Colville Tribes host First Salmon ceremony at Chief Joseph Hatchery

BRIDGEPORT – A large crowd gathered at the Chief Joseph Hatchery administration building early Thursday morning, May 26, to experience the First Salmon Ceremony hosted by the Colville Confederated Tribes Fish and Wildlife (CTFW) Department. The popular spring observance was not held the past two years owing to COVID pandemic restrictions.

The program began at 6 a.m. at the catch pen located on the riverbank below the headquarters where CTFW personnel caught the first ceremonial salmon followed by a prayer and song by tribal elders marking the occasion. A shuttle was on hand to transport those who needed a ride down and back on the paved access to the water.

Outside the east end of the admin building a pit dug in the earth held smoldering apple wood. Tribal members Rick Disautel and Richard Whitney impaled filets of salmon on long cooking sticks and anchored the filets with skewers before propping the orange slabs over the cooking fire.

At 7 a.m. guests enjoyed a breakfast of scrambled eggs and biscuits before the day’s slide and lecture presentations got underway at 8 a.m. Colville Confederated Tribes Chairman Andy Joseph Jr. welcomed the assembled listeners who heard biologists, research scientists, and hatchery staff speak about the future of salmon stocks in the Columbia River.

Senior harvest biologist Isaiah Martin spoke about anticipated salmon returns this year. Phase 2 salmon reintroduction efforts above and below Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams were the topic of CTFW Senior Research Scientist Casey Baldwin, Spokane Tribe Anadromous Program Manager Conor Giorgi, Coeur d’Alene Tribes Fish and Wildlife Program Manager Ralph Allan Jr., and Upper Columbia United Tribes Executive Director D. R. Michel.

William Gale, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Project Leader for the Mid-Columbia concluded the speaker series before hatchery staff conducted a tour of the hatchery facilities.

During the roughly four-plus hours between the start of breakfast and the end of the hatchery tour the salmon slabs were finishing off in time for the 11:30 a.m. lunch that concluded with a song and closing prayer by tribal elders.