Day 5

Celilo Village
 

Day 5
 

            Around 3pm we arrive at Celilo Village just east of the Dallas. We are greeted by several members of the Yakima Nation that work with Paul Lumley. Mr. Lumley is Executive Director of Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) and is in charge of restoring the Columbia River and Salmon population. With the invention and development of many dams on the Columbia River, the salmon population went from several million fish swimming through the river to hundreds of thousands fish. Paul started as kid from the Yakima Nation and moved to Puget Sound to finish his high school degree. He continued his education at Western University to get a Bachelor Degree in Mathematics. Mr. Lumley struggled with school but focused to get his degree inspiring many Native Americans to pursue their degree.

            Paul Lumley was an expert witness for the Native American community 11 times when the Yakima Nation confronted the U.S. government in confliction with treaties. He testified that the government conflicted with Native rights on fishing in the Columbia. I never knew that Oregon state law enforcement had shot at, assaulted, discriminated, and harassed Native fishermen that had been fishing on Celilo Falls. Native fishermen had been fishing on the river with scaffolds way before any settlers had reached the area. 

            Again I’m amazed that Mr. Lumley had become a liaison for the US government to work with tribes. His job took him to Hawaii and Alaska focusing on Native rights and making sure that there were no conflicts with state and Native rights. Eventually Paul began to lobby at the U.S. capital for Native rights from 2007 to 2009 and help Native American tribes to get half a billion dollars in housing as a stimulus package. Celilo Village was one of the tribes to be granted housing and the government created modern homes for the community. His push for helping his Native counterparts is a huge inspiration to help my own community. One phrase that Paul kept repeating was “Take care of your food and they will take care of you” hence why he is focusing on salmon and river restoration. Towards the end of his speech, I asked Paul if his organization or counterparts are aware of recent sturgeon found on the Columbia River shore in the Tri-Cities. His response was that climate change is becoming a new threat to fish restoration and that his organization is looking for the future.