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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 2024)
~ Student lessons for the classroom ~ Kiksht ~ Wasq'u Numu ~ Paiute ~ Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Culture & Heritage Department ~ Around Indian Country Tribes to sponsor renewable energy to help retire dams Four Northwest Native American tribes, two states and the U.S. gov- ernment have agreed to work together to re- place the energ y now produced by hydroelec- tric dams. An agreement among the U.S. government, Oregon, Washington, and four Native American tribes will facilitate the buildout of at least 1 gi- gawatt to 3 gigawatt of trib- ally sponsored clean energy capacity. Federal funding poten- tially reaching more than $1 billion will support the agree- ment, which began as a pro- posal to the Biden Adminis- tration from the four tribes and two states. The agree- ment encompasses the origi- nal proposal, known as the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative, and has the ultimate goal of restoring salmon, steelhead and other native fish populations in the river ba- sin. A key feature of the agree- ment is the goal of breaching four dams on the lower Snake River. The four tribal nations that signed the agreement are the Confederated Tribes of War m Springs, the Yakama Nation, the Confed- erated Tribes of the Umatilla, and the Nez Perce Tribe. More condors from Oregon released in Calif. Calif. governor has new plan to save salmon There’s a newly restored wetland at the edge of Prai- rie Creek, a stream that crosses ancestral Yurok land in Northern California’s Red- wood National Park. The site is humble at first glance: an expanse of mud along the streamside, where starts of native vegetation dot the ground, and quiet pools branch off from the main flow of the creek. But this carefully rebuilt backwa- ter holds an array of rare young fish. On Monday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom stood by as re- searchers pulled juvenile chinook and coho salmon along with steelhead and cutthroat trout from the water and displayed them in a clear plastic box. Newsom and his entou- rage paid a visit to this area to see salmon restoration in action, and to announce a sweeping new plan intended to protect California’s iconic fish. The state’s once-abun- dant salmon have been dev- astated by sediment pollu- tion from logging, overfish- ing and massive habitat loss due to decades of dam con- struction. As summer tem- peratures soar and snow- Seven California condors were released into the wild in that state after the endan- gered animals were hatched and raised at Oregon Zoo. The birds spent time at the zoo’s Jonsson Center for Wildlife Conservation lo- cated in rural Clackamas County on Metro-owned open land, and recently flew out of a cage in San Simeon, Calif. The wild releases were ‘soft releases,’ meaning the birds exit their pens at their own time. The condor, or thunderbird, is a sacred bird of Northwest tribes, and fea- tured on beaded and other imagery, for instance. pack dwindles due to human- caused climate change, there’s increasingly less of the cold water the remaining salmon need to survive. Newsom’s new plan puts the governor’s guarantee on actions that only a few years ago appeared radical, such as taking down multiple old dams, or building infrastruc- ture that would allow salmon to skirt them and reach the streams where they lay eggs. The plan also emphasizes creative means of restoring salmon habitat. Many of the projects build on long-term efforts by tribes and conser- vation groups, and some, like a program in which Central Valley rice farmers allow their flooded fields to be used as rearing habitat for fish, offer hope that agriculture and restoration can be com- bined. “I’m operating with a completely different mindset, in terms of how we approach these old issues.” “The reality is, we just have to disabuse ourselves that we can operate with the old rules,” Newsom told High Country News. “Across the board, Mother Nature’s not cooperating with that. It’s just a different world, so I’m operating with a completely different mindset, in terms of how we approach these old issues. I try to pave a little bit of a different path.” Newsom was joined by top state wildlife officials, as well as representatives from the Yurok Tribe. Frankie Myers, the tribe’s vice-chair, described the Prairie Creek project as a small but inspi- rational part of his people’s effort to reclaim a landscape that sustains salmon. Decades ago, when a lum- ber mill was built at the stream’s edge, the banks were lined with stone riprap, form- ing a narrow channel where water blasted through at high speeds. This was no place for a salmon or trout to spend time. By removing the riprap and reshaping shallow banks where the stream can form quiet pools, Yurok workers have created vital rearing habitat for salmonids: a place where young fish can rest, feed and grow until they’re ready to swim out to the Pacific.
