The Water Remembers: My Indigenous Family's Fight to Save a River and a Way of Life

by Amy Bowers Cordalis Narrated by Amy Bowers Cordalis

Overview

The Yurok Tribe and an Indigenous family share a moving multigenerational story of their fight to undam the Klamath river-the largest river restoration project in history-and save the planet.

The Water Remembers is the story of Indigenous resistance and an American family's fight to preserve its legacy. For more than half a century, between 1905 and 1962, the Federal government constructed one of the largest reclamation projects in the country at the headwaters of the Klamath River, comprised of four dams. They did not include salmon ladders and this denied fish access to hundreds of miles of historical habitat. This oversight and other decisions not to release water for the endangered species of fish and Tribal water rights led to increased water temperatures and toxic algae pollution, which killed hundreds of thousands of salmon. This ecocide destroyed the fishing, hunting, and gathering lifestyle of the Yurok Tribe-the largest in Northern California-preventing them from making a dignified living.

A blend of memoir and history, The Water Remembers speaks passionately to environmental justice and conservation, as well as responsible stewardship. Engrossing, Amy Bowers Cordalis recounts her twenty-year fight against the United States government, chronicling how she evolved from a naïve Westernized 22-year-old to an advocate for her people. As General Counsel for the Yurok Tribe, she ensured the removal of the dams in December 2024.

This is a story that should be in American history books. Cordalis shares her family's generational fight for Indigenous respect that resulted in federal recognition of their cultural and ceremonial water rights. Her great uncle sued the State of California for the Yurok people to retain fishing rights and jurisdiction to regulate its own fishery. A case that made it all the way to the Supreme Court and involved the federal government putting a moratorium on all Yurok fishing, and physical enforcement from federal marshals.

The Water Remembers involves genocide, assimilation, and oppression, but victory, in protecting one's home, environment, and way of life.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

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

“Amy’s writing sings with urgency and purpose."—Josh "Bones" Murphy, Filmmaker/Director of Patagonia's Artifishal

"Triumphant story and ever widens the awareness of the dangers that threaten Indigenous people and their historic lands."—Congressman Jared Huffman

"A powerful interweaving of memory, history, and activism, The Water Remembers is a lyrical and uncompromising account of Amy Bowers Cordalis’s fight to protect the Klamath River and the sovereignty of the Yurok Nation. Told through a Yurok storytelling lens, this book traverses ancestral knowledge, ecological devastation, and legal resistance, revealing the sacred bond between people and river. Bowers Cordalis, an attorney and lifelong fisherwoman, writes with the clarity of lived experience and the heart of a riverkeeper. This is a vital work of Indigenous resurgence and environmental justice, brimming with spirit, truth, and unstoppable resolve."—Terese Marie Mailhot, author of Heart Berries

"In this moving memoir, Amy Bowers Cordalis shows what happens when ancestral memory joins forces with the law. The fight for the Klamath River is an important fight for tribal and environmental justice in the American West."—David Owen, author of Where the Water Goes

"The Water Remembers is a powerful, poetic testament to Indigenous resilience and reverence for the natural world. Amy Bowers Cordalis weaves history, activism, and sacred connection into a compelling narrative of communities fighting to protect what is most vital. 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

"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

"Water is family and activism is generational in Amy Bowers Cordalis’s moving account of the Yurok Nation’s long battle to save the Klamath River and enable unprecedented environmental restoration. Her own role in that story is bravely fought and beautifully told in The Water Remembers, which is a summons for more courage, connection, and community to save the places we hold dear."

—Tara Lohan, environmental journalist and author of Undammed

"Like Amy Bowers, I grew up learning the stories and values that have sustained my community for generations. In the high desert of New Mexico, we know water is precious, but nationwide, the exploitation of lands and waters and sidelining Indigenous Knowledge throughout history have dealt a heavy blow to the resources that sustain us.  Our future requires a drastic shift to the generational world view like the one Amy Bowers presents in The Water Remembers. Her 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

“Amy Bowers Cordalis story tells us how Yurok values are lived. The Water Remembers details how and why she assumed her responsibility to protect our homelands and all that we value. Her 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)

"Amy Bowers Cordalis proves determination can save a river. The Water Remembers is an important record of how the Klamath became a battleground and a blueprint for action for future generations."—Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia

"Her tribe's resistance is rendered here in potent prose. Bowers Cordalis moves fluidly between her own story, personal accounts of her family and tribe, and the mighty river itself. A moving and empowering account of an Indigenous tribe’s tenacity in the face of injustice."—Kirkus, starred review

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2025-07-17
The story of the largest dam removal in U.S. history.

When Bowers Cordalis accepted a summer internship in her Yurok family village, in Northern California, she didn’t expect to witness the largest fish kill in American history. It was 2002, but well before her arrival the conditions had been primed for salmon loss on a massive scale. For nearly a century, a system of dams and canals had been used to convert the once-fertile salmon grounds and traditional Yurok territory into agricultural land. During that time, the U.S. government systematically reduced Yurok access to their native lands and fishing grounds, while increasing the amount of water diverted to farmers. By the time Bowers Cordalis steered a boat through miles of dead chinook piled three or four layers deep, the sickness resulting from the government’s water diversion had led to losses of between 34,000 and 78,000 adult chinook, losses that the colonial exploitation of the river had been building toward for a long time. Bowers Cordalis describes her Yurok tribe as people intrinsically connected to the salmon, people who consider the right to fish “as important to us as breathing.” Their way of life was at stake, as were the livelihood of the salmon and the health of the Klamath River. In trying to exercise their right to fish, her family had survived violence, intimidation, harassment, and an armed occupation on their reservation. The author’s path as an attorney and eventual leader in the successful removal of the Klamath dams grew out of that suffering. Her tribe’s resistance is rendered here in potent prose. Bowers Cordalis moves fluidly between her own story, personal accounts of her family and tribe, and the mighty river itself.

A moving and empowering account of an Indigenous tribe’s tenacity in the face of injustice.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940191487564
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	10/28/2025
Edition description:	Unabridged