Return to the River is a Yurok Tribe-led planning project co-created with the community and the landscape architect. The first client is the river and the design both invites people back to the river and extends the healthy ecology to the townsite. Today the townsite is bisected by Highway 101, making it difficult and dangerous to move from main street to the river without a car. Informed by extensive community collaboration and centering pre-colonial ecology, the design celebrates Yurok culture, addresses the needs of current and future generations, and provides safer access across the highway to the river. Repairing access to the river honors the sacred place it holds in Yurok culture and connects people to the natural world.

Beyond overcoming the physical barrier posed by Highway 101, the Yurok Tribe expressed a strong desire to address health in its broadest sense. Throughout both stakeholder and public engagement, many people stated that the health of the river, the health of the ecosystem, and the health of the community are inseparable. By positioning health as the throughline of ‘Return to the River’, the design team designed the project to connect to the widest range of stakeholders — humans and non-humans alike.

The first client is the river. The flow of water is given space and accepted as part of the natural health of the landscape. It was assumed that the Riverside upland would still get wet when it floods. Living beings such as plants and animals were given equal importance to humans in the plan and designs which only worked for people were deemed incomplete.