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APRIL 1, 2024
NATIVE
11
Open house appreciation
AMERICAN
WATCHLIST
Watchlist:
‘Salmon Wars’ podcast
(Editor’s note: It is estimated that there are approximately 149
billion videos on YouTube, and the number continues to grow.
Grand Ronde Tribal member and Social Media/Digital Journalist
Kamiah Koch sifts through those videos twice a month to recom-
mend a worthwhile Indigenous video to watch. Follow her bimonth-
ly recommendations and enjoy!)
By Kamiah Koch
Social media/digital journalist
One of Oregon Public Radio’s most popular podcasts, “Timber Wars,”
recently published its sequel in collaboration with ProPublica called
“Salmon Wars.”
Reporter Tony Schick narrates the podcast and shares the voices of
a Yakama Nation family who has been fi ghting for salmon and fi shing
rights for generations.
“As a white kid growing up in the Pacifi c Northwest, I’d look out the
window during drives along the Columbia River,” Schick said in the
podcast’s 2-minute trailer. “I’d see signs about the Lewis and Clark
expedition and dams being national historic sites. I never knew about
the Native communities that were right there … the history lessons
I was taught were not the whole story.”
Schick begins the story by introducing Randy Settler, a Tribal fi sh-
erman who provides salmon for his family and hundreds of Yakama
Tribal members.
“Our survival is dependent upon the salmon, and our existence is
linked to this area and has been linked to the salmon,” Settler said.
“We need to be able to gather in our usual and accustomed areas.”
The confl ict in this story is not who can fi sh for salmon or where
they can practice their traditions, it’s about whether the fi sh will still
be around for Tribal people to harvest and what that means for the
Yamaka Nation’s way of life.
Schick explains there are several reasons the salmon are decreasing.
One of the main reasons is due to the construction of hydroelectric
dams along the rivers.
“At other fi shing grounds that still exist the salmon are simply
gone, vanished behind dams that have no way for fi sh to swim past
them,” Schick said.
Tribes have been suffering alongside the salmon.
The second episode of “Salmon Wars” focuses on the treaties Tribes
were forced to sign. Schick notes sometimes these treaties were signed
at gunpoint.
After the treaties came the dams.
“Some of these agencies – federal agencies that were involved – they
promoted the dams by saying, ‘Look, if we build these dams we can get
rid of the Indian populations that currently live along the Columbia
above the Bonneville dam,’” Settler said.
OPB and ProPublica’s research found records from government
meetings refl ected the same messages of intentional extermination
of Native populations.
The episode ends with a twist. George said the Tribal communities
were hired to build the dams that would ultimately cause the salmon
population to decline.
“They did it for survival purposes,” Settler said. “Even though they
knew it was not going to benefi cial to their other existence, they re-
garded it as work.”
You can listen to the fi rst two episodes of the Salmon Wars podcasts,
plus the soon to be release episodes at www.opb.org/salmonwars/?_
ga=2.64639014.843381340.1710528630-2132075784.1571781204.
Tribal Library merges with
Regional Library Service
The Tribal Library has merged with the Chemeketa Cooperative Regional
Library Service, said Tribal Librarian Kathy Cole.
Tribal members can now get books from libraries in Polk, Yamhill and
Marion counties, as well as access to many free programs.
Tribal Library patrons should visit the Tribal Library and update their
information and obtain a new Regional Library Service card.
For more information, contact Cole at 503-879-1488.
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
From left, Grand Ronde Emergency Services Firefi ghter/Emergency
Medical Technician Cody Cox, Firefi ghter Daniel Koffl er and Lt. Brandon
Trombla look at a fi re riser room at Spirit Mountain Casino during a
First Responder Appreciation Open House at the casino on Thursday,
March 21. The event gave casino staff an opportunity to express their
gratitude in person and strengthen the bond with local fi rst responders,
emergency response personnel and public safety professionals. First
responders were off ered lunch and a property tour, including back of
the house locations and areas they typically may not see in hopes of
bettering their knowledge of the property in case of emergency.