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Fish & Fire: Integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Western Science in Watershed Restoration

Kenneth Brink, Vice-Chair
Karuk Tribe
Happy Camp, CA

Toz Soto
Karuk Tribe
Somes Bar, CA

For millennia, the Karuk Tribe of northern California has stewarded the Klamath River through cultural practices rooted in ceremony, ecological observation, and relational responsibility to salmon and fire. Today, the Karuk Fisheries Program and Department of Natural Resources are blending Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) with Western science to guide large-scale habitat restoration, fisheries recovery, and landscape resilience in the Klamath Basin.

This two-hour Special Session explores how Indigenous knowledge systems and contemporary restoration science intersect to shape watershed recovery efforts. Through cultural context, applied case studies, and moderated discussion, presenters will examine how ceremony, fire, and fisheries science collectively inform habitat restoration and long-term stewardship

Session Structure

  1. Framing Context (20–30 minutes)

  • The Karuk Tribe’s cultural relationship to salmon

  • Pikiavish (World Renewal Ceremonies) and ecological governance

  • The First Salmon Ceremony and Brush Dance

  • Fire as a traditional ecological restoration tool

  • Cultural protocols guiding harvest and habitat management

2. Applied Restoration Case Studies (30–40 minutes)

  • The role of the Karuk Tribe in Klamath River dam removal

  • Floodplain restoration and habitat reconnection

  • Reintroduction of cultural burning to restore landscape biodiversity

  • Integration of fisheries monitoring and habitat assessment

3. Bridging Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Western Science (20–30 minutes)

  • Points of alignment between TEK and modern restoration science

  • Differences in frameworks, metrics, and definitions of success

  • How salmon recovery is measured culturally and scientifically

  • Adaptive management informed by both ceremony and data

4. Moderated Discussion & Audience Dialogue (20–30 minutes)

An interactive conversation with session leaders exploring how restoration practitioners can meaningfully integrate Indigenous stewardship principles into planning, design, monitoring, and governance.

About Toz Soto
Toz Soto is the Fisheries Program Manager for the Karuk Tribe where he has spent the past 22 years working in the Klamath River managing the program for the tribe. He studied fisheries at Humboldt State University. He’s lived most of his life in the Klamath Mountains and Karuk Homelands in northern California where he enjoys steelhead fishing from his drift boat, especially with his family. He appreciates the Klamath River because of its diversity, remoteness and never misses an opportunity to put on a wet suit and count Spring Run Chinook Salmon in the Salmon River. He’s spent many years working on the Klamath Dam removal process and looks forward to a day, not too far in the future, when Spring Run Chinook will occupy the upper Klamath River Basin again.

 

About Kenneth Brink
Most recently, I am the elected Vice-Chairman for the Karuk Tribe. I will be serving our people for a 4-year term, holding an office at our Headquarters in Happy Camp, CA. Previously I was working for the Fisheries Department of the Karuk Tribe for over 22 years. During this time I was honored to host a variety of youth, co-workers, interns, as well as training opportunities. For a period of two years I also worked for the United States Forest Services (USFS) fisheries department in Happy Camp. Throughout my career, I have developed and sustained working relationships with internal and external government officials, providing onsite training, field assessments, and field demonstrations. Bringing new and old concepts to light and training additional generations our way of life regarding fisheries is important to me. Exercising and practicing my cultural beliefs and practices has led to a lifelong goal of passing knowledge down to the future generations.