Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
August 5, 2015
Page 7
Around Indian Country
Last defendant sentenced in casino case
YAKIMA — A 26-year-
old Toppenish man was sen-
tenced to 11 months in fed-
eral prison last week for his
role in rigging drawings at
Yakama Legends Casino two
years ago.
Ricardo Garcia was the
last of 42 defendants to be
sentenced in the case. He
was among four defendants
who a U.S. District Court jury
found guilty in April of con-
spiring to steal casino funds
and theft from a casino on
tribal land.
The 42 were indicted for
stealing $63,250 by rigging a
contest the casino ran as part
of its 15th anniversary cel-
ebration in 2013.
The contest consisted of
As an ambassador for the
Confederated Tribes, and a role
model to young ladies, Miss Warm
Springs has represented the beauty
and culture of the tribes.
The Museum at Warm Springs is now
hosting Royal Legacy: Honoring
Miss Warm Springs of Our Past
and Present. The exhibit will be on
display until September 13.
a drawing to select a winner,
who then would pick from
one of 13 spots on a game
board for a cash prize rang-
ing from $250 to $2,500. The
contest ran from February to
May 2013.
Prosecutors said Juan
Correa, a casino marketing
employee, rigged the drawing
by preselecting a winner.
Garcia would then tell that
person which spot to choose,
usually one of the higher-
value prizes. The person
would then give Correa or
Garcia a share of the prize
money.
Garcia was also accused of
recruiting people to partici-
pate in the rigged contest,
according to court records.
Correa was sentenced in
April to five months in prison
after pleading guilty to con-
spiracy to steal from a casino
and theft by a casino em-
ployee.
Garcia’s co-defendants at
the trial, Arianna Rosales,
Raul Arellano and Exmeralda
Garcia, were sentenced July
23. Rosales and Exmeralda
Garcia were sentenced to 30
days imprisonment, while
Arellano was sentenced to 45
days in custody.
Each also received three
years on probation.
Of the remaining defen-
dants, 33 pleaded guilty to
theft charges earlier, with
most being sentenced to pro-
bation.
Extension tour focus on produce
Dave McMechan/Spilyay
Recent hot weather bad for fish
A hot summer, combined
with low river flows, have
brought high mortality to mi-
grating fish.
In July, hundreds of thou-
sands of sockeye salmon died
in the Columbia River and
tributaries, due to warm wa-
ter temperatures. More than
half of the 2015 sockeye run
was wiped out by the heat
wave, according to estimates.
August is expected to see
continued high temperatures.
A record low snow pack
in the mountains has meant
little of the chilling runoff
that would normally cool the
waters of the Pacific North-
west.
The temperature at the
Bonneville dam is 2 to 4 de-
grees warmer than the aver-
age over the past decade.
Abnormally high river tem-
perature increases fish me-
tabolism and promotes dis-
ease, both of which cause
death.
The Columbia River’s
sockeye salmon are not the
only species facing high mor-
tality rates. Oregon fisheries
biologists say more than 100
spring chinook died in July in
the Middle Fork of the John
Day River, when water tem-
peratures hit the mid-70s.
Oregon and Washington
both enacted sport fishing clo-
sures due to warm water, and
sturgeon fishing in the Colum-
bia River upstream of
Bonneville Dam was halted
after some of the large, bot-
tom dwelling fish started turn-
ing up dead.
Management teams tried
to cool flows below 70 de-
grees by releasing cold water
from selected reservoirs.
The fish become stressed
at temperatures above 68
degrees, and stop migrating at
74 degrees.
In Idaho, an emergency
declaration in July allowed
state fisheries managers to
capture endangered Snake
River sockeye destined for
central Idaho, and take them
to a hatchery to recover in
cooler water.
Sara Rogers/OSU Extension
Fruit Loop tour participants stop for a rest.
Warm Springs Oregon
State University Extension
in July hosted a tour of
the Hood River Valley
Fruit Loop.
Donations from Power
and Water Enterprises and
Composite Products
helped to cover the costs
of the vans and fuel.
Over 15 participants,
traveling in two tribal vans
and several personal ve-
hicles, made the trip to pur-
chase fresh produce.
The group stopped at four
different orchards, and the
tour participants were able to
acquire several varieties of
cherries, apples, corn, squash
and apricots, among other
fruits and vegetables.
The following day Oregon
State University Extension
held a canning class to dem-
onstrate how to make and can
apple sauce.
Another Fruit Loop
Tour is planned for Sep-
tember 17.
The September group
will travel to Kimberly to
obtain peaches, pears and
other fall produce. If you
are interested in attending,
please call the Extension
office at 541-553-3238 to
reserve a spot, first come
first serve.
Study finds chinook hatchery rebuilds population
Hatcheries are an effec-
tive tool for rebuilding spring
chinook abundance and pro-
ductivity in the Yakima Ba-
sin without impacting wild
fish.
That is the finding of the
latest research published in
the scientific journal North
American Journal of Aquac-
ulture.
The study is based on 33
years of planning and re-
search.
The research shows that
the Cle Elum Supplementa-
tion and Research Facility in-
creased fish spawning in the
Yakima Basin, while un-
supplemented populations
continued to struggle.
The Cle Elum study results
refute commonly held beliefs
that hatcheries hinder natu-
rally returning populations,
and that natural-origin popu-
lations will rebuild in highly
altered river systems in the
absence of hatchery pro-
grams.
The research found that
salmon redds increased in the
Upper Yakima River by 120
percent with supplementa-
tion, while the number of
redds increased 47 percent in
the unsupplemented Naches
River.
During the same time
frame, natural-origin returns
in the Upper Yakima River
increased 14 percent with
supplementation, while natu-
ral-origin returns in the
unsupplemented Naches
River decreased by 12 per-
cent.
No pathogens or disease
interactions between natural-
origin and hatchery origin
populations were detected
and ecological interactions
were largely neutral.
“Our results demonstrate
that natural spring chinook
populations were maintained
or increased in the supple-
mented Upper Yakima River,
while the adjacent un-supple-
mented population in the
Naches River continues a
slow but steady decline,” said
Dr. Dave Fast, senior research
scientist for the Yakama Na-
tion Fisheries program.
Dr. Fast is the lead author
of the publication.
“Habitat restoration is oc-
curring in both subbasins and
these results indicate that we
cannot rely on habitat resto-
ration alone to achieve recov-
ery,” he said.
“We need both continued
supplementation and expan-
sion of habitat restoration
actions to keep pace with the
ever-increasing threats these
fish face for their survival.”
The Cle Elum Spring Chi-
nook Supplementation and
Research Facility was con-
ceived in the 1980s as a har-
vest mitigation program.
By the 1990s, that goal was
broadened to a hatchery
supplementation program
that would increase harvest
opportunities, increase natu-
ral spawning on the spawn-
ing grounds, and provide re-
search that could address
critical issues in hatcheries.
The resurgence of spring
chinook in the Yakima Basin
has substantially increased
fishing opportunities after a
40-year absence, significantly
improved relationships, and
increased opportunities for
partnerships.
“This innovative project
began as a dream of our el-
ders to return fish runs that
were damaged,” Sam Jim Sr.,
chair of the Yakama Tribal
Council’s Fish and Wildlife
Committee.
4202
Holliday St.
“While many criticize tribal
supplementation efforts, fail-
ure to increase fish popula-
tions is not an option. Our
current situation requires us
to act for the survival of our
fish as well as the survival
and well-being of our tribal
communities, tribal culture,
and our traditional foods.”
Populations in the Colum-
bia Basin continue to face
problems of loss and degra-
dation of freshwater habitat,
and significant juvenile out-
migration mortality associated
with the hydrosystem.
The tribes have argued
that supplementation pro-
grams that incorporate wild
fish as broodstock into their
hatchery programs and place
fish back in to their natural
spawning areas are important
to recovery.
The American Fisheries
Society is offering free access
to the paper through August
31.
The paper can be down-
loaded via:
fisheries.org/special-sec-
tion-hatcheries-and-manage-
ment-of-aquatic-resources-
hamar
Call 541-
615-0555