![\"Walking](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/5C3A0730-AB03-47FC-929D-D6A99FC99295.jpg\")
Members of the Round Valley Indian Tribe participate the the 15th annual 100-mile Nome Cult Trail near Anthony Peak in the Mendocino National Forest. (Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\nJames Russ and Joseph Parker, the former and current presidents of the Round Valley Indian Tribes, are seeking to make their reservation healthy again.<\/p>\n
That means helping their people, they say, and specifically tackling high rates of diabetes and obesity that affect their tribal nation and many other Indigenous communities.<\/p>\n
It also means restoring their land and the river that has been intrinsically linked with their people for millennia.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are Native people tied to the resources and rhythms of the Eel River,\u201d Parker said. \u201cOur health is connected to the river.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, the tribal nation is confronting the Trump administration over the river\u2019s future and fighting some of its regional allies to reclaim water rights that have been overlooked for a century.<\/p>\n
Members of the Round Valley Indian Tribe participate the the 15th annual 100-mile Nome Cult Trail near Anthony Peak in the Mendocino National Forest. (Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n
The struggle is taking place as the entity with a dominant stake in the river for generations, Pacific Gas & Electric Co., seeks to give up in Lake and Mendocino counties its network of Eel River dams and a linked hydropower plant. The move has triggered a federal review that has pitted the tribes, together with environmental groups in favor of dam removal, against farming interests, reservoir supporters and the Trump administration<\/a>, which has taken a dim view of dam demolition.<\/p>\n The tribes never had much of a say when those dams went up starting 118 years ago, but they have been heavily involved in talks in recent years geared to planning for the future of the Eel River. Due to a century-old diversion that links the Eel River to the Russian River in the south \u2014 and to farms and about 100,000 residents who rely on the upper Russian for drinking and irrigation supplies \u2014 those talks have drawn in a host of sometimes competing interests, including counties and farm and fishery groups with a wider scope of interest across the North Coast.<\/p>\n Our \u201cwater rights were completely ignored,\u201d Parker said of his ancestors. \u201cThe Round Valley Indian Tribes were very much in survival mode when the dams were built and the diversions began.<\/p>\n \u201cIt started in 1905 when W.W. Van Arsdale posted a note along a tree saying he had a right to appropriate more than 100,000 acre-feet of Eel River water to put into the Russian River basin,\u201d Parker said. \u201cThat\u2019s how it all started.\u201d<\/p>\n Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat<\/p>\n Scott Dam at Lake Pillsbury, Wednesday, May 14, 2025, in Lake County. (Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n CHRISTOPHER CHUNG \/ The Press Democrat<\/p>\n Water from the Eel River flows over Cape Horn Dam at the Potter Valley Project. (CHRISTOPHER CHUNG \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Cape Horn Dam is part of the Potter Valley Project. (Kyle Schwartz\/Courtesy of CalTrout)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n John Burgess \/ The Press Democrat<\/p>\n From left, PG&E Hydro Licensing Director Janet Walther, Sonoma County Supervisor David Rabbitt, Sonoma Water Division Manager David Manning and SSU Economics Professor Dr. Robert Eyler take questions Tuesday, July 1, 2025, at a Potter Valley Project town hall meeting at the Finley Center in Santa Rosa. (John Burgess \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Christopher Chung\/ The Press Democrat<\/p>\n Water diverted from the Eel River flows out of the Potter Valley Powerhouse into the east fork of the Russian River in Potter Valley. A new diversion facility would be built if the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approves PG&E\u2019s plans to decommission its power plant and surrender its operating license. (Christopher Chung\/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Christopher Chung\/ The Press Democrat<\/p>\n Water diverted from the Eel River turns generators inside PG&E’s Potter Valley Powerhouse hydroelectric plant, which releases the water into the East Fork of the Russian River in Mendocino County on Thursday, April 6, 2017. (Christopher Chung\/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Mendocino Land Trust<\/p>\n A map of the 5,620 acres along the main stem Eel River near Lake Pillsbury newly protected under conservation easement held by the Mendocino Land Trust as part of Pacific Gas & Electric Company’s 2003 bankruptcy settlement. The settlement, in part, required permanent protection of 140,000 acres of sensitive watershed lands surrounding PG&E hydroelectric facilities. The acreage includes the bed and shoreline of Lake Pillsbury, riverside land along most of the Eel River between the lake and the Potter Valley hydroelectric plant, and the property around the plant itself. (Mendocino Land Trust)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The north end of Potter Valley in Mendocino County basks in sunlight on May 14, 2025. (Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Show Caption<\/p>\n Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat<\/p>\n 1 of 8<\/p>\n Scott Dam at Lake Pillsbury, Wednesday, May 14, 2025, in Lake County. (Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n Expand<\/a><\/p>\n PG&E has informed federal officials it wants to decommission Scott and Cape Horn dams<\/a> and give up the aging, associated hydropower plant, offline since 2021, that has helped get Eel River water through Mendocino County\u2019s Potter Valley into the Russian River basin.<\/p>\n In 2022, the power company applied to surrender its operating license to the Federal Energy Regulation Commission, which oversees the nation\u2019s hydropower projects. The utility giant followed through with formal plans to FERC in June 2025.<\/p>\n Historically, FERC has had the final say and has not stood in the way of dam removal, though Congress and the White House have.<\/p>\n Years from now, the tribes and their allies hope their efforts will lead to the nation\u2019s next big dam removal project, freeing the headwaters of California\u2019s third longest river to revive its beleaguered salmon and steelhead trout runs \u2014 and the culture and economy of the Round Valley Indian Tribes, said John Bezdek, an attorney for the seven-tribe nation.<\/p>\n The Press Democrat<\/p>\n This map shows the location of Scott Dam, impounding Lake Pillsbury, and Cape Horn Dam, creating Van Arsdale Reservoir, on the Eel River, the Potter Valley power plant, and the diversion tunnel that feeds the powerhouse and supplements flows in the East Fork of the Russian River. (The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n \u201cThe fishery declined with the significant diversions of water into the watershed,\u201d Bezdek said. \u201cIt was a source of subsistence and culture. This is a fishing tribe. That was taken away from them.\u201d<\/p>\n Farming interests and others in the region, however, are against dam removal, pointing to downstream ripples for irrigators and drinking water customers, the loss of reservoir water for aerial fire suppression and the blow to the hundreds of Lake County residents and visitors around the largest of those reservoirs, Lake Pillsbury, a destination for boaters and hunters.<\/p>\n The view of partially depleted Lake Pillsbury above the snow line of Hull Mountain at 6,700\u2019 in elevation, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in the Mendocino National Forest . The snowpack is at record low levels. Pillsbury is partially replenished by the surrounding mountain snowpack. (Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat<\/p>\n Decades of signatures from visitors to Lake Pillsbury cover support poles inside Soda Creek Store Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat File<\/p>\n Lake Pillsbury, Dec. 13, 2018. (Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat File)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n An elk pauses in partially dry Lake Pillsbury as the August Complex burns, Sept. 21, 2020 in Lake County. (Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat) 2020<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Amie Windsor \/ The Press Democrat<\/p>\n ‘Save Lake Pillsbury’ signs can be spotted throughout the Lake Pillsbury watershed, including Potter Valley. (Amie Windsor \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Show Caption<\/p>\n 1 of 5<\/p>\n The view of partially depleted Lake Pillsbury above the snow line of Hull Mountain at 6,700\u2019 in elevation, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in the Mendocino National Forest . The snowpack is at record low levels. Pillsbury is partially replenished by the surrounding mountain snowpack. (Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n Expand<\/a><\/p>\n They secured a powerful ally late last year in the Trump administration,<\/a> which raised its objections to dam regulators in a Dec. 19 letter from Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. She warned that \u201cif this plan goes through as proposed, it will devastate hundreds of family farms and wipe out more than a century of agricultural tradition in Potter Valley. Without it, crops fail, businesses close and rural communities crumble.\u201d<\/p>\n Rollins also said that her department would work with the Department of the Interior to bring \u201creal solutions\u201d for water security to the North Coast.<\/p>\n The Round Valley tribes responded Jan. 14 in a letter to those two agencies, spotlighting a familiar slight: Rollins\u2019 failure to acknowledge or even mention the tribes\u2019 \u201csenior water and fishing rights, much less our culture, our economy and our way of life.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are reminding the departments \u2026 that the discussions going back to DC have been one sided and that we have been left out of the conversation,\u201d Parker said in an interview with The Press Democrat.<\/p>\n U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins, right, speaks during a farm tour in Lebanon, Ind., Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo\/Michael Conroy)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum speaks during the Western Governors\u2019 Association meeting Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo\/Rebecca Noble)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Christopher Chung\/The Press Democrat<\/p>\n Cloverdale Mayor Todd Lands speaks during the Potter Valley Project town hall meeting in Cloverdale on Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Christopher Chung\/The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Show Caption<\/p>\n 1 of 3<\/p>\n U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins, right, speaks during a farm tour in Lebanon, Ind., Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo\/Michael Conroy)\n<\/p>\n Expand<\/a> Just as dam removal opponents, including Lake County itself, are lobbying the administration to intervene and block federal sign-off on PG&E\u2019s plans, the tribes and their allies are asking Washington, D.C., to allow a locally brokered water pact to proceed.<\/p>\n Known as the two-basin solution<\/a>, it solidified a 30-year framework under which diversions from the Eel River to the Russian River would continue after dam removal, at least in periods of high flows, and only if there\u2019s enough water in the Eel to support its salmon and steelhead runs. The pact supporters, including many local governments and water providers, agreed to construct a new diversion facility to support those operations, and to return water rights to Round Valley Indian Tribes who, as the first people in the area, have seniority rights to Eel River flows.<\/p>\n Hailed by supporters as historic when it was finalized in early 2025, the deal sought to rectify wrongs that disadvantaged tribes and harmed Eel River fisheries, signatories said.<\/p>\n \u201cOur tribal members work and live in the broader regional community and despite the historic injustice to our tribal community, an \u2018all or nothing approach\u2019 is simply not realistic,\u201d Parker wrote to the secretaries.<\/p>\n Parker and Russ said it was better to come together with partners and collaborate on a solution.<\/p>\n \u201cWe decided at the time we could spend the next 20 years arguing about what\u2019s right and what\u2019s wrong,\u201d Russ said. \u201cWe decided collectively to focus on our commonalities so that maybe our kids and grandkids wouldn\u2019t be fighting this war. We started to figure out what would be beneficial for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n But the deal has many staunch opponents<\/a>, and few more visible these days than Cloverdale Vice Mayor Todd Lands, who has made his opposition to the pact and to dam removal a central part of his campaign for a seat on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. In January, he accompanied Secretary Rollins at an American Farm Bureau Federation conference in Anaheim, speaking out against the two-basin solution and appealing to the Trump administration to intervene.<\/p>\n \u201cThe two-basin solution does not guarantee water,\u201d Lands told The Press Democrat. He fears the change from year-round to seasonal diversions will not be enough to fill Lake Mendocino, which helps sustain dry-season flows in the upper Russian River, the main source of drinking water for communities stretching from Ukiah to Healdsburg.<\/p>\n Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat<\/p>\n A harmful and potentially toxic algal bloom was detected in the East Fork of the Russian River in Mendocino County, seen here in 2021, just ahead of the long Labor Day weekend, officials said. (Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Javier Soberanis of Ukiah, takes a stroll on the exposed shoreline of southern arm of Lake Mendocino, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. The north boat ramp has been closed because of the low water level. (Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat<\/p>\n Santa Rosa residents Andy Thongdy, left, and Kevin Vich fish the flooded south parking lot at Lake Mendocino northeast of Ukiah, Friday, April 11, 2025. (Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Gonzolo Garcia and Annabelle Rousseau enjoy their first day of vacation at Lake Mendocino. Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, north of Ukiah. (Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Warren Koors of Ukiah attempts to add to his take of bass, as he casts in to the nearly full Lake Mendocino, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026m North of Ukiah. (Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat<\/p>\n The east fork of the Russian River cuts a narrow and lazy path through the drought-parched canyons and lake bed of Lake Mendocino east of Ukiah, Sunday, June 20, 2021. Highway 20 is on the left. (Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Show Caption<\/p>\n Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat<\/p>\n 1 of 6<\/p>\n A harmful and potentially toxic algal bloom was detected in the East Fork of the Russian River in Mendocino County, seen here in 2021, just ahead of the long Labor Day weekend, officials said. (Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n Expand<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThis will cause drought conditions, not allow cities to replenish their water systems for fire and public use, and cause disease in the (Russian) river basin,\u201d Lands said. \u201cPeople will have to decide between showers and laundry and will not be able to have their own gardens as a food source.\u201d<\/p>\n He also echoed shared concerns among dam removal opponents that the Round Valley Indian Tribes would cease all diversions \u201cif the goals of the water supply and fish in the Eel River are not met.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
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![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/TPD-L-kp1210_Lake_04.jpg\"\/)
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\n![\"'Save](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/95e4c0e4-1ab3-5a7e-8baa-0d266165ba09.jpg?w=620\")
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![\"U.S.](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Ag_Secretary_Soybean_Farmers_96102.jpg\"\/)
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\nTribes to DC: Respect local solution<\/p>\n\n
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\n![\"Santa](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0feb9535-4a75-5901-ab3e-29f182b1f285.jpg?w=620\")
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The Eel River east of Potter Valley is summertime slow and lazy creating a spot for day use with water backed up by the Van Arsdale Reservoir at the Cape Horn Dam, Friday, June 7, 2024. (Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat) 2024<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/8487f2ca-0d2d-582f-9ee5-55c0e898d685.jpg\")
<\/p>\n