2026 Cliff Edom New America Award

Fog rolls over the Rio Grande River which separates the U.S. from Mexico, as seen from the bluffs in Roma, Texas, U.S., November 29, 2023....

Fog rolls over the Rio Grande River which separates the U.S. from Mexico, as seen from the bluffs in Roma, Texas, U.S., November 29, 2023. With a population of about 65,000, Starr County, knitted to Mexico through 68 miles of border, rests solidly within the bottom 1.5% of all U.S. counties for the lowest median household income.

Sissy helps her mom Joann out of bed in her mom’s home in Mission, Texas, U.S., July 31, 2021. Sissy Garza-Ray of Roma is intimately...

Sissy helps her mom Joann out of bed in her mom’s home in Mission, Texas, U.S., July 31, 2021. Sissy Garza-Ray of Roma is intimately acquainted with Alzheimer’s Disease and related Dementias. Both her parents died from it and Sissy was a nurse for over 30 years, retiring in 2023 from an assisted living facility in Rio Grande City where many patients suffer from Alzheimer’s. She points to two factors she believes are overlooked when considering the disease: stress, and years of poor nutrition.

Floats sent foam snow fluttering down like ethereal confetti during a Christmas Parade, in Rio Grande City, Texas, U.S., December 1, 2023. Onlookers began gathering...

Floats sent foam snow fluttering down like ethereal confetti during a Christmas Parade, in Rio Grande City, Texas, U.S., December 1, 2023. Onlookers began gathering before sunset, unfolding lawn chairs alongside U.S. Route 83. Santa waved from the back of a pickup truck. Memories in the making.

Dr. Gladys Maestre looks at an MRI scan at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Institute of Neuroscience in Harlingen, Texas, U.S., December 5,...

Dr. Gladys Maestre looks at an MRI scan at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Institute of Neuroscience in Harlingen, Texas, U.S., December 5, 2023. As Director of the Alzheimer's Disease Resource Center for Minority Aging Research at the University of Texas Rio Grande, Dr. Maestre is laser-focused on Starr and its neighboring counties, and she’s frustrated by a lack of research she thinks is needed to make progress in understanding the disease. “When you have a cluster of people, you have to ask, where is it coming from?” says the Venezuelan-born neuroscientist. “Many patients are not getting counted, and they are not getting the attention they need. Where are they? Alone in the back room, sitting in the dark. Instead, we want to empower them to change the things they can.”

The morning sun illuminates storefronts along Main Street in Rio Grande City, Texas, U.S., August 2, 2021. More than a dozen loan shops are clustered...

The morning sun illuminates storefronts along Main Street in Rio Grande City, Texas, U.S., August 2, 2021. More than a dozen loan shops are clustered in Rio Grande City. “People are not living paycheck to paycheck; they live advance-on-paycheck to advance-on-paycheck,” says local journalist Dina Garcia-Pena.

Araceli Martinez Barrientos “Cheli” prays at Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto in Rio Grande City. Cheli’s mom Emma and her husband brought stones from the...

Araceli Martinez Barrientos “Cheli” prays at Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto in Rio Grande City. Cheli’s mom Emma and her husband brought stones from the Rio Grande River to add to the grotto during renovations. Generations later, Emma’s family continues to worship there.

Carmen kisses her dad Pancho when visiting to help her brother Manny with caregiving duties, in Rio Grande City, Texas, U.S., November 23, 2023. Carmen...

Carmen kisses her dad Pancho when visiting to help her brother Manny with caregiving duties, in Rio Grande City, Texas, U.S., November 23, 2023. Carmen recalls Pancho teaching her how to drive when she was eight years old. “Whatever the boys can do, you can do better,” he told her. In later years, she and Pancho took excursions to Home Depot that were really about being together. They would spend up to three hours wandering the aisles as he would examine tools and study sandpaper. “When we left, sometimes he would buy just a bag of nails.” These days, Pancho rarely leaves Manny’s home. When Carmen visits, they paint tin cans together and she tasks him with sorting pieces of fabric as she sews.

Evening light pushes into an empty bedroom in the now unoccupied home where Pancho once lived and where he and his wife Amparo raised their...

Evening light pushes into an empty bedroom in the now unoccupied home where Pancho once lived and where he and his wife Amparo raised their children, in Rio Grande City, Texas, U.S., December 8, 2023. One afternoon in 2017, Pancho said to his son, “You know what, Manny, there’s something wrong with me. It’s like I get kinda lost, and I don’t know what I’m doing. Do you think I’m all right?” For others, that conversation might be weighted with fear or sorrow, a sense of impending loss. Father and son took it in stride. “My mom would always tell us, no one is eternal in this life,” Manny recalls.

Tomas Cantú’s headstone stands across the street from the Whataburger where he used to meet his sons and his brother for coffee every Saturday morning...

Tomas Cantú’s headstone stands across the street from the Whataburger where he used to meet his sons and his brother for coffee every Saturday morning in Roma, Texas, U.S., November 15, 2023.

Dr. Gladys Maestre, Director of the Alzheimer's Disease Resource Center for Minority Aging Research at the University of Texas, walks through a field outside the...

Dr. Gladys Maestre, Director of the Alzheimer's Disease Resource Center for Minority Aging Research at the University of Texas, walks through a field outside the Institute of Neuroscience in Harlingen, Texas, U.S., December 5, 2023. Her aspirations extend beyond the lab. She envisions medical researchers collecting data door-to-door in vulnerable neighborhoods over a decade or more. “Ultimately,” she says, “I want less stress, more money in people’s pockets, better food, art in the street: all of it as support and stimulation for the brain.”

Carmen rests her hands on top of her dad’s in Rio Grande City, Texas, U.S., November 25, 2023. “I remember him doing hand puppets with...

Carmen rests her hands on top of her dad’s in Rio Grande City, Texas, U.S., November 25, 2023. “I remember him doing hand puppets with a gas lamp during a thunderstorm when we lost electricity. And he would put his hand under his armpit and make that sound,” says Carmen. “He always had a sense of humor, and today he is the same.”

An exercise trail leads under Highway 83 in Rio Grande City, Texas, U.S., July 30, 2023. Few opportunities exist for exercise in Starr County, so...

An exercise trail leads under Highway 83 in Rio Grande City, Texas, U.S., July 30, 2023. Few opportunities exist for exercise in Starr County, so the 2014 opening of Fordyce Nature Trails was cause for celebration. The trails, steep and deeply creviced, were already carved into the dry soil by drug smugglers, human traffickers, and migrants, who continue to use them. In September 2020, a woman’s body was found along the trails, and locals concerned about their safety avoid the site at certain hours or altogether.

Citrus Fiesta Beauty Queens walk through the second annual Starr County Alzheimer’s Awareness event in Rio Grande City, Texas, U.S., September 30, 2023. The events...

Citrus Fiesta Beauty Queens walk through the second annual Starr County Alzheimer’s Awareness event in Rio Grande City, Texas, U.S., September 30, 2023. The events organized by El Faro aim to bring the community together in celebration and engage residents in conversations about the disease that is often closeted due to stigma.

CBP agents patrol a neighborhood at dawn in Roma, Texas, U.S., November 13, 2023. “I suspect the population in Starr County has been under chronic...

CBP agents patrol a neighborhood at dawn in Roma, Texas, U.S., November 13, 2023. “I suspect the population in Starr County has been under chronic stress,” says Dr. Gladys Maestre, Director of the Alzheimer's Disease Resource Center for Minority Aging Research at the University of Texas Rio Grande. “The border is militarized. There are many food deserts, a lot of diabetes and obesity and hypertension, and few sidewalks to encourage walking. Those things don’t occur in isolation. And now the Lancet study says 40 percent of the disease could be prevented or delayed with modification of 12 factors, so let’s talk about that. Let’s study that.”

Dr. Kevin Bieniek dissects a human brain at the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer's & Neurodegenerative Diseases in San Antonio, Texas, U.S., December 19, 2023....

Dr. Kevin Bieniek dissects a human brain at the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer's & Neurodegenerative Diseases in San Antonio, Texas, U.S., December 19, 2023. The only way to definitively diagnose Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias is with a postmortem autopsy of a patient’s brain.

Monica prepares to cut her mom’s hair in Ramona’s living room in Rio Grande City, Texas, U.S., March 6, 2023. Monica has been cutting her...

Monica prepares to cut her mom’s hair in Ramona’s living room in Rio Grande City, Texas, U.S., March 6, 2023. Monica has been cutting her mom’s hair for the past 40 years, initially as practice while she was attending cosmetology classes in high school. Her mom was a reluctant model in those days. “I remember her telling me: ‘Do not let my ears show,” recalls Monica.

Manny helps his dad use the bathroom in Manny’s home in Rio Grande City, Texas, U.S., December 8, 2023. A few months earlier Manny was...

Manny helps his dad use the bathroom in Manny’s home in Rio Grande City, Texas, U.S., December 8, 2023. A few months earlier Manny was sitting on the floor outside the same bathroom while his dad sat on the toilet. They were comic-bickering, like they always do, with exaggerated insults and playful lies. Then Pancho interrupted the pantomime. “Hijo, I always loved you,” Pancho says. “What? How? Never in my entire life has my dad said he loved me,” Manny will recall later. He laughs. “Afterwards, we go back to our same routine.”

In Starr County, the past permeates the present, and the many abandoned buildings are full of life. Flowering vines embrace a home’s decaying skeleton, bushes...

In Starr County, the past permeates the present, and the many abandoned buildings are full of life. Flowering vines embrace a home’s decaying skeleton, bushes nod through glassless windows to absorb the day's last light, near Roma, Texas, U.S., July 24, 2021.

A young boy runs after his mom as the sun sets during a community holiday celebration, in Roma, Texas, U.S., December 10, 2023. Alzheimer’s is...

A young boy runs after his mom as the sun sets during a community holiday celebration, in Roma, Texas, U.S., December 10, 2023. Alzheimer’s is not only a corporeal disease, it attacks one’s personality while washing away the millions of memories that have merged and helped shape the self.

Shay Martin watches her husband, Tanner Martin after he had a Star Wars symbol shaved into his hair by Amanda Nevel, owner of Bloody Mary’s...

Shay Martin watches her husband, Tanner Martin after he had a Star Wars symbol shaved into his hair by Amanda Nevel, owner of Bloody Mary’s Barbers, on February 10, 2025, in Lehi, UT. For years, Shay and Tanner’s families choreographed their lives around his illness, their days defined by waiting and worry, as they worked to ensure Tanner packed a lifetime of experiences in a few brief, urgent years. One afternoon, they painted the baby’s nursery — a calming space filled with Winnie the Pooh figurines and golden bows. Family members sometimes joked that Tanner had a bit of Pooh’s gentle, lovable spirit. Another day, as Tanner’s hair continued to fall out, he decided to shave it all off. They visited a barber who turned his cut into something bold, carving the intricate swirls of the Star Wars Rebel Alliance’s starbird on the side of his head.

From left, Cody Spackman, Sabrina Spackman, Tanner Martin, 30, 3rd from L, and wife Shay Martin, R, pose for photos after successfully completing an Escape...

From left, Cody Spackman, Sabrina Spackman, Tanner Martin, 30, 3rd from L, and wife Shay Martin, R, pose for photos after successfully completing an Escape Room session during a double date on February 7, 2025, in Orem, UT. During better times, they made pizzas, danced to Macklemore’s “Glorious” and tried to live as fully as they could. Despite having trouble typing after losing feeling in his fingertips, a side effect of chemo, Tanner completed his coursework for his bachelor of arts, and his academic adviser and three professors came to his home to deliver his diploma.

Tanner Martin, 30, rests before going to church with his wife, Shay Martin, 28, where the couple live in the basement of Shay’s parents’ home...

Tanner Martin, 30, rests before going to church with his wife, Shay Martin, 28, where the couple live in the basement of Shay’s parents’ home on February 9, 2025, in American Fork, UT. At the time he was diagnosed with cancer, he was going to school for a bachelor’s degree in psychiatry and had just celebrated his second wedding anniversary with his wife. The boy with the big brown eyes and the tall, freckle-faced girl met in passing as teens through church activities, then reconnected as adults, hanging out as friends before realizing it was more. When Tanner was hospitalized right before a professional family-photo shoot, he was photoshopped into the serene field where everyone else had posed.

Tanner Martin, 30, L, and his wife, Shay Martin, 28, caress one another’s hand after playing Sunday night dinner games at the home of Shay’s...

Tanner Martin, 30, L, and his wife, Shay Martin, 28, caress one another’s hand after playing Sunday night dinner games at the home of Shay’s mother’s brother on February 9, 2025, in South Jordan, UT. Tanner was always the kind of person who, his family and friends say, made the world feel friendlier. As a kid, he’d wave hello to strangers, a habit he never quite outgrew. Shay fell in love with that bright spirit. She was disarmed by his happy-go-lucky ways. He was spellbound by her intellect and creative spark.

Trailed by their dog, Luke, Tanner Martin, 30, and wife Shay Martin, 28, descend the basement stairs where they live in the home of Shay’s...

Trailed by their dog, Luke, Tanner Martin, 30, and wife Shay Martin, 28, descend the basement stairs where they live in the home of Shay’s parents on February 8, 2025, in American Fork, UT. The first few years were happy and full of promise. Tanner and Shay were both working full time and going to school full time. He was at a call center; she worked as a receptionist. They both attended Utah Valley University, where they had chosen the same major — behavioral science. In the rare quiet moments, they dreamed — about opening a therapy practice together, about the home they would share and the family they would build. Tanner’s grandfather envisioned Tanner as a leader of the family’s next generation. The financial costs of his illness forced the couple into a holding pattern, seeking solace and support of family and friends from these underground quarters.

AMERICAN FORK, UT - FEBRUARY 9: Shay Martin, 28, helps her husband, Tanner Martin, 30, pull up his compression sleeves that crawled down tightly around...

AMERICAN FORK, UT - FEBRUARY 9: Shay Martin, 28, helps her husband, Tanner Martin, 30, pull up his compression sleeves that crawled down tightly around his ankles as he slept overnight where they live in the basement of Shay’s parents’ home on February 9, 2025, in American Fork, UT. Support from family and friends gave Shay the bandwidth to get her master’s degree and start work as a counselor, meeting with patients on Zoom in the afternoons and evenings. But even with the kindness of relatives and friends, the weight on Shay was immense.

Tanner Martin, 30, foresees life after his is gone where he and his wife, Shay Martin, live in the basement of Shay’s parents’ home on...

Tanner Martin, 30, foresees life after his is gone where he and his wife, Shay Martin, live in the basement of Shay’s parents’ home on February 8, 2025, in American Fork, UT. In 2020, Tanner was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer. He spoke of the type of man he might want Shay to eventually find after he is gone, the type of man he would want to help raise his child.

AMERICAN FORK, UT - FEBRUARY 9: Tanner Martin, 30, and Shay Martin, 28, walk to church near where they live in the basement of Shay’s...

AMERICAN FORK, UT - FEBRUARY 9: Tanner Martin, 30, and Shay Martin, 28, walk to church near where they live in the basement of Shay’s parents’ home on February 9, 2025, in American Fork, UT. Last fall, Shay saw on social media that one of her high school classmates had taken a job as a “death doula,” describing her role as supporting people through the emotional and practical aspects of death. Intrigued, Shay reached out. Tanner was not enthusiastic. “It felt a little hopeless,” Tanner said of prepping for death. “I wanted to prep to be living.” But he said he soon realized that talking about death and looking at his future burial plot were empowering. “Instead of making us sad, it made us laugh. I patted the ground when I lay on my future spot and I was like, ‘Aww, there’s no shade.’”

Tanner Martin, 30, L, strokes the arm of his wife, Shay Martin, 28, while Shay’s cousin, Pearl, plays in her hair after playing Sunday night...

Tanner Martin, 30, L, strokes the arm of his wife, Shay Martin, 28, while Shay’s cousin, Pearl, plays in her hair after playing Sunday night dinner games at the home of Shay’s mother’s brother on February 9, 2025, in South Jordan, UT. They also found a welcome break by heading to a monthly family potluck. It felt like a glimpse into the life Tanner and Shay had once dreamed of: Four of their uncle and aunt’s seven kids, ranging in age from 8 to 16, were at home, and Tanner caught up on the news of the younger ones’ soccer games and the older kids’ schoolwork, and joked with the adults about the plunging stock market. At one point, Shay’s parents shared the news that Shay’s sister and her husband, who had been living in Brazil, would be moving back in about six months. “He can meet our baby then,” Tanner said, his face lighting up at the thought. Shay looked down at him, silently, and tried to smile.

Tanner Martin, 30, prepares to leave the Ready Gunner gun range on February 10, 2025, in Orem, UT. The weeks between chemo treatments were when...

Tanner Martin, 30, prepares to leave the Ready Gunner gun range on February 10, 2025, in Orem, UT. The weeks between chemo treatments were when they truly lived. For eight months, Tanner had been on a grueling two-week treatment cycle — just enough to keep the disease at bay. It left the couple carefully rationing their time and energy, packing as much life as they could into the days when he wasn’t tethered to an infusion pump or sleeping, the days when he felt a bit more like himself. One afternoon, they painted the baby’s nursery — a calming space filled with Winnie the Pooh figurines and golden bows. Family members sometimes joked that Tanner had a bit of Pooh’s gentle, lovable spirit.

Shay Martin, L, chats with a family friend while her husband Tanner Martin has a warm exchange with Ben and Daisy Hodges and their neighbor’s...

Shay Martin, L, chats with a family friend while her husband Tanner Martin has a warm exchange with Ben and Daisy Hodges and their neighbor’s baby at a baby shower for Shay and Tanner’s baby at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on February 8, 2025, in American Fork, UT. Shay read everything she could on parenting and concluded they needed to have a girl. She thought a lot about “anticipatory trauma,” a type of distress about a future threat and how a single parent with a child of the same gender might have an easier time. “It raises the chances of every bad thing happening in life if you have one parent. If you are the same gender, it helps reduce that. We were doing everything we could to give our child the best chance,” she said.

Tanner Martin, 30, is wheeled by his wife, Shay Martin, 28, into the medical facility where Shay has a prenatal medical checkup at Intermountain -...

Tanner Martin, 30, is wheeled by his wife, Shay Martin, 28, into the medical facility where Shay has a prenatal medical checkup at Intermountain - Utah Valley Maternal Fetal Medicine on April 15, 2025, in Provo, UT.

At a prenatal medical checkup, Keri Johnson, a sonogram imaging technologist, shows prenatal baby pictures to Shay and Tanner, who is under the influence of...

At a prenatal medical checkup, Keri Johnson, a sonogram imaging technologist, shows prenatal baby pictures to Shay and Tanner, who is under the influence of a cocktail of cancer-related drugs, at Intermountain - Utah Valley Maternal Fetal Medicine on April 15, 2025, in Provo, UT. Within a few minutes, Donna Dizon, a fetal medicine specialist, came in to go over the results. After some initial worries, the baby’s growth had picked up. She’d moved from the 7th percentile a few weeks earlier to the 29th and weighed in at an estimated 4 pounds 5 ounces. Even better, she had shifted position: head down, as she should be for delivery. “She’s ready. Come on out, Jiaozi,” Tanner said during a moment of lucidity.

Tom Martin, left, covers his son, Tanner Martin, 30, who is in the throes of a coughing fit where Tanner and his wife, Shay Martin,...

Tom Martin, left, covers his son, Tanner Martin, 30, who is in the throes of a coughing fit where Tanner and his wife, Shay Martin, live in the basement of Shay’s parents’ home on April 14, 2025, in American Fork, UT.

Tanner Martin, R, and wife Shay Martin, scroll through their phones while waiting for a streaming video to load where they live in the basement...

Tanner Martin, R, and wife Shay Martin, scroll through their phones while waiting for a streaming video to load where they live in the basement of Shay’s parents’ home on April 16, 2025, in American Fork, UT. Tanner rests in a medical bed that was recently delivered to their home. Shay said she loves sharing evenings with Tanner, when he is more lively and talkative and not drowsy from a cocktail of cancer-related drugs. “I love the evenings because that’s when he’s [Tanner’s] usually most alert,” said Shay.

Tanner Martin snoozes under the influence of a cocktail of cancer drugs as his pregnant wife, Shay Martin, 29, checks on his well-being at Intermountain...

Tanner Martin snoozes under the influence of a cocktail of cancer drugs as his pregnant wife, Shay Martin, 29, checks on his well-being at Intermountain Health American Fork Hospital on May 14, 2025, in American Fork, UT. Shay Martin had just been admitted to the hospital to prepare for a c-section birth the next morning.

Amy Lou, daughter of Shay and Tanner Martin, gets her first hairwashing on the day she was born at Intermountain Health American Fork Hospital on...

Amy Lou, daughter of Shay and Tanner Martin, gets her first hairwashing on the day she was born at Intermountain Health American Fork Hospital on May 15, 2025, in American Fork, UT.

Shay Martin, holding her newborn daughter, Amy Lou, looks to her husband, Tanner Martin, 30, as he minds his emotions in a birth recovery room...

Shay Martin, holding her newborn daughter, Amy Lou, looks to her husband, Tanner Martin, 30, as he minds his emotions in a birth recovery room at Intermountain Health American Fork Hospital on May 15, 2025, in American Fork, UT.

Tanner Martin cradles his daughter, AmyLou, the day the infant was brought home from the hospital, two days after being delivered via C-section, on May...

Tanner Martin cradles his daughter, AmyLou, the day the infant was brought home from the hospital, two days after being delivered via C-section, on May 17, 2025, in American Fork, UT.

Kimberlee Martin, C, mother of Tanner Martin, is comforted by friends at the viewing of Tanner’s body at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day...

Kimberlee Martin, C, mother of Tanner Martin, is comforted by friends at the viewing of Tanner’s body at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on July 3, 2025, in American Fork, UT. Others pictured are Spencer Martin, L, Tanner’s brother, Nora Watts, 2nd from R, Tanner’s maternal grandmother, and Tom Martin, R, Tanner’s father.

Family and friends place Star Wars-themed stickers on the casket of Tanner Martin at the viewing of Tanner’s body at The Church of Jesus Christ...

Family and friends place Star Wars-themed stickers on the casket of Tanner Martin at the viewing of Tanner’s body at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on July 3, 2025, in American Fork, UT.

While waiting to attend the viewing of the body of her recently deceased husband, Shay Wright Martin relaxes with her daughter, AmyLou Martin, alongside their...

While waiting to attend the viewing of the body of her recently deceased husband, Shay Wright Martin relaxes with her daughter, AmyLou Martin, alongside their dogs, Luke, sitting, and Forrest, in one of the spots husband Tanner Martin used to sit in the basement apartment of Shay’s parents’ home on July 3, 2025, in American Fork, UT.

Amy Bowers-Cordalis fishes for salmon with her father, William Bowers, in their traditional family fishing hole in Rek-woi, Calif. on Friday, Aug. 16, 2025.

Amy Bowers-Cordalis fishes for salmon with her father, William Bowers, in their traditional family fishing hole in Rek-woi, Calif. on Friday, Aug. 16, 2025.

Keeya Wiki fixes the hair of her older sister, Te Maia, 20, near rock structure known in Yurok as “O’ray-gos” in Rek-woi, Calif. on Saturday,...

Keeya Wiki fixes the hair of her older sister, Te Maia, 20, near rock structure known in Yurok as “O’ray-gos” in Rek-woi, Calif. on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. The rock has spiritual and cultural significance to the Yurok people and Amy Bowers-Cordalis family as a sacred spirit that cares for the area.

Yurok and Shasta tribal members tour the site of Copco 1, which is slated to be removed next year, in Siskiyou County, Calif. on Saturday,...

Yurok and Shasta tribal members tour the site of Copco 1, which is slated to be removed next year, in Siskiyou County, Calif. on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023. The dam is one of four to be removed in the largest dam removal project in the world.

James Hildebrandt, of Arcata Playhouse, and members of Yurok Tribal Court, preform a dam removal skit during the Yurok Tribe’s 59th-annual Salmon Festival in Klamath,...

James Hildebrandt, of Arcata Playhouse, and members of Yurok Tribal Court, preform a dam removal skit during the Yurok Tribe’s 59th-annual Salmon Festival in Klamath, Calif. on Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023. This year’s festival celebrated the removal of four hydroelectric dams and the restoration of the Klamath River.

From left, Lavina Bowers, Geneva Wiki and Ashley Bowers, wait for the arrival of Paddle Tribal Waters as they approach the final stretch of the...

From left, Lavina Bowers, Geneva Wiki and Ashley Bowers, wait for the arrival of Paddle Tribal Waters as they approach the final stretch of the Klamath River toward the Yurok village of Rekwoi, Calif. on Friday, July 11, 2025.

Amy Bowers-Cordalis and Molli Myers release a tagged Chinook salmon at the confluence of Jenny Creek and the Klamath River near the former Iron Gate...

Amy Bowers-Cordalis and Molli Myers release a tagged Chinook salmon at the confluence of Jenny Creek and the Klamath River near the former Iron Gate dam site in Hornbrook, Calif. on Mon, Oct. 19, 2025. Tagging the fish allows Bowers-Cordalis, Myers and their team with their Indigenous Conservation Group to keep track of the salmon’s location as they make their historic migration since dam removal.

Amy Bowers-Cordalis lowers her niece Lavina so she can touch the Klamath River at the confluence of Jenny Creek and the Klamath River near the...

Amy Bowers-Cordalis lowers her niece Lavina so she can touch the Klamath River at the confluence of Jenny Creek and the Klamath River near the former Iron Gate dam site in Hornbrook, Calif. on Mon, Oct. 19, 2025.

K’iow Colegrover, center, touches a freshly caught salmon as members of Amy Bowers-Cordalis family gather to process fish at her grandmother’s home in Rek-woi, Calif....

K’iow Colegrover, center, touches a freshly caught salmon as members of Amy Bowers-Cordalis family gather to process fish at her grandmother’s home in Rek-woi, Calif. on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025.