Yakima Nation Wildlife

When describing this blog to some of my friends, they recommended that I look into something local and suggested the Yakima Nation. The first link that I found is a site on the Yakima Nation Wildlife Program and describes their goal as follows: "a Sovereign Nation under this Treaty, the Yakama Nation remains focused on our responsibility as stewards and protectors of the land and its valuable resources. In this spirit, the Wildlife Program has a proven history of effective natural resource management, providing scientifically-based but culturally-informed methods and strategies for wildlife management within the Reservation and Ceded Lands of the Yakama People". The people of Yakima Nation have several projects that work to protect and reestablish species and habitats that are at risk from problems such as invasive species, changing ecosystems and over-harvest. The link below gives a brief overview of these management programs.

http://www.ynwildlife.org/speciesprojects.php 

The protecting of salmon runs is very important to Northwest indigenous peoples,and this can be seen in the ceremonies and traditions that accompany the catching of the fish. Yakima Nation fishers use fishing platforms that are constructed at low water levels, such as the one below, and use dip nets to catch the spring Chinook salmon. The catching of the salmon is then followed by the "first salmon feast", which as one man, Antone Minthorn, noted is "an appreciation that the salmon are coming back". A detailed account of the celebration can be found at the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission's website: http://www.critfc.org/text/ceremony.html      

The stories about salmon that have been passed down through the generations definitely have a conservation edge to them, and apply to the environmental changes we are facing today. The traditions honor not just the work that was put into catching the salmon, but mainly what nature is giving to sustain and care for the people. There is no sense of entitlement, just gratefulness of the return of sacred fish and the life that it brings.

In closing I would like to share a story that I believe is very important to this post. This legend from the Yakima Nation tells of when the people forgot to continue the tradition of taking care of the salmon and honoring the use of its life in order to sustain their own. After several times on continuously doing this, the salmon failed to return to the people. The people tried everything they could think of to bring the salmon back but to avail until Old Man Rattlesnake give himself to the salmon to bring them back. 

~Melissa