Family plays a pivotal role in this episode as Host Dave Schlom is joined first by Yurok tribal member and environmental engineer Brook M. Thompson. Brook shares how her strong ties to family (especially her grandfather and father) and community have shaped her work, bringing traditional indigenous practices to mainstream science.
![Baby Brook with her father Willie and grandfather Archie Thompson at their family home on the Klamath.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/a1a1858/2147483647/strip/true/crop/960x540+0+0/resize/880x495!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F66%2Fe5%2F31958b9c4139b271a21e6f3efa3a%2Fdownload-3.png)
She and other members of the Yurok tribe are currently helping with ecosystem restoration as part of the Klamath Dam removal project, the largest in U.S. history. Thompson shares insights she has gleaned from around the world, gathering points of view from many cultures in order to implement more balanced approaches to our imperiled planet's ecosystems.
At the conclusion of the show, family once again takes center stage as Producer Matt Fidler and his father Rich join Dave to talk about Matt's grandfather, Harold Fidler, who was a pivotal part of the US Army's role working with UC Berkeley scientists on the Manhattan Project, the subject of the new Christopher Nolan film, Oppenheimer.
![Harold Fidler receiving the Legion of Merit from General Leslie Groves (portrayed by Matt Damon in the film Oppenheimer) in 1945 at Ernest Lawrence's home in Berkeley, CA.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/2bb4141/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1024x683+0+0/resize/880x587!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb1%2Fc3%2F682656e3454e96df61a0ff103fae%2Fdownload-4.png)