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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1999)
Smoke Signals A Publication of the Grand Ronde Tribe SPRING 1999 Turning things around )0H3 135" The Grand Ronde Tribe is committed to helping save endangered fish on and off the reservation By Tracy Dugan Editor, Smoke Signals i ,ne recent spring day, Kelly Doerksen put on his sweat shirt, pulled on his boots, and waded into the middle of Agency Creek to kick up some mud. What looked like play was really the Tribe's fish and wildlife coord inator's serious work of helping the Tribe protect endangered fish. The Grand Ronde Tribe has com mitted itself to extensive projects on and off of the reservation in recog nition of the need to protect rivers, and the streamlife they contain. They include: Scientific assessment and moni toring of water quality in the reserv ation's seven primary rivers. Identifying and counting fish species in the reservation waters. Replacement of old culverts that made fish passage difficult with new "bottomless" culverts, opening up additional miles of streams for fish habitat. ' ' f",v Financial contributions through Spirit Mountain Community Fund to help restore fish populations be yond reservation boundaries in the greater Willamette Valley. A recent announcement by the Na tional Marine Fisheries Service listed 11 species of salmon and steelhead trout as threatened or endangered in the Pacific Northwest, which has caused concern and speculation in this region about the consequences of the listing. The Tribe is in a unique position to help, considering it has managed its own waters on the reservation, and has implemented a plan to study the fish p)Tma110nitJrmbS1ffld;, it I 1 r L .j-ffffii 1 S ... 11 w c c c c I r (1 fl Kelly Doerksen, left, and Kathleen Feehan look for aquatic insects in Agency Creek. "For 150 years, the Tribe has had very little influence over nature's course. Now we are able to assist in strengthening these fish habitats, which are so important to the life ways of our people," said June Olson, the Tribe's cultural resource protection specialist. AN ACTIVE ROLE Kathleen Feehan, tribal environ mental specialist, said that the Tribe has an important stake in maintain ing and monitoring the streams on the reservation. Feehan and Doerksen worked to gether this past year to conduct stud ies and water quality assessments. The "bug dance" that gets Doerksen, and often Feehan, out kicking up mud in the rivers, is part of their work in collecting aquatic insects that help them determine the health of the streams. "" Natural Resources also brought on a water quality specialist, Sean Darcy, to help with these assessments. "Because we are a tribe that was terminated, we have had to play 'catch up' with other tribes who never lost their reservations, and who have had the opportunity to protect their waters over the years," said Feehan, who is a tribal member. The main rivers that run through the Tribe's 10,000-acre reservation are: Agency Creek, Yoncalla, Joe Creek, Coast Creek, Cosper Creek, Burton Creek, and Wind River. There are also other less significant tributaries. Feehan said that the Tribe is cur- retitljrofte year trirowa"tw6-ye"ar " study of the Tribe's streams and riv ers. With the help of Darcy, who was hired through the Environmental Protection Agency's Indian Water Quality Program, they are begin ning to create a data base of infor mation about the quality of water and different fish and vegetation spe cies that make up the riparian habi tat around the streams. So while Feehan is concerned about protecting the habitat of these different species, and keeping the quality of the water superior, Doerk sen concerns himself with studying the fish and other animal popula tions on the reservation. The Tribe needs to pay close atten tion to the announcements of the National Marine Fisheries Service, because it may mean changing the way the Tribe's fish populations are managed. But Doerksen, although cautious, has some things to feel good about. , "For a long time the coho salmon have been struggling in Oregon," he said.: "But a 1998 survey of our wa ters showed that we have coho in "Agency Creek." , Doerksen said the Tribe and the state of Oregon have different per spectives about the discovery of coho in Agency, but says it doesn't really matter because, "any natural repro-, duction of coho (without stocking) is a good thing." Doerksen said that their could be many reasons to explain why the coho are back. "We have collected just some baseline information on them," he said. "We should know CQntimtfr6nyimpagp Sculpins are one of the fish species found in reservation streams. INSIDE: Reservation fish passage improvement projects Watersheds of the reservation Reservation fish populations Ecology of a stream What you can do to help Graphic by Henry Ruby Salmon, shown here in the stylized form of Pacific Indian art, were a staple food of the "T3fand R5nde"Ttibal ancestors:.""
