Dylan Aubrey & Brook M. Thompson
Yurok Leaders in Indigenous-Led Restoration, Traditional Knowledge, and Cultural Revitalization
Yurok tribal members Brook Thompson and Dylan Aubrey speak about their nuanced journeys to becoming who they are today, the historic Klamath River dam removal, and how Indigenous-led restoration is key for effective, holistic water management, bridging Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge with Western science.
Brook Thompson, whose name means "small stream," literally grew up at the mouth of the Klamath River where it meets the ocean. A civil and environmental engineer with degrees from Portland State and Stanford, she is now pursuing her PhD at UC Santa Cruz studying salmon and Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge. But her deepest education comes from a lifetime on the river: witnessing the devastating 2002 event where over 60,000 salmon died, learning from tribal elders and fishers whose daily knowledge exceeds any classroom understanding, and recognizing that the Klamath River is not a resource but a relative. Her children's book "I Love Salmon and Lampreys" shares this worldview and her personal story with the next generation. She emphasizes that sustainability requires thinking in multi-generational timeframes rather than re-election cycles.
Dylan Aubrey is a Yurok storyteller, U.S. Air Force veteran (Airman of the Year, 2018), filmmaker, and entrepreneur dedicated to amplifying Indigenous voices. He serves as Public Outreach Lead for the Yurok Tribe's Fisheries Department, directing films and writing about ecological restoration and traditional ecological knowledge along the Klamath River. As an Indigenous Governance & Knowledge Systems Fellow with Home for Humanity's UN-recognized One Home Journey and founder of Drum Circle News and Indigenous Media Company LLC, Dylan creates media celebrating Indigenous leadership and intertribal unity. Named 2025 Young Yurok Business Leader of the Year, his native name Kuuyette (coyote) reflects his role as a communicator building platforms that restore cultural pride and promote well-being for Indigenous peoples worldwide.
Together, Brook and Dylan illuminate the complex work of translating Indigenous worldviews into Western systems. The Yurok language contains active verbs rather than static nouns. You don't say "this is a piece of paper" but "it's being a piece of paper," reflecting a worldview where everything is an active participant in relationships. English lacks the context to express concepts that are fundamental to sustainability: multi-generational thinking, reciprocal relationships with land, and the understanding that when you take care of your neighbor, you take care of yourself.
The Yurok Tribe now leads restoration work through programs conducting riparian revegetation, in-channel excavation, and channel remodeling. This work changed state law, creating pathways for government-to-government contracts with tribes. Projects on the Scott River, Trinity River, and Prairie Creek demonstrate innovative approaches in watershed healing.
But the real innovation isn't technological, it's relational. When revegetation crews plant native species, they're not just doing ecological work. They're reconnecting with plants their ancestors gathered for baskets and ceremonies, relearning seasonal patterns, and rebuilding Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge that formal education never captured. When a crew member known for singing while planting showed measurably higher seed germination rates than anyone else, it revealed what Western science struggles to quantify: the power of prayer, intention, and relationship in restoration work.
The river is not just a resource. The Klamath River to me is my relative, my ancestor, and my future.
— Brook M. Thompson
“Western systems fail because they see themselves as alienated from nature. Where we are spiritually and cognitively is in a completely different place that most people in the Western world cannot reach.”
— Dylan Aubrey
Relevant Links to Check Out
References
California tribes celebrate historic dam removal: ‘More successful than we ever imagined’, The Guardian
Frantz Fanon’s book, Black Skin, White Masks
Vine Deloria, Jr.’s book, Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto
Brook Thompson:
Dylan Aubrey:
The Proven Sustainable™ Conversation Series is a fiscally sponsored project of the Center for Transformative Action, a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization. Any funding directed towards the Conversation Series will go towards production efforts to ensure the the recorded discussions are diligently captured and meaningfully distributed. This Conversation Series and website are not-for-profit and created with the intent of channeling support directly to the Peoples represented.