Centering Karuk Knowledge in Klamath Floodplain Reconnection: Pêeshkeesh Yàv Umusaheesh
Cleo's work explores how a queer-trans-feminist approach can ally with Indigenous praxis to renew human-water-fish relations. Aiming to bring alternative modes of thought to ecology, Cleo's work in rivers, coasts, and oceans thoughtfully examines how privilege, colonial constructs of nature and sex, and white supremacy limit our conceptualization of and relationship to the planet. Whether you are passionate about river ecology or will be working in policy and management, Cleo's talk will be worth a listen.
—Carly Norris, MESM 2022
Dr. Wölfle Hazard will present in person at Bren. Join us in Bren Hall 1414 (masks required) or join online using this link and passcode floodplain
Abstract
On the Mid-Klamath River at Tishánik, Karuk cultural practitioners are leading a design process to renew processes disrupted by settler-colonial mining and forestry, floods, cultural fire, and intergenerational learning. This collaboration requires that researchers in hydrology, forestry, aquatic ecology, and landscape architecture engage in Karuk protocol, practice reciprocity, and co-create a river model of justice to guide restoration planning in advance of the Klamath dam removals.
Bio
Dr. Wölfle Hazard’s research informs two areas of thought: (1) ecological and social dimensions of human relations to rivers and their multi-species inhabitants, and (2) how queer trans feminist thought can transfigure ecological science as it’s used by Indigenous and non-Native practitioners in river management. An activist and artist with formal training in ecology, geomorphology, critical social science, and feminist science and technology studies, he conducts collaborative research in partnership with Native nations, agencies, citizen scientists, and local community members. Wölfle Hazard and his students are currently working on the Duwamish River in Washington and the Klamath River in California, as well as in the freshwater-saltwater interface around Puget Sound. Their PhD work in the Energy and Resources Group at UC Berkeley convened a collaborative of scientists and Sonoma County residents to experiment with storing and infiltrating winter rain to increase summer streamflow to benefit juvenile salmon, and exploring the possibilities of collaborating with beavers to create cool refuges for coho. As a UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow in Feminist Studies at UC Santa Cruz, ze drew this field experience together with queer, transgender, and Indigenous theory to theorize how river sciences could work against the Manifest Destiny logics that shape settler environmental governance in the Western US. His monograph Underflow: Queer Trans Ecologies and River Justice explores how a queer-trans-feminist approach can ally with Indigenous praxis to renew human-water-fish relations. Underflows will be published in January 2022 by University of Washington Press, in the Feminism & Technoscience series.