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THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, dEcEmbER 11, 2021
OPINION
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INSIGHT
‘Our natural resources are our cultural resources’
A
ja DeCoteau grew up on the
Yakama Indian Reservation in
Washington state, and she fondly
remembers fishing in the Columbia River
basin and hunting with her family as she
learned about the importance of Indige-
nous First Foods.
Still, she thought she’d end up work-
ing as a medical doctor someday.
But after high school, she got a job
with her tribe’s forestry department, and
then during breaks and
summers in college,
she kept finding her-
self working in natural
resources.
“I have great mem-
ories of going hunting
with my brother and sis-
CHRIS
ter and trout fishing with
AADLAND
my dad. I feel like I’ve
always had an interest
in my environment,” she said in a recent
interview. “And, of course, knowing the
importance of what we call First Foods to
our culture and our religion is something
that has always been a part of who I am.”
Those summers working in forestry
for her tribe led her to a career in natu-
ral resources instead of medicine. Even-
tually, that led her to the Portland-head-
quartered Columbia River Inter-Tribal
Fish Commission, which represents the
interests of the four Columbia River
treaty tribes in policy, advocacy and man-
agement of the basin.
And now, 12 years after joining that
organization, she was recently named its
executive director, marking the first time
a woman has ever held the position.
The organization announced DeCo-
teau as the new executive director on
Nov. 1 after she had served in the role on
an interim basis since April, after the pre-
vious executive director, Jaime Pinkham,
was appointed to a high-ranking job with
the federal government.
It’s a position that DeCoteau — who
is a citizen of the Confederated Tribes
and Bands of the Yakama Nation and is a
descendent of the Cayuse, Nez Perce and
Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indi-
ans — said she’s always wanted to hold
since coming to the commission.
“I am honored and excited to lead
CRITFC and work together with our
member tribes to bridge traditional
knowledge, scientific expertise and cul-
tural connection to ensure that we have
salmon and other natural resources for
generations to come,” DeCoteau said.
While DeCoteau said she’s excited
for the opportunity — and honored to be
the first woman leader of the commission
in its nearly 50-year history — she takes
over at a pivotal time for the organization
amid a series of challenges, including cli-
mate change, dwindling salmon popu-
lations and questions over the future of
dams and hydropower along the Colum-
bia River.
She’ll be tasked with guiding the com-
mission through those challenges by
working with a diverse range of organiza-
tions and interests — from agriculture to
shipping to recreation — with a stake in
the watershed’s future.
For the commission, the ultimate goal
is ensuring the health of salmon popula-
tions for future generations. DeCoteau
said salmon are not only important eco-
nomically for many tribal citizens, but
are also central to the culture of the four
tribes that make up the commission, as
well as many other tribal nations in the
Pacific Northwest.
She noted that salmon coming through
the lower Columbia River last year num-
bered about 1.3 million. In 1855, an esti-
mated 17 million salmon swam up the
river.
“There is a long road ahead of us,”
said Quincy Ellenwood, the commis-
sion’s chairman, who is part of the Nez
Perce. But, he added, “I have the ultimate
confidence in her.”
An unintentional fisheries career
DeCoteau received bachelor of arts
degrees in environmental studies and
Native American studies from Dart-
mouth College and a master’s of envi-
ronmental management from Yale Uni-
versity. As an undergraduate, she wrote
her senior thesis on salmon but still
had no idea she would go into fisher-
ies work.
After various roles in natural
resources, including as a wildlife biol-
ogist and as an environmental pro-
gram manager with the Yakama Nation,
DeCoteau landed at the commission,
where she’s spent most of her 12-plus
years as the watershed department man-
ager, overseeing the implementation
of a tribal salmon restoration plan and
coordinating the organization’s climate
change research and response, among
other responsibilities.
“It wasn’t really intentional to go
into fisheries work, but it’s always
Leah Nash/Underscore.news
Aja DeCoteau chats with Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission Treasurer Jeremy Takala during the commission’s monthly meeting
in November in northeast Portland.
Leah Nash/Underscore.news
Art hangs on the wall inside the
commission’s offices in Portland. The
organization works to protect and restore
populations of salmon and other fish in
the Columbia River basin.
been a part of my work and my educa-
tion without me realizing it,” DeCoteau
said.
She’s excited to lead an organiza-
tion that plays such an important role in
the future of the Columbia River basin,
particularly in light of how many other
Indigenous people are being chosen for
prominent roles, including former U.S.
Rep. Deb Haaland as U.S. Secretary of
the Interior and Chuck Sams, an Ore-
gon native and citizen of the Confeder-
ated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Res-
ervation, who was recently confirmed to
lead the National Park Service.
Pinkham, the commission’s last
executive director, was appointed in
April as principal deputy assistant sec-
retary of the Army for civil works and
is also serving as the acting assistant
secretary of the Army for civil works.
“There are all these great appoint-
ments going on in Indian Country,”
DeCoteau said, characterizing the trend
as “amazing.”
DeCoteau was chosen by a selection
committee consisting of members from
the four tribes that make up the com-
mission: the Nez Perce Tribe, the Con-
federated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of
the Warm Springs Reservation and the
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the
Yakama Nation, whose combined res-
ervation and ceded lands cover 25% of
the Columbia River basin across Wash-
ington state, Oregon and Idaho.
The commission that governs the
organization is also represented by the
four tribes. That commission acts only
when a consensus is reached. In a press
release, the commission said the com-
mittee chose DeCoteau because of her
experience and how she led the agency
as interim executive director.
DeCoteau also sits on the board of
trustees for Earthjustice, the board of
directors for Columbia Land Trust and
Portland Energy Conservation Inc., and
the board of advisors for WorldOregon.
“It is an honor as we see more and
more Native American women take
leadership roles nationally, in our tribal
governments and in the care and man-
agement of our First Foods,” said Jer-
emy Takala, the commission’s treasurer,
who is part of the Yakama Nation. “Aja
will carry on the tribal vision of putting
fish back in the rivers that this organiza-
tion has been working toward for nearly
50 years.”
An image on a door inside the commission’s
Portland
offices
representing
the
organization’s four treaty tribes, whose
combined reservation and ceded lands
cover 25% of the Columbia River basin
across Washington state, Oregon and Idaho.
Upholding treaty rights
In 1855, four Columbia River tribes
entered into treaties with the federal gov-
ernment that guaranteed fishing rights on
their traditional homelands. But, accord-
ing to the commission, those rights
were continually encroached upon until
the 1960s and 1970s, when legislative
actions and court rulings began to affirm
the original treaty rights.
With strengthened rights came the
need for a unified voice among tribes
and more expertise and management of
Columbia River fisheries, at a time of
declining salmon populations.
In 1977, the four Columbia River
treaty tribes formed the commission to
advocate on their behalf around pol-
icy and upholding treaty rights, as well
as provide fisheries management assis-
tance and research. Today, the coordinat-
ing agency has more than 130 employees,
including lawyers, policy analysts, biol-
ogists and even police officers who work
to enforce fishing regulations and protect
tribal fishers.
Broadly, the commission’s priorities
are to put fish back in the rivers, protect
treaty fishing rights, share salmon culture
and provide direct services to tribal mem-
bers who fish along the Columbia River.
That could mean conducting research and
coordinating management among tribes,
working with lawmakers to ensure mem-
ber tribes receive adequate funding for
management and infrastructure projects
and working to ensure treaty rights are
honored.
More recently, with the COVID-19
pandemic, DeCoteau said the commis-
sion expanded its mission to provide
additional services, such as partner-
ing to outfit and operate a mobile medi-
cal van for tribal fishers at the 31 in-lieu
and treaty fishing access sites along the
Columbia River, which are often far from
tribal lands and resources. The federal
government established these treaty-guar-
anteed fishing access sites, beginning in
the 1990s, to compensate the tribes for
the loss of traditional fishing spots after
they were inundated by water with the
construction of the Bonneville Dam in
the 1930s.
Much has changed since the commis-
sion’s earliest days, and even in the dozen
years since DeCoteau started working
there. For example, she said the effects
of climate change, and recognition of
the challenges it poses for the future, are
now at the forefront of the organization’s
actions.
“When I first started, we had been
working with the tribes and talking about
climate change, but it wasn’t elevated to a
level in national or international dialogue
that it is today,” DeCoteau said. “And I
think that’s something that is completely
different. And rightly so, because espe-
cially for us, our natural resources are our
cultural resources.”
Whether it’s a question over the future
of hydropower and dams in the Colum-
bia River basin, how to better provide
services to Indigenous fishers or how to
address climate change and manage fish
populations, all decisions will have a
foremost priority in mind: increasing the
number of salmon and other fish in the
Columbia River and its tributaries.
Amy Souers Kober, of the environ-
mental advocacy nonprofit American
Rivers, said DeCoteau is the right person
to tackle these difficult questions.
“I see Aja as a really strong leader, a
really dynamic, important voice for riv-
ers and salmon in the region,” Souers
Kober said. “She’s been a great voice to
talk about the importance of rivers and
salmon to tribes, and everybody who
lives here. These rivers are the lifeblood
of this region. You can’t separate salmon
from the Pacific Northwest. And I think
it’s really important that everybody who
lives here understands that.”
As debate over the future of the
basin’s dams intensifies, DeCoteau said
the organization is finalizing its own
energy vision report that will make rec-
ommendations to address hydropower
and dams. She hopes to release the report
at the end of the year or early next year.
In addition to increasing the number
of salmon and other fish like lamprey in
the Columbia River, she wants to spend
the next few years growing the number
of tribal citizens who work for the organi-
zation, tribes or in natural resources and
fisheries management. That’s where, she
said, the commission’s outreach and edu-
cation components come into play.
Going forward, DeCoteau said she
will spend the next few years expand-
ing workforce development initiatives,
through efforts like salmon camps for
tribal youth, nurturing youth leaders, get-
ting curriculum into schools and offering
college scholarships.
“Getting interest from kids at a young
age in natural resources, and fisheries in
general, will benefit us in the future, too,”
she said. “The next (CRITFC) executive
director down the road might be some
kid who went to salmon camp and really
loved it.”
Chris Aadland covers tribal affairs
in the Pacific Northwest for Underscore.
news and Indian Country Today and is a
descendant of the Red Lake Nation and
Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. This story
originally appeared on Underscore.news.
Underscore is a nonprofit collaborative
reporting team in Portland focused on
investigative reporting and Indian coun-
try coverage.