The Loss of Salmon and Ecosystem Change

Eileen Pearkes Interview – Salmon (captions available in both French and English). Enjoy this video with an English transcript.

The Canadian government agreed to allow the US Grand Coulee Dam to block salmon runs on the Columbia River just two decades before the signing of the Columbia River Treaty. The construction of the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington State in 1940 put an end to one of the largest salmon runs in North America.

On June 14, 1940, Indigenous people from throughout the region gathered at Kettle Falls, Washington, one of the biggest fisheries on the river for the “Ceremony of Tears,” to grieve the loss of the salmon. For generations, people from several nations had gathered there for the salmon run. It was said that salmon was once so plentiful that a person could walk across the river on their backs.

Shelly Boyd Interview – Salmon (captions available in both French and English). Enjoy this video with an English transcript.

The loss of the salmon led to other ecosystem changes in the river.

Today, Indigenous nations and scientists are working together to explore ways to restore the salmon run on the upper Columbia River. It is a challenging task, but the desire and will to achieve this is strong.

Bill Green Interview – Salmon Negotiations (captions available in both French and English). Enjoy this video with an English transcript.

The construction of the Hugh Keenleyside Dam and the creation of the reservoir brought about other changes.

The valley behind the reservoir lost more than 1800 hectares of coniferous forest, 2500 hectares of riparian forest, and 1100 hectares of pasture and cultivated land, negatively affecting wildlife habitat. The old-growth cottonwood gallery forest and gravel bars are all gone.

However, with the creation of the reservoir, the area south of Revelstoke provides stopover habitat for migrating birds, breeding habitat for amphibians, and a seasonally available greenspace.

Bill Green Interview – Sturgeon (captions available in both French and English). Enjoy this video with an English transcript.