Pqge 10
May 2, 2012
Spilygy Tymoo, Wgrm Springs, Oregon
Tribes celebrate 31st treaty fishing access site
The Columbia River treaty
tribes gathered last week to
dedicate the Dallesport Treaty
Fishing Access Site. This is
the thirty-first, and last, of the
rites to be constructed by the
Corps of Engineers under the
treaty fishing access site pro
gram.
* The access sites are to miti
gate the loss of fishing caused
by construction of dams on
the lower Columbia, starting
with the Bonneville dam in
1937.
Completing the construc
tion of all the sites has taken
several years, as the federal
law mandating their devel
opment passed in 1988. Con
struction of the first site be
gan in 1995.
The sites are designed with
facilities such as boat ramps
and docks, fish-cleaning
tables, net racks, drying sheds,
Restrooms, mechanical build
ings and shelters. In total, the
in-lieu and treaty fishing ac
cess sites occupy approxi
mately 700 acres along the
C olum bia River from
Bonneville Dam to McNary
Dam.
R epresenting
Warm
Springs at the dedication were
Councilman Reuben Henry,
and Louie Pitt, director of
tribal Government Affairs.
“This is a beginning, not
an ending,” Pitt said. “We’re
looking for thé next genera
tion to come in and take
over.”
I The Dallesport access site
is on 64 acres. There are eight
campsites for tribal members,
a boat launch and 120-foot
dock, restroom and shower
facilities, net repair racks and
Sonya Jim and Kael Hawk of Yakama walk the pier at
the site, with the event tent in the background.
Tribal, CRITFC and Corps team cuts the ribbon at the site.
a fish cleaning table. Total
cost was about $4.8 million.
Most o f the contract work
was done by members of the
treaty tribes.
A bout 150 people a t
tended the dedication cer
emonies last week. Repre
senting the Columbia River
Inter-Tribal Fish Commission
(CRITFC) was executive di
rector Paul Lumley.
He commended the tribes
and the federal agencies for
their persistence in getting the
project to completion.
“This ‘has truly been a
tribal project, more than a
CRITFC project,” he said.
“The tribes are to be com
mended.”
The 31 treaty fishing ac-
MHS Invitational at KNT
Saralyn Hilde, Mikkel Hilde, Louie Pitt and Lillian Pitt at
the site pavilion, where stones are set (below) recogniz
ing the tribes and agencies that worked on the project.
Warm Springs group on hand for dedication.
cess sites now occupy about
700 acres along the Colum
bia, from the Bonneville dam
to McNary dam.
Warm Springs artist Lillian
Pitt created an illustrative
map of the sites. The map
was presented at the dedica
tion last week, with a print
going to each of the tribes.
More News from Incjidn Country
State asks to kill salmon-eating birds
Koedy Florendo, a freshman, is the lead-off golfer on
the Madras High School team. Koedy and the team
were at Kah-Nee-Ta last week for the Madras
Invitational. Seven schools participated. There were
40 players. Koedy finished tenth with an overall
score of 87. His sister Kecia, a senior, plays for the
girls team. The girls were not able to finish their
tournament because of lightening.
Dave M cMechan/Spilyay
(AP) S Oregon officials
were successful in getting per
mission to kill sea lions that,
feed on protected salmon try
ing to swim upriver to spawn.
Now they want federal ap
proval to shoot a type of sea
bird that eats millions of baby
salmon trying .to reach the
ocean.
In an April 5 letter to the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
Oregon Wildlife Chief Ron
Anglin said harassment has
“proved insufficient” in con
trolling double-crested cormo
rants. He said officials want
the option of killing some of
the birds to protect endan
gered wild fish as well as
hatchery fish vital to sports
and commercial fishing.
Oregon needs federal ap
proval to start shooting doz
ens of the long-necked, dark
gray seabirds on coastal' riv
ers because they are protected
under the M igratory Bird
Treaty Act.
The letter obtained by The
Associated Press was a for
mal request to add Oregon
to the 28 states authorized to
kill corm orants to protect
public resources, such as
game fish. The Fish and Wild
life Service is updating the
authorization, which expires
in 2014.
Anglin said sportsm en’s
groups have been pressing the
agency for years to do some
thing about the growing num
bers of cormorants, and re
search on the millions o f
salmon being eaten by the big
nesting colony at the mouth
o f the Colum bia River
brought the issue to a head.
“W hether it’s logging,
gravel removal or the fact
w e’ve had estuaries co n
strained through dikes and
road systems and everything
else, they are not naturally
functioning systems any
more,” he said in an interview.
“Under that kind of system,
it doesn’t take much o f a
stressor that could have a sig
nificant impact.”
Once considered a nui
sance bird, cormorants were
added to the Migratory Bird
Treaty Act in 1972, the same
year the pesticide DDT was
banned.
Like eagles and o th er
predatory birds, cormorant
numbers started to climb.
Current estimates are that
about 70,000 cormorants live
in the West between southern
British Columbia, the Mexico
border and the Continental
Divide, said Dan Roby, a pro
fessor of wildlife ecology at
Oregon State University who
is studying the birds.
The largest nesting colony
in the West is now on East
Sand Island, at the mouth of
the Columbia, where more
than 27,000 birds are blamed
for eating 22.6 million young
salmon last year, 15 percent
of the smolts — hatchery and
wild 4,; heading to the ocean,
Roby said.
j^free and everyone Is welcome!
May 11th & 12th
MacArthur Court
University o f Oregon
Eugene, OR
M O T H E R ’S
D A Y
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