They tried to tame the Klamath River. They filled it with toxic algae instead.
The Klamath River (Bob Wick/Bureau of Land Management/)Jeremy Deaton writes for Nexus Media, a nonprofit climate change news service. You can follow him @deaton_jeremy. This story originally featured on Nexus Media News.Read more on the perils of America’s aging dam infrastructure here.The Karuk people define themselves by the Klamath River, just as the Romans did the Tiber or the Egyptians did the Nile. The word “Karuk” means “upstream,” a reference to the waterway, which runs from Klamath Lake in southern Oregon, across the mountains of northern California—where the Karuk live—before emptying into the Pacific Ocean. Every year, at the end of summer, the Karuk celebrate the river, the mountains and the forest in their “making the world” ceremonies.“These ceremonies are to remind us of our responsibility to take care of our place,” says Josh Saxon, executive director of the Karuk tribe. “We believe that we’re related to everything, so we have a...