I belong to the Wallowa and Palouse bands of the Nez Perce. My family are descendants of Chief Red Bear, who helped Lewis and Clark build canoes and navigate the free-flowing Columbia River. I am the great-great-great-grandnephew of Chief Joseph.
These rivers have been the lifeblood of Mother Earth since time immemorial and itâs no coincidence that Iâm carving canoes today that I will launch into these waters next spring. Itâs a part of my agenda to restore our river and recover salmon.
The river was broken the day the first dam was built. As dams were built on the Columbia and Snake rivers, our communities were cut off from the water, our culture diminished and our salmon runs disappeared. Much of this you canât quantify in scientific or even economic terms, but only in the damage that is done, when those runs are no longer there.