On Tuesday February 4, I walked to the Chemical & Bi0molecular Engineering & Chemistry Building to watch a film about the biggest river restoration project in United State history. Before watching this documentary, I had no idea about the crisis in California/Oregon over this river, the Klamath. What I learned was really intriguing; there were multiple sides to this story. There were native people fighting for the river, as well as farmers, locals, and even large dam building companies. With so many conflicting perspectives, it was hard to decide what side I supported.

The film focused on the Klamath River that flows from southern Oregon to Northern California, and is nearly three hundred miles in length. Over hundreds of years, the rights to the water have changed. Dams led to pollution and lack of fish is many areas, and those who have been living on the water their whole lives are suffering the consequences. They explained how there were years when thousands of fish washed up dead along the banks. Protests ensued and the government eventually got involved. One of the main themes throughout the movie was “In order to save a river, you must first heal a people.” After people of all backgrounds and opinions about the river got together and discussed their viewpoints, they all realized they wanted the same thing. So there was a happy ending to this story, and all of the parties involved communicated and found a solution to their river dilemma.

This story was really interesting to me. Considering I had never heard of the problems with the Klamath River, it was a shock to hear of all the people affected by it. This one body of water brought hundreds of people from different backgrounds, histories, opinions, ideas and experiences for one purpose, and that’s really incredible to me.