How Native Nations Forced Federal Investment in Salmon Reintroduction

The Sḵwx̱wú7mesh People are helping herring return to spawning locations in Átl’ḵa7tsem through conservation efforts that prevent the fish eggs from dying. They keep a close watch on spawning locations to track any changes and address protection needs.

The Nez Perce Tribe is installing solar panels on homes and community buildings across their reservation with the goal of producing enough energy to replace the hydroelectric dams on the Snake River responsible for the diminishing salmon and steelhead populations.

Research suggests that in the 1500s there were 30 million to 60 million bison, 400 years later roughly 1,000 remained. Today, their ecosystem, the Great Plains, is one of the most endangered in the world. However, there is a growing movement trying to change that. Across the U.S. indigenous communities are trying to return bison to parts of their historic range. This article looks at various ways indigenous communities are unfolding different methods to do just that, not only to grow the population, but to return them to their culture.

While beavers might seem like a nuisance to many, the Tulalip Tribes in Washington state — after a long legal battle — are relocating the creatures to their lands as a way to create healthy ecosystems. The tribe has spent two years successfully capturing beavers from private lands and moving them with help from the Cascade Forest Conservancy. Their work could become a model for other tribes as a way to reclaim their land management methods.

The Grand Coulee, a 500-foot-tall dam on the Columbia River, nearly eradicated the salmon population that the Colville Tribes relied on, but the Indigenous community initiated a restoration effort to save the fish. They released by hand 100 adult Chinook salmon and scientists were able to confirm that the species was spawning on the upper part of the dam for the first time in 80 years.

The Indigenous Foods Knowledges Network (IFKN) connects Indigenous scholars, community members, and leaders from tribes in the Arctic and the U.S. Southwest to work together on achieving food sovereignty. By visiting each other’s lands, they share their traditional knowledge on farming practices and river restoration. Because of the network, they received a grant to study the effects of COVID-19 on food access for Indigenous communities. “We can learn from one another, teach each other, and also work together on finding different solutions,” said a member of the IFKN steering committee.

The Swinomish tribe in Washington state is combining traditional knowledge and science to combat the effects of climate change and improve the health of its land, water, and people. In recent years, their salmon harvest has diminished due to warming waters, but they’ve instituted salmon recovery efforts by restoring tidelands and channels and planting trees along stream beds to cool the waters. Their focus on ecosystem and community health could be a model for other Indigenous tribes looking to create their own climate plans.

The Matsés, an indigenous population in Brazil in Peru, teamed up with Acaté, a conservation group, to create a medicinal knowledge encyclopedia. The encyclopedia was compiled by five shamans, took two years, is 500 pages long, and “details every plant used by Matsés to cure a massive variety of ailments.” It not only preserves ancestral knowledge, but is seen as a way to improve the health of Matsés and future generations. “Until their encyclopedia, the Matsés entire traditional health system was on the unchecked verge of disappearance.”

The Okanagan Nation Alliance leads a Fish in Schools program that donates fish spawn and the equipment to raise them to elementary and secondary schools near their territory. Thousands of fish raised by the students are released into local waterways during ceremonies at the end of the school year as a part of their efforts to bring salmon back to the area.

Indigenous peoples across the western United States are bringing back native plants that disappeared many years ago by practicing natural regeneration. By slowly bringing ecosystems that were disrupted by human activity back to their natural state over time, the seeds and roots preserved underground are given the chance to flourish.