A Word from Your Riverkeeper
It is all about coming home. Salmon once called our rivers home and were the heart and soul of our region. Chinook salmon weighing in at 110 lbs called "June Hogs" once returned here from the Pacific Ocean. This year, as your Spokane Riverkeeper, I will be continuing to discuss and emphasize the importance of clean, cold water and the maintenance of river flows through the lens of chinook salmon recovery. We will continue to conduct our river protection and science work with the ultimate purpose and outcome being in support of Upper Columbia Basin Tribal efforts to recover salmon to our rivers. It is important for our supporters to understand these connections, and to understand that we continue to coordinate with experts working directly on salmon recovery issues, as well as partner NGOs in our watershed supporting these efforts. The intersection of River protection and salmon recovery cannot be overstated. As recently as the early 20th century, salmon were a pillar of your River, the indigenous communities who lived with them, and the Rivers that depended on their bodies for sustenance. Upon their return home, they will again support the future of our Rivers and our communities.
In our basin, several hundred thousand chinook salmon as well as steelhead, coho salmon, and eels migrated from the ocean annually. These sea-going (anadromous) fish were critical to the indigenous cultures of the Upper Columbia Plateau who relied on these migrations for economic, spiritual, and cultural sustenance. These runs were also critical to the communities on the lower Columbia River, to the orca of the Salish Sea, and to the health and well-being of our Spokane River aquatic ecosystems where they delivered critical ocean nutrients. When we lost the salmon due to hydroelectric dams, overfishing, and pollution, we lost the soul of our rivers. We brutalized those cultures who had intimate relationships with the sea-run fish, starved the ecosystems of critical nutrients, and we deprived our children of the wonder of one of nature's most beautiful migrations and amazing creatures.
As the Spokane Riverkeeper, we have been working for years to support salmon recovery efforts that are being led by the five Tribes of the upper Columbia Basin. We also support the Organizational goals and visions of Upper Columbia United Tribes (UCUT). UCUT is an association of five tribes that have developed a three-phased plan to recover salmon (link). Importantly, each member tribe has fisheries staff and expertise working hard on their own Tribal Fisheries programs as well. These Spokane and Coeur d’Alene Tribal programs are working to bring back the iconic salmon to the Spokane River, the Little Spokane River, and to Hangman Creek. This is not just fisheries science work, but habitat restoration as well.
Here at Riverkeeper, we have recognized that supporting Spokane, and Coeur d'Alene Tribal efforts to recover salmon is an environmental justice issue and is an issue critical to ecosystem health of our Rivers and riparian areas. Significantly, it is a quality of life and values issue as we look at handing off our Rivers to succeeding generations. For effective recovery, we need toxic-free water and ecosystems. We need river flows that are strong and cold. We need Hangman Creek to heal from bleeding its sediment into the Spokane River. Finally, the legal, “designated uses” of our River under the Clean Water Act are to provide salmon habitat. Spokane Riverkeeper uses the Clean Water Act daily to protect your ability to enjoy salmon, native trout, as well as to provide salmon, trout, and all native fish a healthy river to live in and an aquatic ecosystem that thrives in and around the Basins’ Rivers.
Please enjoy this video on Spokane River Basin Tribal visions and actions to recover salmon to our Rivers. HERE
For more information on the efforts of the Upper Columbia United Tribes (UCUT) efforts to support salmon visit their website HERE