~ Student lessons for the classroom ~
Ichishkiin ~ Warm Springs
~ Student lessons for the classroom ~
Nume ~ Paiute
(from page 8)
W.S. pet clinic hosted by Fences for
Fido, First Nations Vet, Gina Clemmer
Fences for Fido is
partnering with Gina
Clemmer, of First Nations
Vet, to provide free spay
and neuter clinics to the
Warm Springs community.
A clinic is coming up in
June.
Gina grew up in Tulsa,
Oklahoma, and is a mem-
ber of the Choctaw Nation
of Oklahoma. She is also
Muskogee Creek.
Gina’s passion lies at the
intersection of technology
and animal welfare. Last
year she started First Na-
tions Veterinary, the primary
project of Charity HQ, a
Gina Clemmer.
501-C3 organization.
Gina currently resides
in Portland, and is looking
forward to bringing ser-
vices to the Warm Springs
Reservation.
In 2010, Gina founded
Clinic HQ, the only high-vol-
ume spay/neuter clinic man-
agement software in the
world.
She believes high-volume
spay/neuter is the root so-
lution to ending the over-
population and euthanasia
of dogs and cats. She has
dedicated her life to further-
ing this mission.
First Nations Vet coor-
dinates clinics. Most re-
cently, the team purchased
a mobile spay-neuter rig.
Gina is documenting the
process of getting the rig
up and running in a lim-
ited blog series on the
internet. Search for:
The WEFIXM Blog.
Around Indian Country
CRITFC focusing on the Columbia River
estuary system in lives of salmon
A critically important pe-
riod in the lifecycle of
salmon and lamprey is the
time they spend in the Co-
lumbia River estuary. It is
here that they make their re-
markable transition from liv-
ing in fresh water to salt wa-
ter and back.
Juvenile salmon can spend
up to several months in the
estuary before migrating to
the ocean. During this time,
salmon occupy diverse estu-
ary habitats, including natu-
ral wetlands, which are a cru-
cial source of insects for
prey.
Salmon that spend
longer in the estuary tend to
have higher survival rates,
and salmon benefit from in-
tact estuary habitat, under-
scoring the importance of
estuary habitat restoration
efforts.
Before completing their
migration in the open ocean,
juvenile salmon often spend
time in the river plume, the
mass of mixed river water
and seawater that forms in
the ocean from river dis-
charge.
The river plume provides
a prey-rich environment,
and likely plays an impor-
tant role in salmon survival
in the early marine stage.
After spending one to five
years in the ocean, salmon
return to the river plume
and estuary. They pause
here to transition back to
freshwater before continu-
ing their journey to the
stream where they were
born in order to spawn.
It is the important role
that the Columbia River es-
tuary plays in the salmon’s
lifecycle that drives the Co-
lumbia River Inter-Tribal
Fish Commission and its
member tribes, including
Warm Springs, to further our
understanding of this unique
and vital ecosystem.
In 2020, CRITFC as-
sumed stewardship of the
Center for Coastal Margin
Observation and Prediction
seeing it as a perfect comple-
ment to their efforts to com-
bine cutting edge scientific
research with traditional eco-
logical knowledge in the es-
tuary and ocean environ-
ments.
The CRITFC Center for
Coastal Margin Observation
Prediction is based in Astoria
at the mouth of the Colum-
bia River. The facility is a
nationally renowned ocean
and estuary research pro-
gram dedicated to further
understanding the linkage
between the Columbia
River and the Pacific
Ocean.
The center uses remote
sensors, models, and open
data access in ways that help
stakeholders manage eco-
systems, facilitate sustain-
able development, and pro-
tect lives and livelihoods in
our changing environment.
CMOP’s work
The Center for Coastal
Margin Observation and
Prediction—CMOP—ob-
servation network consists
of buoys and dock-based
fixed stations in the estuary
and plume.
Physical parameters such
as salinity, temperature, wa-
ter levels, and currents have
been measured and re-
corded since 1996 and bio-
geochemical parameters
such as chlorophyll, turbid-
ity, nitrate, and dissolved
oxygen since 2008.
These measurements
provide a record of vari-
ability and change in this
important
ecosystem.
CMOP stations can be used
for deploying new monitor-
ing equipment and for col-
lecting water samples for lab
analysis.
The salmon connection
CRITFC’s co-manage-
ment ethos dictates that
“Wherever the salmon go, we
go with them.” CMOP ob-
servations of water tempera-
ture and dissolved oxygen are
directly relevant for salmon
health.
Observations of salin-
ity are important for
monitoring the risk of sa-
linity intrusion into fresh-
water wetland habitat, par-
ticularly in the Cathlamet
Bay, Oregon.
CMOP modeling has
been used to assess the po-
tential effects on salmon due
to changes in the Columbia
River. CMOP modeling was
used to assess potential wa-
ter management regimes un-
der the next Columbia River
Treaty, and to assess the ef-
fects of proposed deepening
of the Columbia River navi-
gation channel in the early
2000s.