New Film Follows Indigenous Teens Kayaking the Klamath River After Dam Removal

Last summer, 28 Indigenous teenagers became the first in a century to kayak the full length of the Klamath River — traveling more than 300 miles from the river’s headwaters in southern Oregon to the Pacific Ocean in Northern California.

Their journey follows decades of advocacy by Klamath River tribes to remove a series of dams that had reshaped the river since the early 1900s, disrupting salmon runs, water quality and cultural practices tied to the river. In 2024, four of those dams were removed in what is considered the largest dam removal project in U.S. history, allowing the river to flow freely for the first time in generations.

“Before I came on this trip, my uncle was saying bye to me, and he said, ‘Go be historic,’” said 16-year-old paddler and Karuk tribe member Tasia Linwood. “This moment has been prayed for.”

The teens — ages 13-20 — embarked on a month-long expedition documented by producer and Karuk tribe member Jessie Sears in the Oregon Public Broadcast film First Descent: Kayaking the Klamath.

Sears and paddler Tasia Linwood spoke with The California Report Magazine about what it took to make the journey — and what it means to move through a river that is still finding its way back.

On finding the story 

Sears: I had heard of the first descent when I was actually on the Klamath filming the removal of the dams. I had heard through the grapevine that kids were training to kayak the Klamath, and I just thought that was going to be so cool. I hope that actually happens.

On paddling the river

Linwood: I wanted to do this because of my family, my parents, my grandparents, my great-grandparents, and, of course, everyone who didn’t get to see the river undammed and everyone who fought for the river to be undammed, and for my younger siblings to have someone to look up to.

I trained for about two years from 2023 to 2025. Part of the preparation for this was a semester-long academy program. For six weeks, I was in Chile kayaking and going to school down there and I did that twice, once my 8th grade year and then once my freshman year. I think I was as prepared and as ready as I could have been.

On reconnecting with the river

Linwood: I grew up having ceremonies along the Klamath River … and dipping my feet in every once in a while. The river runs through my cousin’s backyard and now runs through my backyard. So, it was closely tied into my childhood.

But the Klamath was so dirty when I was a kid … and it wasn’t somewhere that we really swam in all the time.

Sears: I was born and raised in Portland, and so I felt really disconnected from the river for most of my life until I had heard that the dams were being removed. I was able to, as a filmmaker, film the dams, the deconstruction of them and then to come back later and film the first descent.

It was really remarkable to see the difference and how the river was already starting to heal. With that, I felt like I was also beginning to heal in a way.

On what the journey demanded

Linwood: The 19.2-mile day was definitely physically challenging. It was hard. It was painful. It was long and tiring.

Sears: The most difficult day to film was actually also that same day because we were actually in a canoe and … canoes are not as fast as kayaks, so keeping up on a 19.2-mile day in a canoe is very, very difficult. And then when we got to the lake, it felt like an ocean. I thought I was prepared. We were not prepared. There was water coming over the sides of the canoe, splashing on the camera gear. It was really rough.

On moving through a changed landscape

Linwood: There’s definitely some places where you could see exactly where [the dam] was. I think that’s just so powerful. It’s like, wow, there was this giant, giant structure right here that would have been blocking my path, and I just get to go through it like it never existed.

Sears: You can kind of tell that the dam was once there; you had to really look. And it was cool to see because I was standing on top of that dam not too long ago, and to just be going through [the river] like, oh my gosh, you almost can’t even tell.

On reaching the ocean

Linwood: It’s so hard to put words to emotions. It was amazing and there were so many people there to support us, and we had done it, and it was so powerful and emotional, coming to an end of that journey, and an end to everything we had prepared for. It was definitely a little bittersweet.

On what they carry forward

Linwood: I learned so much from so many different people, and I met so many people from a lot of different places and a lot different backgrounds, and so I got to hear a lot of different people’s perspectives on how other people see the world. I think it’s so important to continue to listen, even to people who are younger than you.

Sears: Most of what I learned was actually from the kayakers who are doing something greater than themselves. And it just made me recognize that making films that center Indigenous communities is definitely what I need to be doing. And I hope that audiences can watch this and recognize indigenous success while also understanding what it takes to get there.