Monday night brought us a film that deals with environmental issues affecting the lives of several Native American tribes of Northern California and Oregon.  Director Ben Kempas brings us their stories in Upstream Battle, which depicts several of these tribes and their determination to close for hydroelectric dams (owned by PacifiCorp) that are killing the salmon population.

For the Q&A, Kempas was joined by Ron Reed and his brother Mike Polmateer, who are members of one of the tribes involved in the issue with PacifiCorp along with  the film's producer Joachim Schroeder (all pictured right).  Reed began by thanking the audience for attending the screening and also for paying attention to the issue at hand.  He explained how the fate of the salmon population directly affects the fate of these tribes; their livelihood and traditions depend on the salmon.  He told us, "it's been a long journey... we'll continue to fight because we don't have another place to catch fish, grow our corn, find our medicine."

Kempas has kept us up-to-date on this blog on how the conflict may be closer to a resolution.  He mentioned we can continue reading about this story on www.upstreambattle.com.  This is an issue that can certainly translate to other parts of the world.  If you want to learn more about it, there will be a screening Friday, Sept 12th at 11:45AM.