This is Bird Note.

Ayukwe Nikitou.

Neknaw Tiana Williams-Klasen, Esi Pulik Neme.

I am a Uruk tribal member from the village of Wechkwell.

My home is in northwestern California where the Klamath River meets the Pacific Ocean,

and in the mountains and the beautiful coastlines here.

The Uruk people have co-evolved with this region

as both caretakers and recipients of its bounties.

Uruk and surrounding tribes are deeply connected with our traditional lands,

but that relationship was profoundly damaged after the California gold rush.

Iraq were forced off of our land, which was then managed for extraction.

This caused many casualties.

Preganish, or California Condor, was driven locally extinct.

Ecologically, as scavengers, Condors are the ultimate environmental cleanup crew.

Culturally, Preganish ties closely to local tribal obligations as world renewal people.

Preganish carries our prayers for the world to be in balance.

Our elders have long been committed to restoring Preganesh to Uruk ancestral territory,

and it has been the focus of my entire career.

The Uruk tribe has forged a partnership with the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service to bring Condors back home.

I'm happy to say that my four-year-old daughter will grow up with condors in her sky.

In May 2022, after more than a century, the first condors flew free in Uruk country.

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