Congratulations to Upper School Social Science Instructor Dr. Kevin Guay, whose article, “Dammed by Design: Treaty Rights, Infrastructure, and the Culvert Case in Washington State,” was recently published in Pacific Northwest Quarterly, a peer-reviewed academic history journal published by the University of Washington. The article examines the decades-long legal battle over Washington State road culverts that blocked salmon migration and interfered with Native tribes’ treaty-protected fishing rights, exploring the intersection of Indigenous treaty rights, environmental responsibility, and state infrastructure.

For Dr. Guay, the case is especially compelling because of how directly it connects history to the present. Treaties, he explains, are not simply historical artifacts found in archives and textbooks, but legal documents that continue to carry cultural, environmental, political, and economic significance today. The Culvert Case offers an accessible way to bring those ongoing impacts to a broader audience.

We’re proud to have faculty like Dr. Guay who bring their own scholarship and expertise into the Laguna classroom!

Read Dr. Guay’s Article