Tribal elder Lathaniel Nappo (on right) touches the totem pole as it made its stop on May 18 in Fort Hall at the Shoshone-Bannock Casino Hotel.
By LORI ANN EDMO
Sho-Ban News
FORT HALL — In an effort to educate the public about restoring the health of the Snake River to restore salmon, the Snake River to Salish Sea Spirit of the Waters Totem Pole Journey stopped in Fort Hall May 18 at the Shoshone-Bannock Casino Hotel and Tribal Museum.
Jewell James, head carver from the House of Tears Carvers on the Lummi Indian Reservation said, “We are bringing totem pole art all the way up from the shores of the Columbia River —all the way up to the headwaters of the Snake River. The reason is there is sovereign Indian tribes all around the Columbia River – sovereign tribes of the Shoshone-Bannock and the Nez Perce on the Snake River.”
He said they are calling for the protection of the rivers and especially the salmon. “As sovereign nations we hear this. We’re hear bringing this art to call out the churches, environmental groups and citizens groups to come out and support their call for the removal of the dams on the Snake River,” he continued. “The nation has made a decision and they have a constitutional relationship with the United States, they have treaty relationships with the United States. So we believe they deserve to be heard, respected and supported.”
Once the journey ends the totem pole will go out into the San Juan Islands at an ancient village site as it was requested by leaders of the Lummi Nation. “I was never quite sure where it should end because a lot of times we would leave them at the end of the journey. This one was different,” James said. Last year they did a 23,500 mile journey for the totem pole that went to Washington D.C. it was turned over to Deb Haaland the Secretary of Interior.
Fort Hall Business Council members shake hands with carvers.
James explained the meaning of the totem and the carvings on it. The main part of the totem is the killer whale – it represents the southern resident killer whale pod of Puget Sound. They are dependent upon the salmon, including the salmon of the Columbia River and Snake River – Chinook especially. They are like a litmus species when all the Chinook die off in the Columbia River and the Snake River, they will perish as well. “Most of our Chinook in the Puget Sound area are endangered as well.” On her nose is a small whale that represents Tahlequah — that’s the mother whale that lost her calf or baby a couple of years ago – she took that baby on her nose and pushed it around for 17 days and over 1,000 miles so that we the human beings would get the message that we’re the ones killing them off. “So we carved that little whale and put it on the big whale,” James said. “There’s salmon carved on the side and a human being – we carve a human beings into the various admirals and the fish, whales and other things to show that they are our spiritual relatives – a spirit and we are connected to them so we are brothers and sisters to them. I’ve got two large salmon that go underneath the whale.” When it’s all put together they are eight feet long, two feet by two feet, those represent the Columbia River Chinook hogs that used to come up – five feet long, 150 pounds.
James said the main task is to get the public to hear the Shoshone-Bannock. “We’re pretty successful — I expect by the time we get to Seattle we have reached over 10 million people,” on their journey.
Fort Hall Business Council Chairman Devon Boyer said the event is about education — understanding it’s what we need to do for our future. He noted a long time ago he was told he couldn’t use squirt guns because it would be wasting water. “It’s a special thing we pray with, live with it’s life, it’s not to play with.”
Boyer said the tribal people see the finned ones, our four legged, our winged ones, the ones that crawl, the ones we can’t see as protectors. “Our customs, practices, traditions, these are things we pass on, so we can survive, so we can live, because all of these things gave us health in the very beginning, so we could survive so in the future we could speak and help them in return.”
He said there trying to do different things, so the salmon will be there for the future for our children and one of them is we have to take care of the dams – we need to breach those so these animals can live. He expressed appreciation to everyone that was present. “There is prayers by people long before us for this day and on. Now it’s time for us to take over, to continue those prayers, continue those things and those fights.”
A salmon display with an important message.
Nathan Small, FHBC member, talked about the sockeye salmon and how they’ve disappeared because of the dams. The Tribes had them listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) over 30 years ago when only three fish came back, “Year after year we did not see them coming back so we thought the ESA was going to be a tool to help bring this fish back but it didn’t happen — last year three fish returned so we didn’t make any progress in that.”
Small said the Tribes continue to fight for our fish. He said Congressman Mike Simpson put something together — another tool to breach the four lower Snake River dams. He said millions of fish die on their way to the ocean and upon their return because of the dams. He went to Simpson’s office and seen the whole plans on his wall to breach the dams, and he believes it will make a difference.
He observed the Head Start children visit the totem poles and emphasized the need to restore the salmon so they will be there for them.
Former Yakama Nation Tribal Chairman JoDe Goudy explained the importance of the salmon in the Sahaptin language and his involvement in the journey.