Round Valley Tribal Council Secretary Jill Acosta, Round Valley Tribal Council Member Susan Henao, Round Valley Vice President Neil Britton Sr., Round Valley President Joe Parker, Yurok Chairman Joseph L. James, Yurok Tribal Council Member Toby Vanlandingham and Yurok Tribal Council Member Ryan Ray. Photo: Yurok Tribe.
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Press release from the Yurok Tribe:
In
an historic milestone, two sovereign Indian tribes have joined
together to reverse decades of fisheries decline on the Eel River,
the second longest river in California. On October 28, 2025, the
Round Valley Indian Tribes and the Yurok Tribe met at the Wildlands
Conservancy’s Eel River Canyon Preserve and signed a Treaty of
Friendship that pledges their joint efforts to restore the Eel River.
“The
Eel River is our lifeblood and when it suffers, our people
suffer,” said
Round Valley Indian Tribes President Joe Parker after signing the
agreement within the ancestral territory of the Tribes on the Eel
River. “We are pleased to join with the Yurok Tribe, which is the
leader in restoring the Klamath River through dam removal,
revegetation, and habitat restoration,” he added. “With
this partnership, we hope all Native tribes around the world will be
motivated to stand up and fight for their culture and rights,” he
noted.
“We
are honored to contribute the extensive knowledge and experience we
have gained through Klamath River dam removal with our relatives from
the Round Valley Indian Tribes,” added Joseph L. James, the
Chairman of the Yurok Tribe. “Together, we are uplifting our
communities and forging a new path that aligns with our shared
cultural values.”
The
Treaty of Friendship will facilitate sharing of knowledge and
expertise between the two tribes, and it will foster collaboration on
restoration projects on the Eel River. The Potter Valley
Hydroelectric Project, whose dams block several hundred miles of
critical fishery habitat, is being decommissioned by PG&E.
These ecological impairments have contributed to the decline of
imperiled salmon, steelhead, and Pacific lamprey populations. The
removal of these dams creates opportunities to restore the Eel River
to the healthy, free-flowing river it once was. The experience of the
Yurok Tribe in restoring salmon runs on the Klamath River will inform
tribal efforts on the Eel River to achieve the same result.
“Based on the Klamath River and hundreds of other dam removals
across the United States, we expect the Eel River to heal quickly
once the river runs free,” said Chairman James.
The
Round Valley Indian Tribes have lived along the Eel River since time
immemorial. Like the Yurok Tribe, the Round Valley Indian
Tribes have suffered incalculable cultural, subsistence, economic,
and community injuries from the collapse of the fishery. With dam
removal and comprehensive restoration efforts planned for the
watershed, the tribes and fisheries experts expect native fish runs
to gradually recover. The Treaty of Friendship brings the Yurok
Tribe into this process as a partner with the Round Valley Indian
Tribes. For both Tribes, the Treaty is a tangible expression of
their traditional and cultural ties to rivers that have sustained
them from the beginning of their existence.