July 8,1981 P««« 3
SpDyay Tymoo
★ Heated hearing
“It is important to note that the g
majority of fish produced for '
this run originate from g
Continued from page 1
spawning areas within the
Warm Springs Indian
“Of the annual Reservation.
statewide top ten
“Of the annual statewide top
summer steelhead ten summer steelhead rivers in
one to four of those
rivers in Oregon, one Oregon,
rivers each year are located
to four of those rivers within or above the treaty
Indian commercial fishing
each year are located area,
” the analysis continues.
within or above the
In a thoughtful, yet strong
against the
treaty Indian com statement
decommercialization of
mercial fishing area.” steelhead and the bill, Bill
MacMillan of the Clark-
Skamania Flyfisher Associa
commercially for steelhead,” tion offered the following
claimed the Columbia River remarks:
Inter-Tribal Fish Commission
“Today, we’re examining
legislation that negates the
(CRITFC).
“These bills, if enacted, possibility for a powerful ’
would be a hook on which to political alliance to preserve
hang the gradual total steelhead by further lengthen
eradication of tribal fishing ing and intensifying a counter-
rights,” said a prepared productive internal war
statement by the CRITFC.
between two of the main user
The CRITFC also noted that groups—the sports fishermen
legislation similar to the and the Indian fishermen.
Running for rights
proposed Steelhead Trout
“The end design is to
Protection Act has failed to effectively eliminate the Indian
pass Congress in the last two as a significant user group and
sessions because these allow the sportsmen to add the
steelhead decommercialization Indian harvest to his (own)
bills have no biological, legal, catch—the end result being
moral or fiscal justification.
the same number of dead
“Despite claims of the bills steelhead combined with a 75 for the hearing.
proponents that upriver percent reduction in national
steelhead runs are in jeopardy political punch to fight for the
enhance these wild popula Union, Richard Cellarius of the
due to overfishing, the upper preservation of steelhead.”
Sierra Club’s regional
Columbia River and its
He said that sportsmen must tions....”
conservation committee agreed
He
urged
sportsmen
to
view
tributaries consistently support re-examine the Indian issue
with tribal leaders that Indian
the
Indian
as
an
ally
in
the
some of the largest sport from the standpoint of reality
fishing rights have not had a
fisheries for summer steelhead rather than emotion. The preservation of valuable detrimental affect on sports
steelhead
runs.
(The
full
text
of
within Oregon and Washing Indians have proven them
fishing, as the bills claim. They
ton,” according to a biological selves in their consistent fight MacMillan’s statement has agreed with the Indian
been
reproduced
on
page
4.)
analysis . of Columbia River for correct conservation
Besides Bill MacMillan, fishermen that the proposed act
steelhead, conducted by practices, he said.
several
non-Indian individuals would have no conservation
MacMillan told the Senate
CRITFC.
and groups offered statement impact on steelhead resources,
“In recent years the panel that it’s no accident that in support of the treaty tribes as the act implies.
However, representatives of
Deschutes River has consis really strong runs of wild and against the proposed
the fishing groups pledged
tently maintained its standing spawning steelhead “happen to legislation.
among the top summer be on rivers that have Indian
Russ Bristow of Columbia never to give up the fight to ban
steelhead sport fishing rivers teservations that use, protect, River Gillnetters’ Protective all commercial fishing of the
in Oregon,” the report states. and in some instances even
steelhead.
“These Indians must
understand that we will never,
never shut down our course to
make the steelhead a national
game fish,” vowed Chuck Voss,
a member of the National
Steelhead Trout Committee.
Among boo’s and shouts,
Dale Johnson of the Makah
Tribe remarked, “Apparently,
some value fishing for fun more
than fishing for necessity—to
earn a living and put food on
our family’s tables. We, of
course, do not share that view.
Wallulatum offers testimony against Steelhead Protection Act
“Fishing is
ol ir
Testimony of Nelson Wallula
tum on behalf of the
Confederated Tribes of the
Warm Springs Reservation of
Oregon before the Senate
Select Committee on Indian
Affairs Regarding Senate Bill
874
(Seattle, Washington June 29,
1981)
My name is Nelson
Wallulatum. I am Chief of the
Wascos, one of the three
Confederated Tribes of the
Warm Springs Reservation,
and a member of the Warm
Springs Tribal Council. I am
here to speak on behalf of the
Warm Springs Tribe in
opposition to Senate Bill 874,
the Steelhead Trout Protection
Act.
This Bill is sometimes called
the "Steelhead Decommercial
ization Bill." The Warm
Springs Tribe, however,
considers this a "Treaty
Abrogation Bill" and we are
unalterably opposed to it.
When our ancestors signed
the Treaty of 1855 they
reserved for our people the
right to fish at our usual and
accustomed stations beyond
the Reservation. The United
States Supreme Court has
interpreted this reserved right
to include the taking of
steelhead, which we have
always regarded as a type of
salmon.
To us, the fact that biologists
way of life”
proud of the fact that the major
say steelhead are an ocean-run for sportsmen tocatch. Neither production of the Deschutes
variety of . Rainbow trout claim is true.
The Warm Springs Tribe has River steelhead occurs on the
means notning. We view the
Warm Springs Reservation.
steelhead as our ancestors exclusive fishing rights in the The Warm Springs River,
Deschutes
river
where
it
viewed it—one of the great
Shitike Creek and the
fishes that returns from the sea borders our reservation. As a Deschutes River bordering the
courtesy,
we
share
this
right
each year to our traditional
Reservation are the primary
fishing sites to become food for with non-Indians. Down spawning areas which combine
our people and the basis for stream from the reservation, with the Warm Springs and
trade or sale with others to some of our usual and Round Butte hatcheries to
obtain the necessities of life. accustomed fishing places, produce the strong Deschutes
Taking steelhead, like such as Sherars Falls, are also River steelhead, which are
taking salmon, is at the heart on the Deschutes. The produced in and pass through
of the Warm Springs culture. Deschutes, as you probably the heart of the Wann Springs
We are river people and we are know, joins the Columbia Treaty fishing areg, do not need
fishermen. Catching these fish River upstream from the conservation.
is not sport or recreation. It is Treaty Indian commercial
Even if steelhead needed
fishing zone which begins at
our way-of life.
conserving, elimination the
It has been the right of the Bonneville Dam. Considering Indian fishery would not
Warm Springs people since the River's location, according increase the numbers. The
time immemorial to fish for to the sponsors of the bill there Warm Springs Tribe together
Steelhead. The Treaty of 1855 should be very few Steelhead with the three other Columbia
specifically reserves this right available for Deschutes River River Treaty Tribes agreed
to us in written form and makes sportsmen to catch. However, several years ago to limit our
it the supreme law of the land. just the opposite is true.
From 1970 through 1978, the Steelhead catch. Under the
Take legislation now before
you would take this right from Deschutes River sports catch of Five Year plan, begun in 1977,
us, a right our people have summer steelhead was .the we agreed to concentrate our,
exercised for countless largest among 92 steelhead commercial fishery on Fall
generations. For that reason, streams in Oregon. The Chinook and limit our
catch.
more than any other, we Deschutes River was Oregon’s steelhead
We were told more Chinook
leading steelhead stream even
oppose this bill.
would be available to us to
The other reason the Wann in 1977 when the four make up for the loss of
Springs Tribe opposes this bill Columbia River Treaty Tribes steelhead. We kept our part of
is that it is unnecessary. The recorded their largest ever the bargain. Since the Five
sponsors of the bill claim the commercial steelhead catch. Ye^r Plan went into effect, the
Treaty Indian fishery on The Deschutes has surrendered four Columbia River Treaty
steelhead has created a its number one position in Tribes have reduced their
conservation problem. They recent years only because of
catch from 29,000 to
say that if the Indian expanded hatchery production steelhead
3,000 during the fall season.
on
the
Rogue
and
other
rivers.
steelhead fishery is eliminated,
But our Fall Chinook catch
The Warm Springs Tribe is
more steelhead will be available
has not increased. Rather, it
has decreased during the Five
Year Plan. Instead of catching
fewer steelhead in exchange
for more salmon, we now
catch almost no steelhead and
fewer and fewer salmon. Put
simply, if there is a steelhead
conservation problem on the
upper Columbia River we are
not the cause of it and this bill
will not solve it.
The Warm Springs Tribe
regards the Treaty of 1855 as a
sacred document. It preserves
for us those rights that have
been ours since time
immemorial and protects our
culture from being over
whelmed by the world outside
our reservation. An attack on
our Treaty rights is an attack
on the Warm Springs people
and our way of life. That is how
we view the Steelhead
Decommercialization Bill—as a
threat to the Warm Springs
Tribe’s historic and treaty-
protected fishing rights which
form the basis of our culture.
Because this bill would undo
a sacred trust entered into by
the United States and the
Warm Springs people and
because there is no conserva
tion or biological purpose to be
gained for its enactment, I
respectfully but strongly urge
the committee to defeat this
legislation.
Thank you.