Stitching a Path Forward

Upper Klamath Lake at sunset during wildfire season (Courtesy of Thien-Kim Bui)

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but what about a quilt?

Portland State graduate student Thien-Kim Bui is hoping the art form can be a vehicle for conversations about water conflict and collaboration in Oregon's Upper Klamath Basin.

"Figuring out how people think about water, talk about water, perceive water, believe what water is for - all of those become more important as we move into a future where there's just simply not enough water," Bui said.

Bui, a fourth-year doctoral student in PSU's Earth, Environment and Society program, was recently awarded a three-year predoctoral fellowship from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture. It's a first for a Portland State student. The grant will fully fund their dissertation research.

Bui said the Klamath Basin, long a site of conflict over issues of water, is an area of major interest for NIFA as the agency looks to learn how farmers and ranchers work with other people living in the community to resolve water access issues.

The Klamath Tribes hold the most senior water rights, dating to time immemorial, on Upper Klamath Lake and its tributaries. That means that when drought conditions worsen, the tribes can invoke those rights to protect Lost River (C'waam) and shortnose sucker fish (Qapdo) - endangered species that live only in the basin and have been culturally important to the tribes for thousands of years. But that also means that water can become unavailable for cattle ranchers and farmers.

Though part of Bui's research will examine previous collaborative efforts and legal documents as well as documenting an emerging conflict between the tribes and a proposed pumped storage hydroelectric system, quilting offers a creative outlet for new kinds of conversations to emerge.

It's a process Bui calls "material deliberation" - not just getting people together to talk through a problem but moving through it together in a more participatory way. In rural communities, quilting is a big deal. Chiloquin has a quilting group that meets weekly and it turns out there are a lot of tribal members who quilt.

For the last two years, Bui has been floating the idea of making a quilt map of water values and perspectives in the region.

"It's a method where people can talk about what it means to keep water in the Upper Klamath Basin - like where do we keep it? How do we keep it? How do we care for it? Who uses it? When do they use it? All of these questions tend to engender conflict, but how do we talk about difficult things in a way that can feel safer and where people can build trust slowly over time?" Bui said.

Sure, some people don't think it'll work, but plenty others have expressed interest.

"I am under no illusion that everyone is going to want to quilt, but I do think that many people would," Bui said. "There's a whole lot of people who would like to be a part of those conversations that aren't invited to those rooms where policy decisions are being made … and quilting is an intervention that can help surface more voices."

Bui said that not only does the fellowship relieve the pressure of trying to complete their dissertation research while also working to make a living, but it gives them the gift of time.

"I'm pretty excited to see how much more I can do with it," they said. "This fellowship offers me the gift of really leaning into that experimental quilting process and building community connections, and that is a thing that will take time."