By Jill-Marie Gavin for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission MISSION – The Children’s Root Feast returned to the Mission Longhouse after a 3-year hiatus due to the Covid- 19 pandemic. Nearly 500 community members gathered on May 11 to celebrate the in-person return of this annual celebration and feast. Three days before the feast, […]

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Secretary Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) has appointed Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission executive director Aja DeCoteau as one of 15 new members to the National Park System Advisory Board. DeCoteau is the first Native American to serve on this board in its 88-year history. In this role, Ms. DeCoteau will advise Secretary Haaland and the […]

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Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission celebrates being awarded a First Nations Development Institute (FNDI) grant under the Native Agriculture and Food Systems Initiative (NAFSI) to fund its project Expanding the Columbia River Treaty Tribal Foods Systems Through Relevant Technical, Economic, and Social Media Opportunities. The salmon marketing team at CRITFC is especially excited about the […]

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Around the world, communities are pulling together to protect life forms that have flourished for thousands of years but are now severely threatened from human-induced environmental impacts. Columbia Basin salmon are among those vulnerable species in crisis. Working together, there’s still time to act to save salmon and other keystone animals threatened by climate change […]

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Kyle Dittmer, CRITFC Hydrologist-Meteorologist Rising rivers due to snowmelt is one of many cues that the Creator tells us that spring is here. The normal pattern of rising spring river levels is also a cue to salmon smolts to move downriver as fast as possible which helps ensure a safer passage route out to the […]

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CRITFC Lamprey Lead Laurie Porter received the 2023 Oregon Chapter of American Fisheries Society Award of Merit for her work in lamprey. “Laurie’s dedication to this work helps us ensure that Pacific lamprey will continue to be a part of our culture, both now and for future generations,” said CRITFC Exec Dir DeCoteau.

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WAPATIT N’CHII WANAPAMA NUSUX ‘Help the Columbia River Salmon’ The Bateman Island causeway is an artificial, non-permitted earthen pathway constructed to connect Bateman Island to the City of Richland. For over 80 years, the causeway has created a barrier that reduced salmon survival. It blocks natural river flows at the mouth of the Yakima Delta. It […]

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CRITFC is pleased to announce that Donella Miller, a member of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, was selected to lead its Fishery Science Department, beginning this work on March 1. She is also a descendent of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and the Blackfeet Nation. Aja DeCoteau, CRITFC’s […]

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Salmon are just one of the sacred First Foods. As spring nears, members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Tribes (Umatilla) prepare for their season of feasts. Latit latit (Lomatium grayi, Indian celery) is one of the first plants harvested each spring by the Plateau tribes. Last Friday, traditional gatherers from the Umatilla Tribes […]

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After a colder and wetter winter than in recent years, the Columbia Basin is predicted to see slightly above average snowmelt runoff and higher water levels in the coming spring according to Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) Hydrologist and Meteorologist Kyle Dittmer. Dittmer provides an annual forecast for Columbia River tribal fishers and the […]

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