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MAY 15, 2021
Smoke Signals
Jordan Mercier, on platform, Brian Krehbiel, on rocks, dip fishing nets into
the water during the first day of fishing at Willamette Falls on Tuesday, May 4.
Fishing will be held on Tuesday and Thursday until the end of May.
Falls fishing
Fish & Wildlife Program Manager Kelly Dirksen gives instructions
to, from left, Tribal fishermen Jordan Mercier, Kyle McLaughlin,
Bobby Mercier and Andrew Freeman before heading to the fishing
platform at Willamette Falls for the first day of fishing on Tuesday,
May 4. Fishing will be held on Tuesday and Thursday until the end of
May. The removable platform has been up since October 2018, but
this is the first time it has been used since 2019 due to the COVID-19
pandemic. The Tribe is allowed to catch 15 hatchery grown Chinook
salmon or summer steelhead for ceremonial purposes per Oregon
Department of State Lands rules. Dirksen reported that no fish were
caught during the first three outings.
The boat carrying Tribal members forges through the rapids at Willamette
Falls on the first day of fishing on Tuesday, May 4.
Tribe schedules ceremonial
fishing at Willamette Falls
OREGON CITY – The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde resumed ceremonial
fishing at Willamette Falls on Tuesdays and Thursdays in May, said Tribal Fish &
Wildlife Program Manager Kelly Dirksen.
The first excursion occurred on Tuesday, May 4. Ceremonial fishing at the falls was
canceled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Oregon Department of State Lands granted approval to the Grand Ronde Tribe
on Aug. 31, 2018, to build a removable platform at Willamette Falls on which to har-
vest its annual state-approved take of 15 Chinook salmon and/or hatchery summer
steelhead for ceremonial purposes.
The Tribe blessed the site on Sept. 4, 2018, and constructed a removable fishing
platform at Willamette Falls in October 2018. The first fish netted at Willamette Falls
by Tribal ceremonial fishermen occurred in May 2019.
Fishing from the platform can continue through the end of July or until the Tribe
catches its allotment of 15.
This year’s ceremonial fishermen are Bobby Mercier, Jordan Mercier, Colby Drake,
Joe Loomis, Jade Unger, Andrew Freeman, Daniel Mooney, Nick Kimsey, David De-
Hart, Brian Krehbiel, Sara Thompson, Terry Kowing and Bradley Leno. 
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Photos by Timothy J. Gonzalez