July 4, 2026
Op-ed by Phillip Williams, Army Veteran, CA Yurok Tribal Council member
I’m a proud council member of the Yurok Tribe, the largest Native tribe in California, and an army veteran. It’s in our culture to protect our community. That’s one reason why my fellow brothers and sisters from tribes across our nation serve in the U.S. military at five times the national average. We’ve fought in every major U.S. conflict since the Revolutionary War.
The Yurok Tribe has been working for over twenty years with research partners and officials at the local and state levels to return lands back to our stewardship, which amongst many other things, will improve the health of Blue Creek, our crucial cold-water lifeline to the fish of the Klamath River. Finally last year, this key 47,000-acre land reclamation more than doubled our lands. We are now proud stewards of 103,097 acres of ancestral lands. We utilize traditional ecological knowledge, such as controlled burns and invasive species removal, to restore the ecosystem, revive salmon runs, and secure ceremonial gathering spaces.
Our land is a part of us; our ancestors reside there. Our rivers flow with us and through us. Our forests, rivers, lands and prairies provide habitat for coho and Chinook salmon, marbled murrelet, northern spotted owl, Humboldt marten and now, through our restoration program—condors. Salmon, and other fish, have sustained us. Traditionally we have been known as Salmon people. For generations we’ve always viewed ourselves as guests who need to help sustain the world around us. That world provides for us and we are grateful. We protect our people and our ancestral lands for our futures. We know we are connected to the earth, air, and water.
While many relearn these lessons, as I have done, these truths reside in our souls. To serve and protect is what we do. When the forest, rivers, or lands suffer, so do we. Dams blocked our salmon from spawning, and shifted how our river flows. We got rid of them. The lumber industry cut our forests and we endured a century of commercial logging that polluted the land. They stripped millions of acres of forest, causing massive erosion that choked out natural salmon habitats while spreading chemicals on reservation lands. Miners and their brutal methods of extracting gold and other metals’ left their scars and chemicals. We fought what these corporations were doing and saw them leave.
Our Yurok Tribe Environmental Program (YTEP) found anthropogenic pollutants stemming from forestry plots, plywood mills, and legacy mining sites. The tribe actively monitors hazards from former timber/plywood mills, fire suppression zones, and active or legacy mines that impact our reservation waterways. Testing has detected biotoxins, dioxins, trace metals, and Persistent Organic Pollutants chemicals like PCBs, PBDEs in the Klamath River water and traditional food sources. PFAS have been detected too. YTEP also identified materials like asbestos and lead-based paint and handles localized clean-ups and solid waste management.
What I’m deeply concerned about is the possibility of the Toxic Substances Control Act losing its power to control toxic chemicals. TSCA gives the Environmental Protection Agency the power to control many toxic chemical substances before they are behind in our land, water and buildings when these industries leave. If TSCA is weakened, taking away EPA controls — toxic chemicals could return without limitations.
We know toxic chemicals seep into the ground and waterways spreading destruction and deadly substances everywhere they go. We will always be committed to protecting our lands, our water and air for our people. We share this mission with the original EPA. The United States of America has the responsibility to ensure a strong TSCA continues to protect us all.
