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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 31, 2009)
Spilyay T ym oo, W arm Springs, Oregon Page 2 December 31, 2 0 0 9 Schoolhouse salmon released into creek B y T erri H a rb e r Spilyay Tymoo — — tures,” but a sudden change in water temperature could cause them stress, he said of the litde salmon. The Warm Springs students could be seen checking on the fish at least once a day, often more frequently, while the fish lived on campus, said Sarah Bennett, one o f the teachers. It was first planned last year to bring some baby salmon to Warm Springs students so they could watch them grow from eggs to fish. However, the tim ing was wrong because the chil dren would have been out of school when the salmon would have been released, Bennett said. The fish have proved them selves great little tools for teach ing the children about life cycles, the environment and how im » w ® ■d-’V' T in y Chinook salmon that had called Warm Springs Elemen tary School their home for sev eral weeks were released into Shitike Creek on Dec. 16 to be gin their long, perilous journey to Deschutes River, then the Pacific Ocean and, eventually, back. Fewer than one in 100 of the salmon are expected to survive th e lengthy trip, said Jens Lovtang, a fisheries manage ment supervisor with Natural Resources. Warm Springs Chief Delvis Heath compared the salmon to warriors because both take on perilous missions. He sang to the children during a brief cer emony near the edge o f the creek. “These fish you kids have raised have a long journey,” Chief Heath told the group of 3rd graders who played host to the fish that lived in on-campus incubation tanks. “They will go to the ocean and not many will come back.” At top, the students release H e also blessed the little fish; and (above) Hewlett- salmon before they were intro Dubisar and Blueback duced into their new, natural transfer the fish to buckets. home. Then three o f the stu dents, one at a time and repre senting each class of 3rd grad fall m orning was “unusual,” ers, carefully emptied plastic Lovtang said. He estimated the water tem buckets containing some o f the salmon into the creek. perature in the creek to be only The fish had to be acclimated 30 to 35 degrees that morning, to the exceptionally cold water much higher than the roughly before they could be released 50-degree temperature water in into the creek. Seeing large fro the schoolhouse incubators. “They prefer colder tempera zen patches in the water that late portant the salmon are in their culture, she said. “It was very good for the children,” she said. “They were very excited about it all.” School and federal environ mental officials would like to see the program become perma nent. T h e N atu ral R esources Branch and the Warm Springs Natural Fish Hatchery spon sored the new science project. Warm Springs has the strongest Chinook population in the Co lumbia Basin. The incubators were set up by Lisa Hewlett-Dubisar, a fish- eries b io lo g ist and K evin Blueback, an animal caretaker at the hatchery. Ironically, little salmon at this stage of development are called “fry,” Lovtang added. Legal Aid S ervices of Oregon provides free assistance to low- income Oregonians in many civil cases. Speak with an attorney during drop-in hours 1 to 4 p.m. on Terri Harber/Spilyay Warm Springs Chief Delvis Heath gives the blessing before the fish begin their journey to the ocean. the first Monday of the month at the Family Resources Center in Warm Springs. Or call 385-6944 Monday through Wednesday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Terri Harber/Spilyay • All Products Prepared Fresh Daily • Entrees Roasted Daily • Featuring Hand Cut USDA Choice Steaks I n d i a n la w p ro f, to s p e a k a t C O C C Professor Robert Miller, Na tive American law professor at Lewis and Clark Law School, will speak at the Central Oregon Community College campus in Bend in January. Professor Miller will speak at 4 p.m. on Jan. 21 in Wille Hall at COCC. The school is asking that those interested in attending please RSVP. Please contact Justine Connor, COCC Native American program coordinator, at 318-3782; o r email j connor@cocc. edu. This is a free event. The event is on a Thursday afternoon, one of COCC’s highest enrollment days, so parking is limited. Come early and utilize the campus shuttle to ensure a timely arrival. BREAKFAST - LUNCH - DINNER gr All Major Credit Cards Served AU Day • Senior Menu • Children's Menu • Daily Specials Z £ r 237 S.W. 4th Street, Madras • 475-6632 OPEN 6 am - lo o m DAILY » cuirs Repair & Auto Sales A p p ro v e d A u to fte p . A p p ro v e d A u to R e p a ir Free towing with any bill exceeding $500 (Free towing offer good only for Warm Springs, Madras, Metolius and Culver areas.) z* 475-6618 330 S.W. Culver Hwy. Madras, OR 97741 TECHNICIANS M u *s h o w you thotr credential* <■ J Free Battery Check & Installation with purchase J 4 4 « v
