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Water is life.

This simple yet powerful decree holds the key for the survival of Sin-wit-ki, meaning “All life on earth.”* Salmon need healthy water to survive. This basic requirement, however, is quite complex. Salmon are a specialized species that are interwoven into the delicate balance of the relationship between land and water. While small changes in balance—such as drought or heavy snows—occur frequently, the land, salmon, and water can adjust accordingly. Yet many dramatic man-made changes have had devastating and lasting effects on the survival of the salmon. This lesson explores two of them: dams and pollution.

Two case studies show how threats to salmon also carry consequences for people. See how the construction of The Dalles Dam on the Columbia River and the prevalence of pollution in the Puget Sound area of Washington State impact Native People and Nations of the Pacific Northwest.

*The expression is in Ichishkiin, a Sahaptin language dialect of the Pacific Northwest.

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Case Study 2

Pollution: the action or process of making land, water, air, etc., dirty and not safe or suitable to use

Native Nations have carefully managed and protected the complex ecosystems of the Puget Sound region since time immemorial. Traditional belief holds that the Creator placed Native peoples on Earth; in return for their taking care of Earth and its resources, the Creator would provide all that they would need to thrive, for generations to come.

Non-Indian settlers brought ways of life that were contrary to the beliefs and practices of the Native peoples in the Pacific Northwest.

 
“Water takes care of everything upon the land: the land itself, the people, us, our foods, our medicines, our roots, our berries, the animals, and the very fish that swim in the waters.”

—Gerald Lewis (Yakama), NMAI Interview, August 2016

 

Clear-cutting of old-growth forests, industrialization, and agriculture are just some of the practices that damaged and depleted Native homelands. Each of these practices has a devastating impact on all native foods, especially the waterways and salmon runs of the Pacific Northwest.

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A Kelly-Springfield logging truck hauls a large fir log along a track-like wooden logging road. Behind the truck are acres of cutover land. Photo by J. Wilbur Sandison, ca. 1925. Photo courtesy of the PEMCO Webster and Stevens Collection, Museum of History and Industry, Seattle. 1983.10.3675.10.

Clear-cutting of timber damages salmon habitat in numerous ways. Without the shade and root systems provided by trees, the water of spawning grounds overheats and silt and runoff damage or destroy spawning areas.

A Kelly-Springfield logging truck hauls a large fir log along a track-like wooden logging road. Behind the truck are acres of cutover land, ca. 1925. Photograph by J. Wilbur Sandison, courtesy of the PEMCO Webster and Stevens Collection, Museum of History and Industry, Seattle 1983.10.3675.10

 

The Native cultural practices and values of sustaining life for future generations were at the heart of the treaty negotiations between Native Nations of the Pacific Northwest and the United States.

Treaties between Pacific Northwest Native Nations and the emerging U.S. government were rapidly negotiated (1854–1856) to allow for American settlement of Indian lands. As more non-Indian settlers poured into the region, pressure to develop the lands for agriculture and industry mounted.

In 1894, an Oregon fish and game report stated that “the salmon industry has suffered a great decline during the past decade… The source of wealth is disappearing and is threatened with annihilation.” 

—From the 1894 report of the Oregon Fish and Game Protector

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The Treaty of Medicine Creek, like others negotiated in the Pacific Northwest in the mid-1850s, guarantees the right to harvest fish, game, and other foods in “usual and accustomed” grounds located outside reservation boundaries.

Medicine Creek Treaty, 1854 National Archives, Washington, D.C.; digitized by Oklahoma State University.

“The right to fish that was reserved in the treaties is meaningless if there are no fish left to catch.”

Agricultural Pollution in Puget Sound: Inspiration to Change Washington’s Reliance on Voluntary Incentive Programs to Save Salmon, Western Environmental Law Center, April 2016, pg. 4

The late Billy Frank Jr. (Nisqually) often said of the depleting salmon runs and the treaty right to half of the harvestable salmon, “Fifty per cent of nothing is nothing.” Unless salmon habitat is restored and protected, the availability of salmon diminishes for everyone.

“The loss of salmon in the region has significant social, cultural, and economic consequences… The value of Puget Sound salmon fishery currently is estimated at more than $60 million a year, but salmon are worth more than money. Salmon are vital to Pacific Northwest tribal cultural and spiritual practices.”

Agricultural Pollution in Puget Sound: Inspiration to Change Washington’s Reliance on Voluntary Incentive Programs to Save Salmon, Western Environmental Law Center, April 2016, pg. 4

The clash of cultural values has never been more apparent in how tribal and non-tribal communities view natural resources.

 
“I remember we’d go to Puyallup River and gather clams and oysters and crab and salmon, and we’d have fish bakes. . . . Everybody would come together and share all this food.”

—Nancy Shippentower (Puyallup), NMAI Interview, July 2016

 

As in many cultures, food brings communities together.

 

Native foods sustained the lives of Native People by providing valuable nutrition that is only now being recognized by mainstream society.

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Muckleshoot Tribal School students installing the first school garden.

Muckleshoot Tribal School students installing the first school garden.

Photograph by Leslie LaFountaine, 2011, courtesy of Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project

 

Valarie Segrest is an enrolled member of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, the coordinator for the Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project, and a Traditional Foods and Medicines Program Manager.

Discussion Questions: Pollution

  1. How does pollution impact the salmon population in Puget Sound?
    What evidence supports your findings?
  2. In what ways do polluted waterways impact people? What evidence supports your findings?
  3. What are the costs of industrialization? What are the benefits?
  4. What role do treaties play in habitat protection?
  5. Whose job is it to solve environmental challenges?