Replay: The Power of Joy with Keeya Wiki on the Klamath

What does it mean to paddle a river your family fought six generations to free?

This week marks the one-year anniversary of the historic first descent of the undammed Klamath River by Indigenous youth in the Paddle Tribal Waters program. To honor it, Anna is replaying her conversation on The Discomfort Zone Podcast with Keeya Wiki, a Yurok kayaker who completed that first descent at 17. Keeya also belongs to the Te Aupouri and Ngati Porou tribes of Aotearoa (New Zealand), and her family has fought for generations for the health of the salmon, the river, and their right to fish.

This conversation is about joy as resilience, and what happens when the healing of a river becomes the healing of the generations connected to it.

If you love rivers and want to understand what dam removal and Indigenous-led restoration mean for the people who fought for it, this one is for you.

In this episode, Keeya and Anna explore:

• What it felt like to paddle the Klamath after generations of advocacy for dam removal

• How Keeya listens to her body and grounds herself when fear and self-doubt show up

• The intense underwater moment on the river that tested her self-trust

• The power of community, mentorship, and representation in outdoor spaces

• Why the joy Keeya experienced on the river has the power to heal generations

Since this conversation, Anna has read The Water Remembers by Amy Bowers Cordalis, Keeya's aunt and the lawyer who played a key role in getting the Klamath dams removed. Amy joins The Discomfort Zone Podcast later this summer, and you may have seen Amy and Keeya together on the Kelly Clarkson Show sharing their family's legacy. Consider this replay the first chapter of that story.

Whether you paddle whitewater, care about river restoration, or simply want to hear what courage and joy sound like, listen now and let the Klamath's story move you.