Going Upstream

“Going Upstream” — The Survival of Wild Salmon

On March 31 and April 3, 2023 The U.S. Government has held listening sessions to determine the fate of salmon and steelhead in the wilds of Idaho, northeast Oregon, and Washington. There will be a third listening session on May 25th. The question is whether or not the government needs to breach the four Lower Snake River dams in the Columbia River Basin system so salmon and steelhead survive. It is a complex issue, but the danger of extinction is real for the endangered fish. Perhaps it’s time for human beings to change so the fish can live.

For three hours each day, Biden Administration officials from the Army Corps of Engineers, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), Council on Environmental Quality, Bureau of Reclamation and Department of Interior heard from northwest citizens—scientists, fishermen, utility officials, tribal members, young environmental activists and grain growers— those of us who have followed the issue for at least 30 years. My three-minute testimony is at the end of this blog post. I believe like so many others that restoration of a free-flowing Snake River is essential to endangered salmon and steelhead that spawn 800, 900 miles inland from the ocean. Otherwise, according to a recent Nez Perce Fisheries scientific report, there is the potential of extinction of salmon species like spring/summer chinook by 2025. 

Beginning in 1991, Columbia and Snake River salmon and steelhead runs began to be listed as either threatened or endangered. These many years later none of the dozen stocks have recovered and are edging closer to extinction. The science is clear that the dams need to be breached which would provide the highest benefit for not only Snake River salmon and steelhead, but also Southern Resident Orcas in Puget Sound that continue to edge closer to extinction with only 73 individuals remaining given that nearly 50 percent of their diet consists of chinook salmon from the Columbia River Basin. 

Numerous federal fish and wildlife plans, and $20 billion, have been spent since 1981, but have done little to recover salmon and steelhead under the Endangered Species Act. There have been six different salmon recovery plans with five struck down by the courts as inadequate or illegal. The litigation on the sixth is currently paused to allow for settlement talks between plaintiffs and the Biden Administration. What we’ve been doing for decades isn’t working for fish, orcas, tribal treaty rights, or for northwest electric ratepayers footing the bill. According to information provided to us at the Idaho Mythweaver: “The one thing all those failed plans have in common was that they rejected the measure scientists say has the highest probability of restoring salmonid abundance in the Snake River Basin: Breaching the four lower Snake River dams.”

We invite you to listen to our most recent “Going Upstream” podcast that includes archived Nez Perce voices as well as a traditional Coyote story. It provides insight into what resulted with the building of the Dalles Dam on the lower Columbia River. It inundated the most important fishery in the entire northwest — Celilo Falls. 

Tribes from throughout the region fished for the abundant salmon, especially chinook, or “king” salmon. The dam destroyed so much culture and essential food. It will help you understand what Jeanette Weaskus, Nez Perce scholar for our Voices of the Wild Earth podcast series means when she writes: “Celilo Falls may likely not reappear, but we can all take action by commenting on the proposed plan to breach the four Lower Snake River dams that are keeping the salmon from successfully spawning upstream in Idaho, northwest Washington and northeast Oregon. We can all be Coyote’s helpers this time by writing or calling your state’s Governor and members of Congress. Remember that Coyote is all about taking action to help the people live the best life.” 

Here is my testimony to the U.S. Government mediation team given on Monday, April 3:

I’m Jane Fritz, media director for the nonprofit Idaho Mythweaver. I grew up in Ohio, fed by my father’s stories about the Salmon River. I saw my first steelhead at 18 in Idaho’s Stanley basin, crossing a shallow stream. I swear it was three feet long! I was told that the chinook were so numerous you could almost walk across their backs.

I eventually moved to Idaho in 1979 and became a storyteller like my dad, but for public radio and most recently podcast listeners. My stories are about the need for a new relationship with nature, learning from Indigenous peoples and their traditional ecological worldview.

I speak today as a writer, observer and listener. I stand in awe of salmon because of their mysterious journey inland, swimming 800, 900 miles to spawn in cold and spectacular wild rivers in Idaho and Northeast Oregon, the best salmon habitat anywhere on Earth. Giving new life so the circle continues. Even when they die, they keep giving: to the forest, the eagle, the bear. You see, salmon have an exquisite knowledge, a sacred covenant with the Creator. They know that all life is interconnected.

According to the Nez Perce elders that I’ve learned from over three decades, it was salmon who first stepped forward in the Creator’s great Council of animals to offer his life in an incredible and remarkable sacrifice, so countless others could live, including human beings. Native peoples understand reciprocity, and they made a promise to protect the salmon. It is why they have stepped forward to wake us up, to inform us of the damage taking place, and to implore you and President Biden to remove four dams on the Lower Snake River. Like the Klamath, like the Elwa, we must protect and restore a sacred mystery.

Back in 1992, I was working on a radio story and visited the Sawtooth Hatchery the day the last wild male sockeye, they named him Lonesome Larry, was caught in Redfish Creek. The Fish and Game agent went to take a phone call and told me where the fish  was in a concrete tank, after swimming 900 miles. I approached to see this beautiful scarlet creature and spontaneously broke into surprising, uncontrollable tears. I saw him once more before he was killed for his precious sperm. We shared a kinship, a connection that still pushes me to write and speak for the wild Earth. Now it’s your leadership that is needed to restore this sacred relationship. Thank you.