Every summer, a generation
of salmon returns to rivers across the Pacific Northwest where they
hatched. And when they do, coastal tribes from British Columbia
to Oregon gather on driftwood-strewn beaches to celebrate the First
Salmon ceremony, to welcome the salmon back with open arms.
It's usually late
July or early August when members of the Squaxin Island Tribe in
Washington's Puget Sound start seeing the silvery flash of
adult chinook salmon swimming home. "The first person who catches
a chinook, they donate it, and we get the word out to our tribal
people and any nontribal neighbors who want to come that it's
time," says Joe Peters. He's a fisheries biologist and
Squaxin Island member who's attended the First Salmon ceremony
all his life.
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When
chinook salmon return to the rivers that feed the South Puget
Sound, members of the Squaxin Island Tribe gather on the beach
to welcome them back. Coastal tribes from B.C. to Oregon celebrate
the First Salmon ceremony throughout the year. (photo courtesy:
Squaxin Island Tribe)
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At noon on the appointed
day, a canoe paddled by the tribe's youth brings the first
salmon to shore on a bed of cedar boughs. The salmon is filleted,
then the carcass is brought back out into the sound and released.
The first salmon is cooked over the fire, along with a feast of
clams, fry bread, and more fish. "We want every person there
to get a little taste of that first salmon," Peters says. "We
believe it gives you good luck."
Salmon always has beenand
still isa dietary staple for coastal Northwest tribes, but
its place in many of the region's indigenous cultures runs
deeper than food. "Fishing is a way to earn an income for households,
or feed families," says Jeff Dickison, head of natural resources
management for the tribe. "But you can't just put a price
tag on it. It's about continuing what forefathers have been
conducting for thousands of years, as a family, as a community."
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The
Squaxin Island Tribe invites neighbors, regardless of whether
they're enrolled in the tribe, to witness the First Salmon
ceremony and join the feast. The salmon cooks on sticks in
a traditional method passed down through families. (photo
courtesy: Squaxin Island Tribe)
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Among many other things,
the First Salmon ceremony is a promise to take good care of the
forests and rivers around their home. But as western Washington's
population grows, that's getting harder to do.
"This area has some
of the last affordable waterfront and view property in the entire
Puget Sound," says Patti Case. She works for Green Diamond
Resource Company, a timber outfit that's operated in the region
since 1890. Today, the southern reach of Puget Sound remains rural,
its economy dominated by timber and shellfishingin stark contrast
to the dizzying tech-fueled growth in the Seattle metro, just across
the sound. But as millions more people move to the region, its rural
future is uncertain.
"We're facing
development pressure," says Case. "And as we look ahead
ten yearsor a hundred years, as foresters dothat's
just going to get more intense."
Green Diamond, which
owns over 300,000 acres in Washington, could make more money in
the short term selling much of its land for development. But the
windfall would obscure the heavy toll of developmentfor the
timber industry, and for the rural way of life, clean water, and
open space that Mason County residents still enjoy.
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Taylor
Shellfish Company is the largest shellfish farm in the U.S.
Their clams and oysters thrive in Mason County, thanks to
the healthy forests and clean rivers that flow into the south
Puget Sound. (photo by: Darcy Kiefel)
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Not least among these
residents? The salmon that the Squaxin Island Tribe welcome back
each summer. Though they spend most of their lives far out in the
ocean, salmon need cold, clean rivers and streams to spawn, hatch,
and grow.
"If this were all
suburbia, you'd have cars and lawns and septic systems dumping
pollutants into the rivers. Without trees, the sun hits right on
the water and heats it up," says Dickison. "With modern
forestry practices, on a 50- or 60-year harvest cycle and with good
buffers around streams, you can keep the rivers healthy, and that's
better for salmon."
So when the tribe's leadership
found out The Trust for Public Land was working with Green Diamond,
the Washington Department of Natural Resources, and the Forest Service
to conserve working forests in Mason County, they threw their support
behind the deal. In July 2018, The Trust for Public Land protected
over 7,000 acres of Green Diamond's forests, ensuring it will
never be developed, and guaranteeing permanent public access to
miles of trails and roads. It was the second of a three-phase effort
to safeguard 20,000 acres of working forest in the region.
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Mason
County, at the southern end of Puget Sound, is a landscape
of working forests and fisheries. But as development inceeases,
the timber industry, tribes, and conservationists are working
together for clean water, sustainable timber, and fish. (photo
by Justin Reznick)
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Joe Peters says partnerships
to protect working forests are one way the tribe keeps the promise
made during the First Salmon ceremony. "The story of the ceremony
is, we're honoring the salmon by treating it well, and treating
the surrounding environment well. If we do, we hope it will go back
to the salmon people, and tell them we've taken good care of
it," he says. "Then they will come back in plentiful numbers
to feed usand the bears and other wildlife, and bring nutrients
to the forest."
Peters says that responsibility
is present every time he takes his boat out in the sound. "I'm
teaching my kids where to go, and how to look for fish, and how
to see them," he says. "But it's also how to be when
we're out on the water. We're picking up trash, and we're
handling our catch gently, with respect."
"We're trying
to teach our people that it's circular. We're linked to
the fish: salmon is interconnected with our ancestors and ourselves."
Squaxin
Island Tribe
We are descendants of the maritime people who lived and prospered
along the shores of the southernmost inlets of the Salish Sea for
untold centuries. Because of our strong cultural connection with
the water, we are also known as the People of the Water.
http://squaxinisland.org
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