S moke S ignals
JUNE 15, 2016
17
Tribal ishermen catch 15 steelhead
SALMON continued
from front page
Cultural Outreach coordinator, and
Michael Wilson, the Tribe’s Natural
Resources Department manager.
Natural Resources staff members
Kelly Dirksen, Bryan Fendall and
Nathan Breece also were there to
lend support by transporting cap-
tured ish back to the boat so the
Tribal trio could keep dip-netting,
as well as handling permits, gear
and boat operations in the tricky
waters.
On a boat just downriver, Tribal
Council Chairman Reyn Leno, Vice
Chair Jack Giffen Jr. and Tribal
Council members Ed Pearsall, Jon
A. George and Tonya Gleason-She-
pek, who captured the moment on
her cell phone, watched the historic
moment.
Leno, who often states when he
is in the Portland metro area that
he wonders if he is walking in the
footsteps of Tribal ancestors, said
he is proud that Tribal members
can now ish in the footsteps of their
ancestors.
“For me, it was just amazing
to see our people up there on the
rocks, dip netting. It was almost
like you could see our ancestors
doing it,” he said. “And then to
have the success that we had. We
were allowed 15 ish, and they had
15 ish in about 3.5 hours. I was
thinking we might not even get one
ish. It was quite awesome.”
Leno said witnessing Tribal
members fishing at Willamette
Falls ranks high on the Tribe’s list
of accomplishments during his 20-
year tenure on Tribal Council.
“It’s right up there with ceremo-
nial hunting,” Leno said. “For me,
it’s not the taking of the animal,
whether it’s a ish or an elk, but it’s
the piece that we get to recover part
of our sovereignty. They forced us
to give up our hunting and ishing
rights at Restoration time, which is
critical to Native American people.
It’s a piece of your survival. They
took that piece away and didn't
even blink an eye doing it.”
The Oregon Fish & Wildlife Com-
mission voted during its April 22
meeting held in Bandon to allow
ceremonial ishing by members of
the Confederated Tribes of Grand
Ronde at Willamette Falls, restor-
ing the rights sacrificed by the
Tribe in the 1980s when it was
seeking support for its Restoration
and subsequent Reservation Plan.
The new rule allows the harvest
of hatchery spring Chinook salmon
and/or hatchery summer steelhead
for ceremonial purposes with a
limit of 15 ish taken per year by
Tribal members.
Only hatchery-origin ish are al-
lowed to be taken. Wild ish must
be released unharmed back into the
Willamette River.
Dirksen, who is the Tribe’s Fish
and Wildlife Program manager,
said the three Tribal fishermen
caught 15 summer steelhead, all
hatchery raised, during the trip to
the Falls.
“The fish are cleaned, vacu-
um-sealed and in the freezer at
Natural Resources,” Dirksen said.
Dirksen said the Tribe received
Courtesy photo by Kelly Dirksen
Natural Resources Department Manager Michael Wilson was one of
three Tribal ishermen who traveled to Willamette Falls in Oregon City on
Wednesday, June 8, to dip net for salmon. Wilson, tethered to the rock
outcropping at the Falls, said dip netting for salmon was a diicult physical
experience. The trio of ishermen caught the Tribe’s annual quota of 15 ish in
less than four hours.
its permit to harvest salmon from
the Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife on Friday, June 3, and the
tags arrived on Tuesday, June 7.
He then went to the Falls and saw
that one particular spot was active.
The next day, the Tribal contin-
gent traveled to Willamette Falls
for four hours and ended the more
than century break in Grand Ronde
Tribal members ishing there.
“The ruling was so valuable that
we wanted to try and utilize it the
irst opportunity we had,” Dirksen
said, adding that the Tribe was run-
ning out of time this year because of
the imminent arrival of listed Coho
and the lowering of water lowing
over the Falls.
Wilson said fishing for salmon
using dip nets was hard work and
exhausting.
“We were working hard at it,”
Wilson said. “In this spot, rather
than sticking the nets straight
down into the water, we had to
reach out with the nets quite a
ways, kind of parallel to the Falls,
then dip it down and push it down
into the deep hole and drag it back
toward you. So, one, you had to
stand on the ledge with a crack
on one side and a drop-off into the
Falls on the other side. Balancing
on that ledge, which is slippery and
wet, and launching it out there to
where the deep hole was … that
was a workout.”
Wilson said he was aware of the
historical signiicance of what he,
Freeman and Mercier were doing.
“At least for myself, I was aware
of the importance of what we were
doing and how long it had been
since any of our Tribal people had
been at those Falls ishing,” Wilson
said.
According to the commission, the
new rules “preclude the potential
for the harvest to have any bio-
logical impact or any measurable
effect on recreational salmon and
steelhead fisheries in the Willa-
mette 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 not have a measurable ef-
fect on isheries upstream of this
location,” a commission summary
stated. “The effect on naturally
produced salmon and steelhead
populations should also be negligi-
ble since the harvest is limited to
hatchery origin ish only.”
Tribal members issued a cere-
monial harvest tag are allowed to
ish in an area immediately down-
stream of Willamette Falls. They
are not allowed to ish within 75
feet of any of the three ish ladder
entrances.
Fishing is allowed during day-
light hours from the shore or from
a platform the Tribe will construct,
and only traditional ishing meth-
ods, such as dip nets, are permitted.
The resulting catch can be used for
Tribal ceremonial and cultural pur-
poses, but ish or ish parts cannot
be bartered or sold.
The Tribe also is required to notify
Oregon State Police and the Depart-
ment of Fish & Wildlife two days in
advance of ishing. In addition, the
Tribe is required to report to the
state within 30 days following the
end of the ishing season the number
of unmarked wild salmon and steel-
head 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.
In an authorization to proceed
approved on May 19, Tribal Council
decided that Tribal member em-
ployees identiied by General Man-
ager David Fullerton were to be the
irst ceremonial ishermen for the
2016 permits. The irst harvested
ish will be used for a Tribal cele-
bration of the return of traditional
ishing rights at Willamette Falls.
A $5,000 budget for this year’s
ceremonial ishing season was es-
tablished to pay for items, such as
nets, harnesses, ropes, food, fuel,
travel and other necessary safety
gear and ishing equipment.
“Everything just came together,”
Wilson said about this year’s salm-
on harvest. “I thought it would be a
success if we just went up there and
got the nets wet and went through
the function of it. When Andrew
got that irst ish out of there, I was
like, ‘Wow.’ We not only did this,
but we got a ish out of here.
“It was a ton of work and several
years getting to this point. I was
really happy that I could be part
of it all the way through to the
actual making it happen on the
rocks rather than just paperwork
and commission meetings. Actually
being there and feeling the ish.”
In an e-mail to the Natural Re-
sources staff, Wilson said that the
day “ranks up there in my top 10
days of work here; maybe top ive
– and that is even knowing I am
going to be sore.”
Tribal staff are continuing to pur-
sue platform locations and devel-
opment of a long-term ceremonial
ishing plan for 2017.
Leno said next year’s ishing will
likely follow the process established
for Tribal ceremonial hunters.
“We will take volunteer fish-
ermen and they will have to go
through whitewater training be-
cause you are up in the Falls,” Leno
said. “They will draw for one or two
ish and they will be able to go up
with someone who has some expe-
rience for safety reasons. You’re
going to have to be in some kind
of shape and crawl up those rocks.
It’s dangerous and slick. And then
you have to handle a 32-foot pole,
not counting if you do catch a ish,
which you then have to deal with
that fish, pole and net on slick
rocks. It’s a bit challenging.”
TRIBAL EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS ORDINANCE
OPEN FOR COMMENT
The Tribal Council, in consultation with the Tribal Attorney’s Of-
ice, adopted, on an emergency basis, a proposed amendment to the
Tribal Employment Rights Ordinance at the May 4, 2016, Tribal
Council meeting. The proposed amendment provides that the TERO
Commission shall consist of at least three (3) but not more than ive
(5) individuals. Currently, the Ordinance requires appointment of
ive (5) Commissioners. The amendment will provide the Council some
lexibility in setting the number of Commissioners.
The Tribal Council invites comment on the proposed amendment to
the Tribal Employment Rights Ordinance. For a copy of the proposed
amendment, please contact the Tribal Attorney’s Ofice at 503-879-
4664. Please send your comments to the Tribal Attorney’s Ofice, 9615
Grand Ronde Road, Grand Ronde, Oregon 97347 or by e-mail to legal@
grandronde.org.
Comments must be received by June 15, 2016.