In her home country of Chile, 15-year-old Ianka Purran has a front-row seat to the deterioration of her home river, the Biobío, which is suffering from the impacts of dams.

When Purran, Mapuche Pewenche, heard about a historic descent being planned for the newly free-flowing Klamath River in the United States, she jumped at the opportunity to join the journey, with the hopes of returning home with knowledge and tools for her own community to one day use in resuscitating the Biobío, the second largest river in Chile.

“Seeing the work that these people have done for more than 100 years to get the dams removed has been really inspiring,” Purran said via translator during the recent 310-mile descent of the Klamath that she completed along with 120 other kayakers, including Indigenous youth

See Full Page