Human-Interest Story - The Colville Tribe's Race To Save The Columbia’s Chinook Salmon

By: Maya Thomas

April 29th, 2021

SEATTLE - December 2020 marked 80 years since the last successful Chinook salmon migration in the Columbia River. The Colville Tribes Fish and Wildlife Department met it by trucking hundreds of juvenile salmon from one side of the river’s Chief Joseph Dam to the other before releasing them. As of March 20201, the salmon have successfully spawned and are expected to complete their journey to British Columbia. In an interview, Michelle Campobasso, head of Public Relations for the department described the monumental event: “We had to load them up in trucks with water at the hatchery and drive them all the way up to the Columbia for the release,” Campobasso explained. “When we arrived, there were people waiting and so was the press. It was really exciting!”

Flowing between the states of Washington and Oregon, the Columbia River is the longest in the Pacific Northwest at 1,243 miles and reaching between two countries (the United States of America and Canada). One of the Pacific Northwest’s most beloved natural wanderers, the Columbia River serves as both a beacon of inspiration for continued environmental activism and as an unbreakable connection to the past. This duality is most evident in the lives of those who have incorporated its existence into their very livelihood: the indigenous communities that lived along its shores for thousands of years.

Today, one of these communities, known collectively as the Colville Confederated Tribes, fights against the rapidly declining population of one of the most important lifeforms beneath the tumultuous rapids of the Columbia River: Chinook salmon. An interview with Chairman Rodney Cawston, a member of the Colville Tribes Business Council, revealed the complex relationship between the coastal indigenous populations, Chinook salmon, and hydroelectric dams. “When those dams were constructed about 80 years ago and now, the fish have not been able to come to the upper Columbia. This really devastated all the tribes along the Columbia, because the river goes into Canada and the dams stopped the migration of the salmon going north,” Chairman Cawston shared.

A descendant of the Chief Joseph band of Nez Perce (for which the major hydroelectric dam is named after), as well as the Okanogan and Lakes tribes, Chairman Cawston can trace his heritage to the ancestral banks of the Columbia River. Due to their proximity to the river, the Colville Confederated Tribes will forever be connected to the livelihood of Chinook salmon. The fish have remained at the center of all major cultural practices, commerce, and identity for thousands of years. Every year, there are fewer and fewer Chinook salmon in the waters of the Columbia, posing a threat to the wellbeing of the communities that depend on them.

Chairman Cawston described the unique relationship between the Colville tribes and the fish as being “not only just for diet and with much more meaning to it. Our ceremonies, religion, traditional stories, and songs, and oral history are about the salmon and the people that lived here.” Many of the cultural phenomena Cawston referred to took place at the water’s edge where, before the land was settled, fishing sites were established by the tribes where Chinook would be caught, preserved, and traded. Among these was the fishing and meeting site at Kettle Falls (located north of the Colville Reservation). According to Chairman Rodney Cawston, “all of the tribes throughout the Pacific Northwest are of a Salmon Culture.”

However, the salmon culture as described by Chairman Cawston has been hugely impacted by rapid infrastructure. One of the biggest threats to Chinook Salmon and salmon culture over hundreds of years has been the construction of hydroelectric dams by power companies near the mouth of the river such as Seattle City Light. Dams like Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee have continued to block the passage of salmon from the Columbia River to the waters of British Columbia. “Today, there is still continued devastation to a lot of salmon. Many of them are either a threatened or endangered species,” Chairman Cawston explained. “We’ve been getting lover and lower salmon Runs, even the Spring Chinook run this year is going to be a very low run where we may not even be able to catch any of them.”

The placement of hydroelectric dams at the river’s mouth restricts the ability of juvenile Chinook salmon in the Columbia to complete their run by spawning and migrating north. A successful journey along the coastline ensures a peaceful spawning period for the salmon. Fully mature Chinook salmon then die, providing their delicate aquatic ecosystems with much-needed nutrition for the river’s other inhabitants such as other species of Salmon and other aquatic life like bass, pinnipeds that predate on Salmon. Further, animals that can be found on the banks of the river such as black bears and double-crested cormorants also rely on Chinook salmon as a major food source.

To fully understand the devastating effects dams have had on indigenous populations and the river’s ecosystem, it is important to know the historical relationship between these coastal tribes and the government. In 1855, the Treaty of Point Elliot was signed by the Washington government and two chiefs, declaring that “the right to fish and all accustomed grounds and stations is further secured to Indians.” While this allowed for continued native fishing along major rivers like the Columbia, it did not prevent the city of Seattle from constructing dams. Just north of the Columbia River.

The Skagit River faces a similar problem, as the numbers of Pacific salmon have also been facing a rapid decrease in population. Like the Colville Tribes, the Skagit Tribe has been working tirelessly to push for the subsequent destruction of the dams. The Washington mayor’s office has not issued a formal response to the tribe despite its major environmental and cultural importance. The dark history of the dams, plagued by broken treaties, discrimination, and violence, has ultimately led to the loss of many salmon-based cultural experiences. Chairman Cawston believes that only through the collaborative efforts of the tribes to rebuild and replenish the habitats of Chinook salmon can tradition around these salmon be revived.

It is predicted by the Colville Tribes Fish & Wildlife Department that Spring 2021 will reflect the dangerously low number of Chinook salmon in the Columbia River. As of March 2021, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have all proclaimed the construction of dams along major rivers is a threat to salmon numbers. However, Seattle City Light, owner of one of the river’s major hydroelectric dams, has yet to officially comment on the impact of its dams on the Chinook salmon and the lives of the indigenous populations that are reliant on them.

The Chinook salmon release this past December by the Colville Tribes Fish and Wildlife Department is just one example of their efforts to reintroduce the delicate ecosystem of the Columbia River. “We have been working to improve habitats for Chinook, Sockeye, and Steelhead salmon which has tremendously increased the abundance of those salmon species going all the way up into Canada,” Chairman Cawston continued, “Reintroducing Chinook salmon back to the Columbia would increase their numbers in the Columbia River, but also everywhere since they are migratory.” In 2013, the tribe opened Chief Joseph Hatchery where over 2.9 million Chinook fry is produced annually to provide salmon for subsistence, tribal activities, and recreational fishing opportunities.

Chairman Cawston also discussed the effects that continued activism for Chinook salmon could have on the future generations of Colville Tribe members. “It would be a restoration of our Salmon culture for the many Native people in the Upper Columbia as an important food source as well as for ceremonial purposes,” Chief Cawston explained after describing the importance of the hatchery for the tribes.” Not only would encouraging the passage of the salmon above the damns raise the salmon population but, their reintroduction of the Columbia River would mean the return of many cultural traditions and environmental justice.

Ryan Lothrop, manager of the Columbia River Fishery for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, described the impact of these dams on the river’s ecosystem from a largely scientific point of view. “The environmental conditions have changed, such as flow, temperature, and dissolved gasses that have varying impacts (mostly negative) to the populations of salmon, steelhead, and sturgeon in the Columbia River,” Lothrop stated. This was followed by an important fact: that the dams have created a habitat that entices other species to predate on salmon more than usual, such as northern pikeminnow, bass, walleye, and pinnipeds.

Like the Colville Tribes, the department recognizes the importance of the salmon not only to the aquatic ecosystems they belong to but also to the indigenous populations that are culturally and economically dependent on their healthy existence. However, unlike the Colville Tribes, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife receives mitigation funding and applies state funds to research the effects of the hydroelectric dams on the habitats of Chinook salmon. When asked about the relevance of the Chinook salmon to native culture, Lothrop echoed a similar sentiment to that of Chairman Rodney Cawston.

“There is a cultural importance in knowing an iconic fish that navigates the ocean and returns to a highly manipulated system and represents the tribal rights that were promised,” Lothrop wrote. Both the Colville Tribes and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife have released data on the response of Chinook salmon to their reintroduce to the river and the rebuilding of their habitats: it has allowed for a slight uptick in numbers despite the severe effects of the hydroelectric dams on the river and its inhabitants.

While the existence of hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River has severely endangered Chinook salmon populations there is a strong chance that their numbers will be on the rise. The efforts of the Colville Tribes to hatch and transport thousands of Chinook Salmon over the Grand Coulee Dam is a huge step towards the permanent reintroduction of the species to the Columbia River. Because the Chinook plays such a huge role in the river’s ecosystem, we can expect to see a healthier habitat for all fish species in the Columbia (including Sockeye and Steelhead salmon).

“Back in 2015, the temperature of the water went ups so high that about 50,000 Sockeye died in the Columbia River. Google that, and take a look at it!,” Chairman Cawston exclaimed.  “Occurrences like that are a wake-up call for all of us. We can’t just sit around and wait, we have to do everything we can now because it will give us that fighting change for our future and the world as we know it today.” To the indigenous communities of Eastern Washington, Chinook salmon not only connects them to their ancestral lands but also provides the foundation for many of their cultural practices. From dietary needs to economic reliance, it is the Chinook salmon that tribes like the Colville tribes have been ingrained in their lives.

It is unknown what the future holds for the extraordinary lives of the Chinook salmon in the Columbia, but major actions are being taken to reconstruct habitats and ensure a safe passage is being headed by those who value the fish the most. The Colville Tribes have been working tirelessly to save Chinook salmon and preserve their legacy for future generations in their ancestral home, but they can’t accomplish it on their own. It will take the education of the masses, conservationist efforts by the government, and funding to give Chinook salmon a fighting chance for survival.