14
S moke S ignals
MAY 1, 2016
'All the other people are visitors'
HARVEST continued
from page 9
impact or any measurable effect on
recreational salmon and steelhead
isheries in the Willamette basin.”
For example, an estimated 42,000
hatchery spring Chinook salmon
passed Willamette Falls in 2015
and typically more than 20,000
summer steelhead also pass up-
stream of the Falls each year.
“The harvest of 15 of these ish
would have not have a measurable
effect on isheries upstream of this
location,” the summary stated.
“The effect on naturally produced
salmon and steelhead populations
should also be negligible since the
harvest is limited to hatchery origin
ish only.”
Tribal members issued a ceremo-
nial harvest tag will be allowed to
ish in an area immediately down-
stream of Willamette Falls that
is currently closed to recreational
angling and access by boats. Fish-
ing will not be allowed within 75
feet of any of the three ish ladder
entrances.
Fishing will be allowed during
daylight hours from the shore or
from a platform the Tribe will con-
struct, and only traditional ishing
methods, such as dip nets, will be
allowed. The resulting catch can
be used for Tribal ceremonial and
cultural purposes, but ish or ish
parts cannot be bartered or sold.
The Tribe also will be required to
notify Oregon State Police and the
Department of Fish & Wildlife two
days in advance of ishing or access-
ing the platform. In addition, the
Tribe will be required to report to
the state within 30 days following
the end date of the ishing season
the number of unmarked wild
salmon and steelhead captured and
released.
“These proposed rules will pro-
vide an opportunity for Oregonians
to see traditional salmon ishing
methods in use at this historic
site, and will provide the Tribe an
important cultural link to its past,”
stated the summary.
Leno, Giffen and Kennedy were
accompanied by Tribal Council
members Ed Pearsall, Tonya Glea-
son-Shepek and Jon A. George, as
well as staff members Greene, Fish
and Wildlife Program Manager Kel-
ly Dirksen, Senior Staff Attorney
Jenny Biesack, Natural Resources
Department Manager Michael
Wilson, Aquatic Biologist Bryan
Fendall and Cultural Outreach
Coordinator Bobby Mercier.
Commissioner Jason Atkinson
of Jacksonville said that it was
“very important for his son to see
Grand Ronde on this platform.” He
added that it was one of the most
important votes he has cast as a
commission member.
Commissioner Gregory Wolley
of Portland commended the Grand
Ronde Tribe for its spirit of coop-
eration, humility and forgiveness
during the process.
The Chinookan-speaking Clack-
amas and Clo-We-Walla are the
people of Willamette Falls who
signed the Willamette Valley Trea-
ty of 1855. Along with their head-
men, they were removed to the
Grand Ronde Reservation. Tribal
ancestral villages, burial sites and
ishing grounds are at and around
the Falls.
During the hearing, Kennedy ac-
knowledged that descendants of the
keepers of the Falls that included
Chief Wachino were testifying be-
fore the commission.
The Tribe will begin ishing from
the shore at Willamette Falls and
construction of a platform within
the coming months.
“This just solidiied the fact that
we are the people of the Willamette
Falls,” said Leno. “All the other
people are visitors.”
Sovereignty pursued
Ever since signing the consent de-
cree in January 1987 with the state
of Oregon that sacrificed Tribal
ishing and hunting rights in return
for support of its Reservation Plan,
the Confederated Tribes of Grand
Ronde has slowly and persistently
worked toward recovering those
lost rights.
“Since 1988 and the return of part
of the Tribe’s original Reservation,
the Confederated Tribes of Grand
Ronde has worked tirelessly to re-
store its traditions and ways of life
in places within its ceded lands that
were signiicant for our ancestors,”
Leno said before the Oregon Fish &
Wildlife Commission.
“The Tribe has a proven record
as a responsible steward of natural
resources and to us that was always
self-evident that the Tribe would be
a good steward,” Greene said. “But
for other people, perhaps, it wasn’t
self-evident.
“With the Tribe’s record and the
way that it has managed its Res-
ervation, both in terms of timber-
lands and also in terms of wildlife
and ish resources – take the ish
weir for example and the studies
we have done at Willamette Falls
for lamprey – we are one of the
best stewards of natural resources
in western Oregon and people see
that. Because of that, they respect
what we are trying to achieve and
then they cooperate with us.”
The effort to restore Tribal hunt-
ing and ishing rights received its
first big victory in August 2007
when then-Tribal Council Chair-
man Chris Mercier signed the irst
state-Tribal proclamation with
then-Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski,
which was the initial step toward
obtaining Grand Ronde Tribal
See HARVEST
continued on page 19
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