Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
November 21, 2018
Page 7
Around Indian Country
Invasive fish now close
to critical salmon habitat
An invasive predator is threat-
ening to sink millions of dollars
in salmon and steelhead recovery,
and it's inching closer to creating
a crisis on the Columbia River.
Northern pike were thought to
be over 80 miles from Grand
Coulee Dam and the salmon and
steelhead below.
This month the Confederated
Tribes of the Colville captured a
northern pike in Lower Lake
Roosevelt near the Grand Coulee
Dam.
That means the predator fish
are now less than 10 miles from
the critical salmon and steelhead
in the Columbia River. In addition,
the Spokane Tribe just caught
their biggest pike ever, measuring
47 inches and weighing 27.5
pounds.
“We are at a critical moment
in time where impacts to salmon
and steelhead by northern pike can
be fully prevented,” said Washing-
ton Invasive Species Council Ex-
ecutive Coordinator Justin Bush.
The continued spread of north-
ern pike will constitute an envi-
ronmental emergency which will
require swift action to slow down
or stop, Bush said.
The Washington Invasive Spe-
cies Council, Native American
tribes, state and federal agencies,
provincial and regional organiza-
tions, and others are united in this
effort, but more must be done ,
and quickly, he said.
“Continued spread of northern
pike also threaten tribal, commer-
cial and sportfishing harvest of
salmon and steelhead in Washing-
ton and Oregon.”
Official, Klamath Tribes
at odds over water talks
Department of Interior official
Alan Mikkelsen— he spent the
week in Klamath Falls and
Medford—said he will return to
the Klamath Basin next month to
continue water talks, but that he
has no plans to reach out to the
Klamath Tribes based on their last
interaction.
Mikkelsen said earlier this
month his last communication with
the Klamath Tribes was in August
during a meeting of the Tribal
Council. He said he felt disre-
spected during the last meeting and
has not requested to meet with the
tribes since that time.
“When you stand in front of the
general council for two hours and
basically have a very difficult dis-
cussion, at some point you have
to throw your hands up … There
were personal attacks made...”
Wishing Warm Springs Happy Holidays! ~ Travis Bobb
For Our Tribal Veterans
Jayson Smith
photos
Logs will be building blocks for
stream restoration in Yakima basin
Modern science and centuries-
old cultural ideals converged last
week as a helicopter lowered logs
into the nearby Little Naches River
while Yakama Nation tribal mem-
bers shared a ceremonial song cel-
ebrating salmon’s importance to
their way of life.
Former tribal council Chairman
Jerry Menninick and four others,
including council Vice Chairman
Virgil Lewis, followed the solemn
song with praise for the “wood fi-
esta” stream restoration project
underway as they spoke.
“I’m truly amazed at what has
been accomplished this last couple
of decades,” said Lewis, who
worked at the tribe’s Cle Elum fish
hatchery when it opened in 1997.
“I’m really proud of our staff
and what they’ve been able to do.”
Yakama Nation Fisheries habi-
tat biologists Scott Nicolai, Kelly
Clayton and Ashton Bunce de-
signed the ambitious project to con-
tinue efforts to restore historic
salmon runs in the Yakima basin.
Like other projects in the basin,
this one involved collaboration
from several public and private
groups.
If all goes according to plan,
floodwaters will bury the new logs
under gravel and become a perma-
nent feature, creating habitat for
fish and slowing the flow of water.
Bunce said the new spawning
grounds should benefit chinook
salmon, steelhead and rainbow
trout, along with cutthroat and
other native species, and it might
even eventually bring endangered
bull trout back to some of the
project locations.
By creating more side channels
and places to store cool ground-
water, the project should create the
type of colder habitats those fish
prefer as river temperatures rise.
Clayton, Nicolai and others
hope their innovative efforts can
become a model for others, wid-
ening the scope of what’s possible
as they try to restore forests and
watersheds.
Additional forest restoration
and the Yakama Nation’s hatcher-
ies contribute toward shared ob-
jectives, which Lewis said align
with the elders’ wishes to take care
of nature and “make it like it was.”
Much remains to be done, but
Menninick said progress can al-
ready be seen as salmon have re-
turned to some of their native
runs, spawning in places where
there have been restoration
projects.
The Nature Conservancy’s di-
rector of forest restoration and
fire, Reese Lolley, praised the in-
creased pace and scale of the
work done on places like the Little
Naches, in the same area where
he stood watching the Norse Peak
fire in 2017.
Veterans advocates, the community and especially young people celebrated Veterans Day in
Warm Springs with a parade and cermonies, November 11.