the workshop was held virtually and provided partners an overview and status update on research objectives, including the Agroecosystem Condition Assessment and the Long Term Land Use/Land Cover Change Analysis for focal species, plots and patches in management areas within Karuk Aboriginal Territory. The team also demonstrated and received feedback on varoius tools developed through the Initiative, such as 360 immersive visualization platforms and tours, a mobile Citizen Science Climate Application, Climate Data Portal and Drone Imagery.
Our three in-person days involved COVID-safe field visits to Agroecosystem Condition Assessment plots and patches in Karuk Aboriginal Territory. Getting out to these sites and spending time in-person with one another generated rich conversations and feedback on methods for monitoring and managing Karuk cultural food and fiber species at specific locations, as well as development of more general strategies for enhancing the resilience of cultural agroecosystems to climate change. Plus, it was simply a welcome change to be on the land together as an expanded team for the first time since November 2019! Key KDNR and community collaborators - Bill Tripp; Analisa Tripp; Francisca Tripp; Lisa Hillman; and Leaf Hillman, along with special guests - Buster Atterbury, Karuk Tribal Chairman and Alma Bickford, Director of the Karuk Education Department - were able to contribute knowledge and insight about management, policy and programmatic solutions for supporting Karuk eco-cultural revitalization and agroecosystem resilience. We also enjoyed the company of David Ackerly, Dean of UC Berkeley’s Rausser College of Natural Resources who came up particularly to meet KDNR staff and get to know the collaborative, multi-year efforts of the Initiative. In the coming months, our research team will continue to integrate workshop feedback, revise survey protocols, and work to continue to support KDNR and broader community efforts to study and steward cultural agroecosystems. Our major culminating output, our “Resilience Report,” will be finalized this summer or fall. Keep an eye out for that!
Photo credit: D. Sarna Wojcicki & M. Doshi
Local news
Drought & dams of the Klamath
The compounded drought in the Klamath River Basin seems to take on new twists every week. While the furor over potential conflict between water-users has quieted in recent weeks, the drought continues to “upend life” for Tribes and communities up and down the River. At the beginning of June, the Karuk Tribe declared an emergency situation in the face of the substantive fish kill, and the intersecting impacts of a continued inequitable, overly-ambitious water management system combined with climate change impacts continue to seriously threaten the health and wellbeing of the salmon, birds, and people of the region. At the same time, longer-term plans for healing in the Klamath were put solidly into motion last month as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved the transfer of the license for four Klamath dams to the Klamath River Renewal Corporation, with co-licensees California and Oregon states. The dams will come down!

California protects Klamath River Spring Chinook!
The Karuk Tribe and the Salmon River Restoration Council commended the June decision of California Fish and Game Commission in listing the spring Chinook as endangered. This corroborates long-held knowledge by the Tribe of the uniqueness of this species and how they deserve individualized protection.  
Local events & happenings
Thursday's Happy Camp Farmers Market pushes back timing
To beat the heat, the Happy Camp Farmers Market on Thursdays has pushed back their hours! The market will be set up at Gail Zink Park from 6-8pm to #beattheheat. Go enjoy!

Orleans "Art in the Garden" event on Tuesday July 20th.
The Mid Klamath Watershed Council will host its second "Art in the Garden" event at Orleans Elementary School this coming Tuesday, July 20th from 9AM-noon. Join for this family friendly event, people of all ages encouraged! Projects include: painting signs, garden shed mural, solar oven cornbread, art rocks, pressed flowers, beautifying the garden! If possible, please bring gloves. Visit their Facebook page for more information.
FOOD SECURITY CONNECTIONS
NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES 
Missed an issue? See what your Karuk-UCB Food Security team has been doing here.

MID KLAMATH FOODSHED FACEBOOK PAGE
Keep in touch! Find upcoming events, see photos, ask questions, let your neighbors know what's going on in the foodshed! All that and more on the Foodshed Facebook page.

MKWC FOODSHEDS WEBSITE
Wondering what, where and when to plant? Visit the Mid Klamath Watershed Council's Foodshed for excellent free information on the vegetables and fruits that grow best here, along with planting calendars, soil, and disease prevention advice.

SÍPNUUK DIGITAL LIBRARY 
The Karuk Tribe's Sípnuuk Digital Library, Archives and Museum supports food security and sovereignty with information on our regional food security issues, solutions and knowledge of traditional and contemporary foods and materials. Easy to use and open to all!
This work is supported by the AFRI Resilient Agroecosystems in a Changing Climate Challenge Area Grant # 2018-68002-27916 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.