AMY BOWERS CORDALIS

Amy Bowers Cordalis is a devoted advocate for Indigenous rights and environmental restoration. A member of the Yurok Tribe and ceremony family from the village of Rek-Woi at the mouth of the Klamath River, she is a fisherwoman, attorney, and mother deeply rooted in the traditions of her people. As Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Ridges to Riffles Indigenous Conservation Group, Amy leads efforts to support tribes in protecting their sovereignty, lands, and waters, including the historic Klamath Dam Removal project—one of the world’s largest river restoration and dam removal initiatives. Former general counsel for the Yurok Tribe and an attorney at the Native American Rights Fund, Amy has earned honors as a UN Champion of the Earth and Time 100 climate leader and is the author of the forthcoming book, The Water Remembers, anticipated in October 2025.

Author of The Water Remembers, a moving multigenerational memoir of Indigenous resistance, environmental justice, and a family’s fight to preserve its legacy.

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For the members of the Yurok Tribe in California, the Klamath River and its salmon are the lifeblood of the people—a vital source of food, income, and cultural identity. When a catastrophic fish kill devastates the river, Amy Bowers Cordalis, a Yurok Tribal member, is propelled into action, reigniting her family’s 170-year battle against the U.S. government.

In a moving and engrossing blend of memoir and history, Cordalis propels readers through generations of her family’s struggle, where she learns that the fight for survival is not only about fishing—it’s about protecting a way of life and the right of a species and river to exist. Her great-uncle’s landmark Supreme Court case reaffirming her Nation’s rights to land, water, fish, and sovereignty, her great-grandmother’s defiant resistance during the Salmon Wars, and her family’s ongoing battles against government overreach shape the deep commitment to justice that drives Cordalis forward.

When the source of the fish kill is revealed, Cordalis steps up as General Counsel for the Yurok Tribe to hold powerful corporate interests accountable, and to spearhead the largest river restoration project in history. The Water Remembers is a testament to the enduring power of Indigenous knowledge, family legacy, and the determination to ensure that future generations remember what it means to live in balance with the earth.

What Others Are Saying:

“Amy’s personal story intertwines with the river, the salmon, history, and the present moment in a beautiful narrative that invites us all into the mission of protecting our waters and lands.”
―Deb Haaland, former United States Secretary of the Interior

“A brightly written, driving narrative of tribal voices and many other people...this important book is a joyous and uplifting story.”
―Charles Wilkinson, author of Blood Struggle

“This triumphantstory ever widens the awareness of the dangers that threaten Indigenous people and their historic lands.”
―Congressman Jared Huffman

“Amy’s story can guide us all to meet our shared responsibilities to the world we have been gifted.”
―Judge Abby Abinanti, Yurok Tribal Court Judge (and first Indigenous woman licensed to practice law in California)

“A powerful interweaving of memory, history, and activism….a vital work of Indigenous resurgence and environmental justice, brimming with spirit, truth, and unstoppable resolve."
―Terese Marie Mailhot, author of Heart Berries

“Amy’s writing sings with urgency and purpose.”
―Josh “Bones” Murphy, filmmaker/director of Patagonia's Artifishal

“In this movingmemoir, Amy Bowers Cordalis shows what happens when ancestral memory joins forces with the law.”
―David Owen, author of Where the Water Goes

“A Civil Action meets Braiding Sweetgrass, a story of Indigenous survival and triumph from an Indigenous perspective.”
―Ash Davidson, author of Damnation Spring

“A powerful, poetic testament to Indigenous resilience and reverence for the natural world…. This book is not just a call to action; it’s a song of survival and restoration.”
―Leah Thomas, environmental educator and author of The Intersectional Environmentalist

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Undammed

After witnessing a massive fish kill on her ancestral home waters, Yurok tribal attorney Amy Bowers Cordalis dedicated her life to reversing the generations-long destruction wrought by the Klamath River dams. Undammed follows her journey to free the Klamath, from testifying before Congress to passing down fishing traditions within her young family. Now that the Klamath dams are finally coming down, she remains confident that the future of her tribe is bright. “It’s not a test,” Bowers Cordalis says of the largest dam-removal project in US history. “It will work.”

Our Sacred Obligation

Our Sacred Obligation recounts the history of the Yurok Tribe’s struggle against the colonization of the Klamath River, which has sustained them since time immemorial. A land reclamation project and a series of dams have brought the Klamath River salmon populations to the brink of extinction. But the Yurok are fighting back. Propped up by their ancestors, and the recent success of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe on the Elwha River, the Yurok are using their sovereignty to fulfill their sacred obligation to bring the dams down and restore the river.