Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
September 2, 2015
Page 5
Howlak Tichum
Karen Moss-Small ~ 1957-2015
Karen Loa (Kitty)
Moss-Small passed
away on July 10, 2015,
from an illness that she
battled for the past five
years at Fort Hall, Idaho.
Karen was born June
25, 1957 at Blackfoot,
Idaho, to John Henry
Moss (aka big John), and
Phyllis
Catherine
Shortman-Moss, of
Hayes, Montana.
Karen spent her
childhood at War m
Springs, and moved
back to Fort Hall in
1975 with her family.
Karen graduated from
Madras High School,
class of 1975.
She studied and
graduated with a Farm
Business Management
degree from Idaho State
University, 1995-1998.
Karen worked for the
Shoshone-Bannock
Tribes for 25 plus years,
starting with the WIC
program, Head Start and
Land Use Department,
Agricultural Resource
Management program,
and retired in 1998.
Karen was an athlete,
and enjoyed playing
competitive softball with
the known as the Sultans, who
won several tournaments in
the 1970s and ‘80s. She played
volleyball and tennis, and she
loved to run.
Karen enjoyed outdoor
camping, hunting and fishing
with her family, and
beadwork. She enjoyed trav-
eling with her family, and was
very supportive of her hus-
band throughout his service
on the Fort Hall Business
Council. Through her work
and sports, Karen had many
lifetime friendships, and will
be greatly missed.
Karen practiced traditional
Sundance, and served as an
assistant to the Lady Chief in
Idaho, and also danced at
Montana. She also practiced
with her family in the Sweat
Lodge.
Karen met Nathan Small
in 1976, which was the be-
ginning of their 39 years to-
gether. They had three chil-
dren, Sheldon Lee (Alice)
Small, Daloa Dawn (Aaron)
Pebeahsy and Nathaniel
Uphawk Small, and for their
brief time raised Donovan
Lee Osborne. Karen was very
involved in raising her grand-
children, Aaron Wayne
Pebeahsy Jr., Mary Loa Dawn
Small, Jalen Troy Pebeahsy,
Johnae Mae Pebeahsy,
Davy Yupe, Iva Catherine
Yupe, Rosalee Teresa
Small, Ayiona Little Thun-
der, Donovan Gage
Osborne and John Storm
Osborne, all of Fort Hall,
Idaho.
Karen is survived by her
husband, children and
grandchildren, her mother
Phyllis Shortman-Moss,
her brothers, Daniel (Tula)
Moss, Robert Henry
(Elizabeth) Moss and sis-
ters; Betty Moss-Boyer and
Diana Moss, all of Fort
Hall.
Karen’s father, John
Henry Moss (Big John) and
eldest brother, William
John Moss, maternal
grandparents, Josephine
Shortman and William
“Bill” Shortman of Hayes,
Montana; paternal grand-
parents, Henry John Moss
and Elsie Ellen Truchot-
Moss, precede Karen in
death.
Also, Karen’s atwai fa-
ther, John Henry Moss
(Big John) was the Chief
of Police from the mid
1960s to the late 1970s
with the Confederated
Tribes of Warm Springs.
Jayson Smith photos.
Warm Springs
Extension hosted
cooking workshops in
August. The groups
made cookies, and
huckleberry jam.
There will be a
healthy cooking class
this Thursday, Sept. 3, at
the IHS clinic kitchen.
Join nutritionist Kacey
Conyers in making a fruit
pie overnight oats in a jar.
The class is open to the
first 30 people who at-
tend. Call 541-553-2460
for more information.
The Warm Springs Back to School Barbecue
is coming up on Thursday, Sept. 3 at the Warm
Springs Eagle Academy, from 4-6 p.m. This is a
chance for students, the community and teaching
staff to get together, get to know
one another, and gear up for the
new school year. There will be
backpacks and school supplies for
students, plus information, food
and fun. Everyone is invited.
Salmon struggling in a changing climate
by Laura Gephart
CRITFC Climate Change Lead
For years, tribal members
have been on the front lines
of seeing the effects of cli-
mate change in the harvest
of the First Foods.
From earlier ripening
times to odd game behavior,
they’ve seen the ancient pat-
terns disrupted more and
more. Salmon and other fish
are affected by these changes
as well.
As the region warms, win-
ter snow instead falls as rain,
and what snow does fall melts
earlier.
This results in the water
traveling through the system
during the winter, leaving
much less during the hot sum-
mer months.
The increased winter flows
scour the riverbeds, disturb
nests, and cause physical dam-
age to both salmon eggs and
juveniles, while the lower
summer flows increase water
temperatures further, reduc-
ing the overall habitat avail-
able to salmon.
This year, the Columbia
River basin has experienced
a winter of extremely low
snowfall levels and a summer
of high air temperatures,
warming up the rivers.
The snowmelt came off
earlier than normal, resulting
in extreme low flows in the
mainstem and tributaries.
While the 2015 Columbia
River runoff volume is not
historically low, the problem
for fish is the combination of
low flows and high water tem-
peratures.
The water temperature
above Bonneville Dam, for
example, has averaged 73
degrees in recent weeks—9
degrees warmer than the av-
erage for the same time pe-
riod over the last five years.
For salmon, that’s literally the
difference between life and
death.
Warm water and salmon
While the early high flows
help adult fish returning in the
spring, the summer combina-
tion of low flows and high
water temperatures create a
stressful environment for
migrating adults and juveniles.
Often adult salmon will
avoid warm freshwater, us-
ing precious energy reserves
to swim around warm water
areas. Or they hold in cooler
water refuges, such as tribu-
taries or spring-fed lake ar-
eas, waiting for the tempera-
ture in the mainstem to cool
down.
This can delay or even pre-
vent spawning. Higher water
temperature can also speed
up juvenile salmon develop-
ment. This can result in
smolts reaching the ocean
before their food source,
forcing them to survive on
less or starve.
Bacteria that can infect
salmon such as ichthy-
ophthirius multifiliis (ich) and
columnaris (gill rot) thrive in
warm water.
These diseases spread
more quickly when the rivers
are crowded by low flows, and
can lead to increased pre-
spawn deaths. A recent USGS
video showed severely in-
fected sockeye salmon taking
refuge in the cooler water of
Drano Lake.
System out of balance
Warm ocean temperatures
favor fish like sardines and
albacore tuna, but salmon and
steelhead rely on coldwater
nutrients.
If the warm temperatures
continue or expands, Pacific
Northwest salmon and steel-
head could suffer in coming
years. This has happened to
marine mammals, sea birds,
and Pacific salmon in the past.
Juvenile salmon and steel-
head migrating from the Co-
lumbia River to the ocean this
year and next may experience
poor survival.
The salmon region of the
North Pacific Ocean has
never been so warm for so
long in recorded history. The
expanse of warm water has
sea surface temperatures as
much as 5.4 Fahrenheit
higher than average, This has
lasted for months, in an area
hundreds of miles across.
The situation does not
match recognized patterns in
ocean conditions such as El
Niño or La Niña, which both
affect marine food webs.
the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration’s
National Weather Service es-
timates a 65 percent chance
that a severe El Niño will
occur this fall or early winter.
This means higher tempera-
tures and lower precipitation
for the Columbia River ba-
sin.
With more precipitation
falling last winter as rain,
drought conditions during the
spring, and unusually high
summer temperatures, by July
This fish, found in Drano Lake, suffering from ich.
the Wallowa Mountains this
year were snow-free.
Planning for change
Although this past winter
and summer might be just a
rare event, it could be pre-
view of the new normal pre-
dicted by climate models.
The Columbia River tribes
have been working on plan-
ning for a changing climate,
including climate change re-
search, advocating for river
operations modifications,
calling for fish passage above
Grand Coulee and Chief Jo-
seph Dams, and completing
habitat projects designed to
help cool down tributaries.
Addressing climate change
impacts is also one of the rec-
ommendations in the tribes’
salmon restoration plan, Wy-
Kan-Ush-Mi Wa-Kish-Wit.
These efforts, however,
won’t stop a warmer climate.
To even begin to do that that
will require dedicated inter-
national cooperation. Know-
ing this, the tribes have been
advocating for the U.S. to ad-
dress this issue on a national
and international scale.
Courtesy USGS
Everything is connected
One of the most precious
traditional teachings the tribes
hold is the concept that “ev-
erything is connected.”
For thousands of years, the
tribes used this teaching to live
in an appropriate and sustain-
able way on the earth. To
properly address this threat,
the world must be willing to
listen and incorporate this tra-
ditional Native wisdom into
their activities and actions, not
only for themselves and fu-
ture generations, but for the
very planet itself.