Sammy Gensaw: The restorative revolution and a river of reciprocity

 Sammy Gensaw will join us on September 30, 2026, for our live Zoom event, The Big Fix: Lessons from Two Large-Scale Restoration Projects. Ahead of the event, we’re revisiting this inspiring keynote address, in which he discusses the importance of activism and preserving the natural world. Register today to attend The Big Fix.

In this keynote address delivered at the Bioneers Conference in 2024, Sammy Gensaw, a dynamic young Yurok leader, shares some of his experiences working for ecological and cultural revival along the Klamath River, central to his people’s identity and livelihood. He discusses how the epic struggle to remove destructive dams required drawing deeply from ancestral wisdom, modern science, and cutting-edge activism, and how Indigenous leadership can play a central role in rekindling our connections to land and water and ushering in a restorative, resilient future for all of us.

Sammy Gensaw is a leader in environmental and cultural preservation in his Yurok community. Director of the Ancestral Guard, a nonprofit focused on teaching traditional fishing and farming methods to Indigenous youth, his approach is deeply rooted in food sovereignty, cultural preservation, community resilience, and self-sufficiency. Gensaw’s activist journey began in his early teens with the Klamath Justice Coalition, the largest dam removal and river restoration project in history, and his contributions to restoring Native American foodways are featured in the documentary film Gather.

Watch the keynote here: