This is the life of the Wy-Kan-Ush-Pum, the Salmon People. It is a life Columbia River tribal people have lived since time immemorial and have fought for decades to protect. Over the last century and a half, they have watched as forces eroded their access to salmon. Treaties removed them from their traditional fishing areas; dams massively reduced the numbers of salmon that swam in the waters; environmental contamination further poisoned the well.
And now, as climate change threatens the salmon throughout its life, the stakes of that fight are existential.
Read all of ProPublica and Oregon Public Broadcasting’s team reporting on the threats facing salmon, and the broken treaties that government swore would protect tribes’ right to fish (https://www.propublica.org/series/broken-promises).
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