Image provided by: Oregon Historical Society; Portland, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (July 25, 2012)
Spílyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon July 25, 2012 Pgge 7 Salmon Camp in August Remembering when... The Tribal Salmon Camp this summer will be August 6- 10 near Pendleton. The camp is a chance for youth to: Learn about the science and lifecycle of salmon; Work on salmon restora tion projects, and explore traditional ecological knowl edge; Meet tribal professionals working in the field, and gain unique and valuable hands-on experience^ For more information con tact Katherine Walker, tribal workforce development co ordinator, Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commis sion. She can be reached at 503- 238-0667. Or email: walk@critfc.org Go to www.critfc.org for application materials. Climate change affecting Native communities These photos are courtesy of Sam Kentura, from a photo album kept by Martha Henning. How many of these people do you recognize? (See the next Spilyay for their names.) Idaho, tribe break ground on sockeye hatchery LEWISTON (AP) - For m ore than two decades, Idaho, ' the Shoshone- Bannock Tribe and the fed eral government have tried to prevent the extinction o f Snake River sockeye salmon. Now the coalition is poised to take what an Idaho Fish and Game biologist calls a real step toward recovery of the highly endangered species. The state broke ground ear lier this month on the long- planned Springfield Hatchery near American Falls. When finished sometime next year, the hatchery is ex pected to boost production o f sockeye sm olts from 200,000 a year to more than 1 million, with the first release of hatchery sockeye planned for 2015. “Springfield is going to al low us the opportunity to get these things out of the mu seum,” said Jeff Heindel of the Idaho D epartm ent of Fish and Game, said. collaboration of state, federal, “We have spent 20 years and tribal scientists and trying to prevent extinction ’policym akers,” said Bill of the stock and to maintain Booth, one of Idaho's repre genetic diversity o f the stock. sentatives on the power and Only now are we going zto conservation council. have the opportunity to make Sockeye were the first spe a step forward and try to re cies of Snake River anadro- cover these fish,” he said. mous fish to be protected by The Northwest Power and theEndangered Species Act. Conservation Cbuúcil signed They were listed in 1993 fol o ff On the $13.5 million lowing the return of just ohe hatchery set on the north fish, a male dubbed Lone shore of American Falls Res some Larry in 1992. No fish ervoir near the tiny town of made the 900-mile journey up Springfield. The state re the Columbia, Snake and ceived funding to build the Salmon rivers to Stanley Ba hatchery in 2008 when it, sin in-1990. other Northwest states and The fish were put on life most Columbia River treaty support after the listing and tribes signed agreem ents all adults that returned suc known as the Columbia River cessfully were spawned in hatcheries. To boost the num Fish Accords. “This is an important step bers, most of the offspring for our state and for the were kept in a captive breed Northwest, as we are show ing program. Instead o f be ing how a species on the brink ing released as smolts to be of extinction can be restored gin a downriver journey to through the dedication and ward the ocean, they were raised in hatcheries to adult hood and spawned artificially. The state continued to breed the fish in captivity and in creasingly released more and more smolts each year. Over the past’several years about 200,000 smolts have been released to make their way to the ocean. The in creased hatchery program, in combination with improved ocean conditions and spill at Snake River dams, led to in creasing returns of the fish. More than 900 fish have made it at least as far as Lower Gran ite Dam since 2008. Heindel expects returns to bounce between 500 to 1,500 over the next few years but to jump up once Springfield comes on line and the pro duction of smolts jumps five fold Or so. Eventually the hope is the fish will become re-established in the wild, with many of the young fish released in ,the Stanley Basin. Alaskans wonder where the king salmon have gone A NCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaskans again this sum m er are w ondering: Where are the king salmon? Some of Alaska’s largest and best rivers are closed to king fishing because state and federal fisheries managers have determ ined that the largest of the salmon species, also called Chinook, aren’t showing up in enough num bers to ensure sustainable future runs. In western Alaska, people living in dozens o f villages along the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers are turn ing to less desirable salmon species— fish with lower oil and fat content—to fill their freezers for winter in what one official described as a summer of “food insecurity.” “It is pretty scary,” said Timothy Andrew, director of natural resources with the Association of Village Coun cil Presidents in Bethel. “Chi nook salmon is probably the biggest species that people depend on for drying, salting and p u ttin g away in the freezer to feed the family throughout the winter.” Fishery managers predict that this year’s Yukon River king salmon run will be worse than last year, and that was the worst showing for Chi nook in 30 years. Commercial fishermen on the Yukon and Kuskokwim are turning to. less desirable but more plentiful species of salmon that sell for under $1 a pound. King salmon sells for more than $5 a pound. With gas costing $6.70 a gallon in Bethel, many fishing boats are sitting idle, he said. People living in the region’s 56 villages are devastated, Andrew said. “It is an incredibly stress ful time,” he said. In mid-July, the Kenai River— considered by many to be Alaska’s premier river for salmon fishing—-is nor mally crowded and chaotic with fishing guides steering their boats to give their cli ents the best opportunity to catch a trophy king. But a ban on king fishing on the Kenai and Kasilof riv ers went into effect Thursday. Robert Begich, the Alaska D ep artm en t o f Fish and Game's area management bi ologist, said the Kenai king run looks to be the lowest on record going back to the 1980s. While the continued down ward trend in kings isn’t clear, Begich suspects a combina tion of factors, with research ers looking more closely at changes in the ocean environ ment. King salmon usually spend several years in the ocean before returning to riv- ers to spawn. Ray Beamesderfer, a con sultant with Cramer Fish Sci ences in Gresham, Ore., also suspects changes in the ma rine environm ent. He thought he and his family would be fishing for king salmon on the Kenai River on Thursday. Instead, they were casting for rainbow trout or smaller sockeye salmon. Beamesderfer said in the late 1970s, there was a change in ocean currents that fa vored Alaska salmon but con tributed to poor salmon runs in the Pacific Northwest. WASHINGTON (AP) - Native American and Alaska Native leaders told of their villages being under water because of coastal erosion, droughts and more last week during a Senate hearing in tended to draw attention to how climate change is affect ing tribal communities. T he environm ental changes being seen in native communities are “a serious and growing issue and Con gress needs to address them,” Tex Hall, chairman o f the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation of New Town, N.D., said Wednesday. Mike Williams, chief of the Yupit Nation in Akiak, Alaska, said in the informa tional Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing, that vil lages are literally being wiped out by coastal erosion. Will iams said he can cast a net and catch salmon at his child ho o d hom e because the home is under water, he said. He also described how the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, in which he participates, has been moved because o f lack o f snowfall and that dogs must run at night to stay cool. “We’ve always lived off the land and off the waters and continue to do that. But we’re bearing the burden of living with these conditions today,” Williams said. .Sen. Daniel Akaka, com mittee chairman, acknowl edged that environm ental changes are widespread, buti the Hawaii Democrat said native communities are dis proportionately impacted be cause they depend on nature for traditional food, sacred sites, and for cultural ceremo nies. Several tribes already are coming up with plans to adapt to the changes and federal agencies are assisting with re-! sources, Akaka said. Members of several West C oast trib es and Alaska! communities have been in Washington this week for a sym posium at the! Sm ithsonian In stitu tio n ’s; N atio n al M useum o f the American Indian on the im -! pact o f climate change on indigenous people and their communities. T he sym posium , titled First Steward, brought to-; gether tribal leaders, people1 experiencing the changes and scientists. Tribes protest state decision on Klamath dams KLAMATH, Calif. (AP)- Two N o rth e rn California Native American tribes are protesting a decision by state officials to p o stp o n e the relicensing process for four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River. The Hobpa and Resighini tribes are u p set over the unanimous vote by the State Water Resources C ontrol Board to put the process on hold for another year. The tribes want the dams to undergo the Clean Water Act certification process, so their o.wner, Portland-based utility PacifiCorp, will be forced to remove toxic algae and make it easier for fish to travel. “The initial dam license was issued 50 years ago, at which time they had no envi ronmental laws,” said Hayley H u tt, a m em ber o f the Hoopa Valley Tribal Council member. “To be licensed, they’d have to meet the new water quality laws.” PacifiCorp officials say it doesn’t make sense to go through the costly rehcensing process because the dams could be removed in 2020 under the Klamath Hydro electric Settlement Agree ment. Federal lawmakers have introduced legislation that would allow the U.S. Interior Department to determine if the dams should be taken down. PacifiCorp officials are frustrated with the fed eral government’s pace, but the company is already col lecting money from energy! customers to pay for dam removal activities, company spokesman Bob Gravely said. He added the company can’t charge its customers to both upgrade the dams and re move them. “We’re not going to carry out relicensing steps that would add a bunch of addi tional costs,” Gravely said. "Just because Congress hasn’t passed legislation at this point is no reason to put the brakes in place.”
