Everything to gain

Watching even the “cultural” reintroduction of salmon to local waters denied to them for eight decades can inspire wonder, grief, admiration, joy, hope, questions, and anticipation.

Over the last couple weeks, as the Colville Tribes and a coalition of other tribes and state and federal agencies have held ceremonial plantings of hatchery Chinook salmon above the dams that keep them from spawning in the upper Columbia River, the meaning to the tribes of the return of the fish echos like an eternal drum off a canyon wall, deeply felt and acute.

But for anyone not a tribal member, and not among the hundreds who attended those ceremonies, the meaning may easily be lost, a fact of which the Colvilles, at least, are well aware.

In fact, those ceremonies also serve as a kind of notice at the beginning of what will be a long effort to permanently reintroduce the fish to the upper river: This isn’t over.

It’s a notice that the Colvilles and the Upper Columbia United Tribes are aware that they, like a salmon heading to spawn, are swimming against the stream as they try to make it happen.

The salmon is not just a fish species to them, or a source of protein; it’s the heart and soul of the land and its people. It’s woven through the language they’re striving to revive, an understanding of life, of the workings of the universe, the kind of grounding that imbues hxuman beings with the will to survive.

They’ve smartly identified possible funding sources for the future effort, they’re organized, and they don’t have a lot to lose but everything to gain back.

It may be a tough swim against a strong current, but we wouldn’t bet against their success.

Scott Hunter

editor and publisher