Wednesday, July 22

We said goodby to our Spokane hosts and made the short drive to the Coeur d'Alene reservation in Idaho. We met with Bobbie White, who works in Education and Outreach for Natural Resources and Fisheries for the tribe, who is our host while we are here. She introduced us to Laura Laumatia, who is the Lake Management Plan Coordinator, and who gave a presentation about the history of the tribe, and Lake Coeur d'Alene. In particular, she focused on two forces which shaped the current predicament on the lake; silver mining, and the Dawes Act.


In the 1850s, silver and gold were found in the Coeur d'Alene River, sparking a massive mining boom in the area. Towns of several thousand inhabitants sprung up overnight, and mining operations dumped tons of slag, which contained massive amounts of lead. This lead now contaminates large portions of the Coeur d'Alene River, and the northern part of the lake, and the contamination is so bad that parts of the watershed are a Superfund site.

Exacerbating the efforts to clean up the area is the fact that only about a quarter of the land on the reservation is owned by the tribe or tribal members. In 1906, the Dawes Act took land that was held communally by the tribe, and required tribal members to register for their own private 160 acre allotment. Any unclaimed land was then opened to white settlers, and the prime farmland was rapidly snatched up. Because any clean up or mitigation would require the cooperation of the individual landowners, it is much more complex than if the tribe held those lands. However, they are still partnering with the Forest Service, as well as several state agencies, to come up with a unified management plan for the lake.


After learning more about the natural history of the area, we met with Audra Vincent, who heads the Language Program. Her interest in her native language began in high school, and spurred her to get bachelors and masters degrees in linguistics, and return home to work on revitalizing the language. Currently, there are only 2 fluent speakers of the native Coeur d'Alene language, both of whom are in their 90s. However, there are a wealth of audio and video recordings dating back over 20 years of fluent speakers talking about the language and conversing with each other, which are in the process of being digitized to preserve them. Audra's work involves studying these recordings to further her own understanding of the language, as well as conducting language classes for adult tribal members. Once there is a pool of adult speakers, they plan to expand to teaching children.

After our introductions to these tribal programs, we were invited to a very special dinner. As part of their culture week, the first traditional foods dinner in decades was held at their longhouse. We were very surprised to find that some of our friends from White Swan were there! They brought all the traditional foods, and there was a group of girls who served and danced for us.

It was a very exciting introduction to the Coeur d'Alene Department of Natural Resources. They have been so incredibly welcoming, and we are excited to see what the next two days have in store for us!