Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
July 13, 2022
Page 5
Tribes encourage solution to Snake River dams controversy
The following is a statement from
leaders of the tribes of the Colum-
bia River Inter-Tribal Fish Com-
mission: Jonathan Smith, chairman
of the Confederated Tribes of the
Warm Springs; Delano Saluskin,
chairman of the Yakama Nation;
Kat Brigham, chairwoman of the
Board of Trustees of the Confeder-
ated Tribes of the Umatilla; and
Samuel Penney, chairman of the Nez
Perce Tribe. The article appeared last
week in the Seattle Times.
Native peoples in the Northwest
have known since time immemo-
rial that the wealth of this region is
in our rivers and fish, and the vast
ecosystems they support. Their
health is the region’s wealth.
But while that has been clear
forever, that does not mean it will
continue forever. Columbia Basin
salmon are headed toward extinc-
tion—unless we, our elected offi-
cials and all stakeholders take im-
mediate, bold action.
Our tribes—the Confederated
Tribes of War m Springs, the
Yakama Nation, the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation,
and Nez Perce Tribe—are First
Foods people. Our food, and espe-
cially the salmon, is essential to our
culture, health, religion, economy,
our stewardship of land and water,
our history. And our future.
When our ancestors signed trea-
ties with the United States govern-
ment in the 1850s, one of our most
critical guarantees was the right to
fish forever. At that time, the Co-
lumbia River basin teemed with
more than 17 million fish each year.
Now the returns are nearly gone.
Salmon crisis in Snake River
Over the last five years, fewer
than 8,000 wild spring chinook
salmon have returned to the Snake
River on average. Forty-two percent
of the spring chinook populations
in the Snake River basin, a vast
mountainous area with the best
habitat remaining in the Columbia
Basin, have had fewer than 50 fish
on the spawning grounds for four
consecutive years, a threshold level
of functional extinction. And with
climate change, there are even more
challenges and fewer fish. As with
the salmon, the orca that rely on
them for food are also in crisis.
There are fewer than 75 southern
resident orca left.
This is also the history of a na-
tional-level environmental and tribal
injustice.
Finding a solution
The Columbia Basin federal
dams for 90 years have been built
and operated on the homelands,
waters and fisheries of Northwest
tribes. That is not merely an unjust
“past.” It is occurring today and
every day.
The system has been to the
enormous benefit of the 14 mil-
lion people who now call the North-
west home but has come at a ter-
rible, disproportionate cost for our
people, our cultures and our treaty-
reserved resources, including the
salmon.
Northwest leaders already have
taken steps to aid salmon recovery.
Idaho’s U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson’s
Columbia Basin Salmon Recovery
Initiative has set the framework for
a comprehensive approach: restor-
ing the Lower Snake River corri-
dor, reintroducing salmon in the
Upper Columbia and Upper Snake
basins, and making a significant
new investment in fish and wildlife
actions implemented by tribal and
state managers, while intensively in-
vesting in all sectors that rely on
the services of the dams.
Washington’s U.S. Sen. Maria
Cantwell included $2.8 billion in the
infrastructure bill for ecosystem
restoration and improved fish pas-
sage throughout the region.
We applaud and thank Sen
Cantwell for her leadership in tak-
ing those steps. To restore healthy
salmon runs, however, we’ll need
to do more, and other leaders are
joining Sen. Cantwell to address the
urgent plight of Columbia Basin
salmon, steelhead and the orca they
support.
Washington’s U.S. Sen. Patty
Murray and Gov. Jay Inslee have
issued a draft report that analyzes
the feasibility of replacing the ser-
vices of the Lower Snake River
Dams: keeping power rates afford-
able and supporting our agricultural,
energy and transportation sectors
as well local economies.
This is an important departure
from the all-or-nothing debate be-
tween pro- and anti-dam interests
over the past 20 years.
The Murray-Inslee process can
create a path that both recovers
salmon and enhances our agricul-
tural, transportation, energy and
local economies. Tribes are part of
those economies too. For example,
some of our tribes have tribal farm
enterprises that export wheat along-
side nontribal farmers.
Our tribes are committed to op-
tions that keep our economy whole,
A proposal is to breach the Lower Snake River dam system.
from agriculture to transportation,
tourism, recreation and affordable
power prices.
With respect to the energy pro-
duced by the Lower Snake River
Dams, there is now ample and
growing evidence that the North-
west can replace that service with
other clean energy technologies.
That’s important for communi-
ties that rely on the energy. They’ll
also benefit from the jobs that
ramping up new energy sources
will bring. And because any new
sources will be clean, they’ll also
help our region mitigate the effects
of climate change.
It is also clear that trucks and
rail can replace barges by trans-
porting grain to the large ocean
ports or alternatively to the Tri-
Cities area where the product
could then be placed on barges,
for the remainder of the trip be-
low the Lower Snake River Dams.
This action would simultaneously
create many good paying jobs in
the Tri-Cities.
‘The right thing’
As stewards of Northwest land
and water, we see a great opportu-
nity before the region. The federal
government appears committed to
finding a solution. As senior offi-
cials for the White House Council
on Environmental Quality, and the
Departments of the Interior, En-
ergy, Army, and Commerce re-
cently jointly stated:
“We cannot continue doing busi-
ness as usual. Doing the right thing
for salmon, tribal nations, and com-
munities can bring us together. It
is time for effective, creative solu-
tions.”
We urge our Northwest elected
officials to keep an open mind to
the options identified in the
Murray-Inslee process and to
working with all of the Columbia
Basin stakeholders on creative so-
“ We cannot continue
doing business as usual. ”
lutions. While breach of the Lower
Snake River dams is an essential
component, any basin-wide recov-
ery plan must also examine flows,
habitat and other issues and must
be comprehensive enough to ensure
the salmon survive for those gen-
erations yet unborn.
The debate over dams has per-
sisted for decades. However, we
believe this is a singular opportu-
nity to find lasting solutions that
fulfill the treaty obligations while
providing benefits for everyone in
the region.
This is a moment of historical
urgency and importance. The Co-
lumbia Basin Tribes, which are rec-
ognized fish and wildlife co-manag-
ers in the Basin, are prepared to
meet with all stakeholders and sec-
tors to ensure a long-term, win-win
situation so that abundant salmon
are here for the next seven genera-
tions.
Jonathan Smith, Conf ederated
Tribes of the Warm Springs; Delano
Saluskin, Yakama Nation; Kat
Brigham, Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla; Samuel Penney, the Nez
Perce.
Tribal fishery this week
There is a tribal zone 6 gillnet fishery from the present time
through 6 p.m. this Friday, July 15. Gear is set- and drift gill nets
with no minimum mesh restriction.
Allowable sales: Salmon (any species), steelhead, shad, yellow
perch, bass, walleye, catfish and carp may be sold or retained for
subsistence. Fish landed during the open periods are allowed to be
sold after the period concludes.
Sturgeon may not be sold, but sturgeon from 38 to 54 inches
fork length in the Bonneville pool; and sturgeon from 43 to 54
inches fork length in The Dalles and John Day pools may be kept
for subsistence purposes.
Closed areas: River mouth and dam closed areas applicable to
gillnets in effect. The Springs Creek hatchery closed area is not in
effect in the summer management period.
The zone 6 platform, and hook and line fishery regulations re-
main unchanged.
If you have any fishing enforcement problems, or need assis-
tance or information, day or night, contact the Columbia River
Inter-Tribal Fisheries Enforcement Office, located in Hood River.
Phone 541-386-6363; or toll free 800-487-FISH (3474.
Auditors looking at Chemawa finances
One of only a few boarding
schools for Native American stu-
dents still run directly by the fed-
eral government in Oregon is un-
dergoing a close look at the school’s
finances by the Interior
Department’s Office of Inspector
General.
The office has confirmed that
it had “initiated an audit of the fi-
nancial management and financial
oversight of the Chemawa Indian
School.” The audit came in re-
sponse to U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and
Jeff Merkley, who requested the in-
quiry after they felt stymied in their
own efforts to look into alleged
problems at the school.
Choctaw artist featured in ‘Art in the West’ at Bend museum
The High Desert Museum this
month will feature artwork by J.
Dylan Cavin, member of the
Choctaw Nation.
Mr. Cavin has won the High
Desert Museum Curator’s Choice
Award, as part of the Art in the
West exhibit. The piece that won
Cavin the Curator’s Choice Award
is A Grand Jur y Never Did Us
Any Favors.
Mr. Cavin enlisted in the Army
in July 2006 and was honorably
discharged after breaking his leg.
During this time, he dabbled in
photography, tattooing and comic
art, and later started creating por-
traits of friends and pets.
He finally felt that he estab-
lished an outlet for his artistic ex-
pression. “After years of being in
Courtesy
Dylan Cavin with some of his work.
the design field, it really felt good
making something with my hands
that others could connect to, appre-
ciate, and in return was self-gratify-
ing,” said Cavin.
His work has been shown pro-
fessionally for more than 10 years
and has also been honored in the
Red Earth Festival in Oklahoma City
and the Indian Market in Santa Fe.
The High Desert Museum will
unveil a stellar collection of tradi-
tional and contemporary art, includ-
ing the piece by Cavin, on Satur-
day, July 23 during the opening of
its annual Art in the West exhibition
and silent auction.
This year’s invitation-only, juried
exhibition will feature over 90 works
of art by dozens of renowned art-
ists from across the country.
Summer
meals for
community
youth
The Jefferson County
School District 509-J is of-
fering the 2022 Summer
Food Ser vice Meal pro-
gram. Kids 18 and under eat
at no cost, and there is no
registration required.
At the War m Springs
Academy the meal times,
Monday through Friday, are:
Breakfast 9 to 9:30 a.m.; and
lunches from 11:30 a.m. to
12:15 p.m., and 12:15 to
12:45 p.m.
Meals are served and
eaten in the cafeteria. There
is no grab and go or parent
pick-up.