The Enduring Current: Pacific Northwest Tribes, Salmon, and the Fight for Treaty Rights
For millennia, the rivers of the Pacific Northwest have pulsed with the lifeblood of its Indigenous peoples: the salmon. More than just a food source, salmon are intrinsically woven into the spiritual, cultural, and economic fabric of tribes across the region. They are a sacred relative, a provider, and a symbol of resilience. Yet, for over a century and a half, the very right of these tribes to fish for salmon, guaranteed by solemn treaties, has been a battleground – a protracted struggle known as the "Fish Wars" – that continues to shape the landscape, the law, and the future of an iconic region.
The story begins long before the arrival of European settlers. Tribes like the Lummi, Makah, Quinault, Yakama, Nez Perce, Umatilla, and Warm Springs lived in profound harmony with the land and its waters, developing sophisticated fisheries management practices that sustained abundant salmon runs for thousands of years. Their societies, ceremonies, and economies revolved around the salmon’s annual return. This ancient relationship formed the bedrock of their identity.
In the mid-19th century, as settlers poured into the region, the U.S. government sought to acquire vast tracts of tribal lands. Through a series of treaties signed between 1854 and 1856, tribes ceded millions of acres, but critically, they reserved certain rights, including the "right of taking fish at all usual and accustomed grounds and stations in common with all citizens of the Territory." This specific language, often appearing verbatim across different treaties, would become the cornerstone of future legal battles. The tribes understood this to mean an equal, perpetual, and paramount right to access and harvest salmon at their traditional fishing sites, concurrent with non-Native settlers. The government, however, often interpreted "in common with" to mean merely the opportunity to fish, subject to state regulation and often diminishing tribal access.
As the population grew and commercial fisheries exploded, state governments began to impose restrictions on tribal fishing, often citing conservation needs while simultaneously allowing unregulated harvest by non-Native commercial and sport fishers. Tribal fishers, adhering to their traditional methods and attempting to exercise their treaty rights, were increasingly harassed, arrested, and violently confronted. Their nets were slashed, their boats seized, and they were branded as "poachers" in their own ancestral waters.
The tensions erupted into what became known as the "Fish Wars" of the 1960s and 70s. Indigenous activists, led by figures like the revered Nisqually elder Billy Frank Jr., engaged in civil disobedience, holding "fish-ins" at traditional fishing sites. These acts of defiance, often met with brutal state enforcement, garnered national attention and laid the groundwork for landmark legal challenges. Billy Frank Jr., who was arrested more than 50 times for fishing, famously articulated the core of the struggle: "We are salmon people. This is about our identity, our culture, our way of life. It’s about the salmon, not about us."
The pivotal moment arrived in 1974 with the U.S. District Court case United States v. Washington, often referred to as the "Boldt Decision," after Judge George Hugo Boldt. After extensive historical and anthropological review, Judge Boldt unequivocally affirmed the tribes’ treaty rights. His ruling, a legal earthquake, declared that the phrase "in common with" meant that treaty tribes were entitled to 50 percent of the harvestable salmon returning to their usual and accustomed fishing grounds.
Judge Boldt’s decision was not just a legal interpretation; it was a profound recognition of tribal sovereignty and the enduring power of treaties. He stated: "The Indians had a right to 50 percent of the harvestable fish, not 50 percent of the opportunity to try and catch fish." This was a monumental victory for the tribes, validating their long-held understanding of their treaty rights. While the ruling initially faced fierce resistance, including death threats against Judge Boldt and widespread protests by non-Native fishers, it was ultimately upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1979. A similar, though slightly earlier, decision in United States v. Oregon (1969), known as the "Belloni Decision," had affirmed similar rights for tribes on the Columbia River, further solidifying the legal landscape.
The Boldt Decision fundamentally reshaped fisheries management in the Pacific Northwest. It mandated co-management, requiring state and federal agencies to consult and collaborate with tribes on salmon harvest regulations, habitat protection, and hatchery operations. This shift empowered tribes to reclaim their traditional role as stewards of the salmon, bringing their deep ecological knowledge and intergenerational wisdom to the forefront of conservation efforts. The Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission (NWIFC), established in 1974, became a crucial intertribal organization, facilitating this co-management and advocating for tribal fishing rights and salmon restoration.
Yet, even as legal battles affirmed their rights, a more insidious threat loomed: the dramatic decline of salmon populations. The reasons are multifaceted and interconnected:
- Hydropower Dams: The construction of massive dams on rivers like the Columbia and Snake during the 20th century decimated salmon runs. Dams blocked migration routes, flooded spawning grounds, and created slack water reservoirs that were lethal to juvenile salmon. The Grand Coulee Dam, completed in 1942, famously lacked fish ladders, effectively eliminating salmon runs on the upper Columbia River forever.
- Habitat Degradation: Logging, agriculture, urbanization, and industrial pollution have destroyed critical spawning and rearing habitats. Runoff from farms and cities introduces toxins, while removal of riparian vegetation increases water temperatures and sediment.
- Overfishing: Historically, unregulated commercial and sport fishing by non-Native fishers contributed significantly to stock declines before effective co-management was implemented.
- Climate Change: Warming ocean temperatures, altered river flows, and increased frequency of droughts and floods are putting immense stress on salmon at every stage of their life cycle.
- Hatchery Practices: While intended to supplement wild populations, poorly managed hatcheries can sometimes lead to genetic dilution, disease transmission, and competition with wild fish.
Tribes, often the first to feel the effects of environmental degradation, have become leading advocates and practitioners of salmon restoration. They understand that a right to fish is meaningless without fish to catch. The Quinault Indian Nation, for example, has been a tireless advocate for sustainable forestry practices on its lands and has invested heavily in hatchery programs to support its struggling salmon runs. The Lummi Nation launched the "Save Our Wild Salmon" campaign, highlighting the critical link between healthy salmon and the health of their people. The Yakama Nation leads extensive habitat restoration projects on the Columbia River tributaries, utilizing both traditional knowledge and modern science.
A particularly poignant example of tribal leadership in restoration is the removal of the Elwha River dams in Washington State, completed in 2014. For nearly a century, these dams had blocked salmon passage, decimating the once-abundant runs that sustained the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. The tribe was a primary driver behind the dam removal project, which has since seen a remarkable return of salmon to the river’s upper reaches, an ecological success story and a testament to the power of restoration. Similar efforts are underway to remove the Lower Snake River dams, a movement strongly supported by the Nez Perce, Yakama, Umatilla, and Warm Springs tribes, who view their removal as essential for the recovery of critically endangered salmon and steelhead.
The fight for fishing rights in the Pacific Northwest is far from over. It is a continuous struggle to uphold treaty obligations, protect sacred traditions, and ensure the survival of salmon for future generations. It encompasses legal challenges, political advocacy, scientific research, and hands-on restoration work. The economic stakes are significant; tribal fishing industries, though often small, provide crucial jobs and sustenance in rural communities. Culturally, the loss of salmon is an existential threat, severing an ancient connection that defines Indigenous identity.
As Billy Frank Jr. once powerfully declared, "We’ve got to take care of this land and this water. The salmon, the fish, the deer, the elk, the air, the water, that’s our whole way of life. That’s our religion. That’s how we pray. That’s how we’re going to survive." His words encapsulate the profound truth at the heart of the Pacific Northwest tribal fishing rights story: it is not merely about a legal right to harvest a resource, but about the fundamental right to exist, to practice one’s culture, and to heal the land that sustains us all. The enduring current of the salmon, and the unwavering resolve of the tribes, continues to flow, reminding us of our shared responsibility to protect this vital legacy.
