Thursday, July 16

Today we traveled to Celilo Village, built at the former site of Celilo Falls. Before the falls were submerged by the Dalles Dam, Celilo Falls was the longest continuously inhabited location in North America.

For at least 15,000 years, different tribes of the Pacific Northwest met there to fish and trade. When plans for the dam were being drawn up, the people living at Celilo Falls were promised that a new village would be built for them on the new banks of the river so that they could continue to fish. But though the original village was flooded in 1957, houses were not built until after 2000. In 2006, a new longhouse was built by the Army Corps of Engineers, and we were graciously invited to stay in this longhouse for the night.

While high temperatures kept us from doing the fish tagging we had planned on, we were still able to meet with several people who are engaged in research about salmon and lamprey and listen to them talk about the research they are doing. We then had a special presentation from Paul Lumley, the executive director of the the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.HE told us about the path his life has taken so far, from growing up on the Yakama Reservation, through his bachelor's degree from Western Washington University, and his work over the subsequent 19 years working a wide range of organizations on issues related to Native Americans such as housing, education, and the environment. He also explained how CRITFC formed, and what it does in terms of protecting the fishing rights of tribal members and restoring fish runs.

After the talks were over, our star chef Chaylene Charles cooked us a marvelous dinner of barbeque chicken a rice. We immediately put her in charge of planning all menus from here on out :)

Thank you so much to all the people who came out to speak with us, as well as the people of Celilo Village for letting us stay in their longhouse!