Thursday, March 26th
March 26th | 11:00 am to 11:10 am | Zellerbach Hall
Coley Miller
Bio coming soon.
In 2025, following the largest dam removal project in U.S. history, an intertribal cohort of Indigenous youth became the first people in a century to descend a 310-mile stretch of the Klamath River. Their journey to the sea was a ceremony, a protest, and a living testament to the resilience of Indigenous peoples and the ongoing decolonization of the watershed. This panel brings together some of these youth paddlers who will share the story of this historic “First Return” descent. Witnessing salmon return to their ancestral waters for the first time in over 100 years ignited profound hope and serves as an inspiring example of how significant environmental victories can transform the lives, identities, and opportunities of young people who experience them firsthand.
The conversation will also highlight the ongoing work that still needs to be addressed. While four dams on the Klamath River have been removed, two major dams in the upper basin still degrade water quality and threaten the survival of the nearly extinct C’waam (Lost River sucker) and Koptu (shortnose sucker) species, as well as the long-term viability of the recently returned salmon (C’iyaal’s). Hosted by Juliette Jackson, JD, author of Stop Killing the Klamath. With: The Klamath Youth Council: Coley Miller, Travis Jackson, Melia McNair, Scarlett Jewel Hoches Schroeder, and Taeliah Eggsman.
March 26th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Berkeley Ballroom, Residence Inn
Panelists
Juliette Jackson
Indigenous Rights Advocate
Juliette A. Jackson, J.D, LL.M, an enrolled member of The Klamath Tribes, is an Indigenous rights advocate specialized in energy and environmental law who works at Henkels Law, LLC in Portland, Oregon and also serves as Executive Director of Maqlaqs Gaa’tkni, a native-led nonprofit based in Chiloquin, Oregon. Jackson is also part of the Protecting Mother Earth (PME) Collective, a joint partnership between the Indigenous Environmental Network and Earth Law Center. Her law review article Stop Killing the Klamath: Rights of Nature Protections with Tribal Law, the National Historic Preservation Act, and Collaborative Management Strategies for a Tribe on the Front Lines of Climate Change, has attracted substantial attention in the field of tribal environmental justice.
Coley Miller
Bio coming soon.
Travis Jackson
| Klamath Tribes Youth Council
Travis Jackson, 14, an enrolled member of the Klamath Tribes who currently serves on the Klamath Tribes Youth Council, trained for the past year to participate as a paddler representing his people in an historic, month-long 300+ mile journey down most of the newly (mostly) undammed Klamath River. He is deeply committed to advocating for water rights, river restoration and the undamming of the remainder of the Klamath river watershed. Outside of his advocacy, he is a multi-sport athlete and enjoys connecting with elders to be immersed in traditional teachings.
Melia McNair
Youth Council Secretary | Klamath Tribes
Melia McNair, 15, of Klamath, Modoc, and Filipino ancestry, a sophomore in the Dual Language Immersion program at Rex Putnam High School in Milwaukie, OR, is currently the Klamath Tribes Youth Council Secretary and a passionate advocate for free-flowing rivers, environmental justice and human rights. An experienced paddler, she participated in the historic first kayaking descent of the almost undammed Klamath River in the summer of 2025. Melia also enjoys dancing and singing at powwows and has been practicing taekwondo since she was five years old and is currently an instructor.
Scarlett Schroeder
Social-Media Director | Klamath Tribes Youth Council
Scarlett Schroeder, 14, an enrolled member of the Klamath Tribes, currently serves as the Social-Media Director for the Klamath Tribes Youth Council and proudly represents her community as the Klamath Tribes “Restoration Queen.” Scarlett has been involved with the Paddle Tribal Waters program since 2024, as part of cohort 3, where she developed a strong passion for protecting and restoring the environment. Last summer she participated in the historic first kayaking descent of the (almost) undammed Klamath River. Scarlett is deeply committed to advocating for water rights, river restoration, and the undamming of the two dams left on the Klamath River.
Taeliah Eggsman
Youth Paddler
Bio coming soon.
Friday, March 27th
Kyle Trefny was 18 years old in 2020 when skies in the San Francisco Bay Area and much of the Pacific Coast turned orange with wildfire smoke. He will share how that moment led him to become a wildland firefighter and to join other youth in creating FireGeneration Collaborative (FireGen), dedicated to imagining and building a future beyond intense wildfires and their devastating health impacts, a future of healthy communities and livelihoods that recenters Indigenous leadership in land management. Kyle will reflect upon the power of questions, of friendship, of breaking negative cycles, of art, of mentors and elders, and of taking leaps of faith in life.
March 27th | 11:00 am to 11:09 am | Zellerbach Hall
Kyle Trefny
Co-Founder | FireGeneration Collaborative (FireGen)
Kyle Trefny is an organizer, artist, wildland firefighter, and co-founder of FireGeneration Collaborative (FireGen), which started out with a GoFundMe campaign and a petition and became a dynamic, influential youth-led organization that has helped bring about the historic involvement of firefighters and Indigenous fire management practitioners in governance processes and engaged hundreds of young people in fire research. A faculty research assistant at the University of Oregon’s Ecosystem Workforce Program, Kyle is also active in movements for Indigenous sovereignty, queer rights, and climate justice and was a recipient of a 2024 Brower Youth Award.
Saturday, March 28th
When UN leaders failed to pass a meaningful global plastics treaty, young organizers from across Hawaiʻi and Louisiana’s Cancer Alley came together to confront plastic pollution from both ends of the pipeline, i.e.—where it’s produced, and where it washes ashore. In this skill-building interactive, participants in the Bioneers Native Youth Ambassador Program from communities severely harmed by the plastic cycle will share their proven strategies to modify personal behavior, advocate for sustainable plastic policies, build zero-waste systems, and advance efforts to phase out single-use plastics. This youth-led interactive is for anyone living on the frontlines of endemic pollution or climate catastrophe—and for anyone who wants to learn from and support them. With: Lael Kylin Judson from Rural Roots Louisiana and Kona Smith and Chazlyn Mukini from Recycle Hawai’i.
March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Lotus Cafe, Dharma College
Panelists
Lael Kylin Judson
| Rural Roots Louisiana
Lael “Kylin” Judson, a junior honor student at The Dunham School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and a resident of Ascension Parish, has lost loved ones to pollution-related illnesses and works with Rural Roots Louisiana on Environmental Justice issues centered around Cancer Alley, a region disproportionately impacted by industrial toxicity. Kylin aspires to becoming an Environmental Lawyer dedicated to addressing systemic inequities and protecting vulnerable communities.
Kona Smith
Social Media Manager and Videographer | Recycle Hawai'i
Kona Smith, a young activist from Kaʻū, the southernmost and largest district of the island of Hawaiʻi (one of the six original districts of ancient Hawaii on the island, known as moku), is part of a youth group, Recycled Hawai'i, focused on achieving “zero waste” in their community and protecting and preserving its culture and historical memory. Kona is the social media manager and videographer of the group.
Chazlyn Mukini
| Recycle Hawaii
Bio coming soon.
