That reliance transcends the material realm into the spiritual, as the acts of gathering, consuming and respecting those foods are inextricably linked to the tribes' religious practice. Eagles and ospreys nest all along the river.įor thousands of years, Native tribes in this area have relied on Nch’i-Wána, or “the great river,” for its salmon and steelhead trout, and its surrounding areas for the fields bearing edible roots, medicinal herbs and berry bushes as well as the deer and elk whose meat and hides are used for food and ritual. The landscape and colors change dramatically from the brown hills, shrubs and sagebrush at lower elevations to the lush greens of ponderosa pines, fir and larch trees higher up. It's a spectacular canyon, 80 miles long and up to 4,000 feet deep, with cliffs, ridges, streams and waterfalls. Just below the confluence with the Snake River, the Columbia's largest tributary, the river turns through the Cascade Mountain Range, carving out the Columbia River Gorge. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)įrom its headwaters in British Columbia where the Rocky Mountains crest, the Columbia River flows south into Washington state and then westward and into the Pacific Ocean at its mouth near Astoria, Oregon. For generations, Indigenous people have fished for salmon and trout from scaffolds perched just above the sacred water. The water, he says, holds the history of the land and his people.ĪP Water rushes through Lyle Falls in the Klickitat River, a tributary that runs into the Columbia River, on Sunday, June 19, 2022, in Lyle, Wash. When he lies on the rocks by the rushing river and closes his eyes, he hears the songs and the voices of his ancestors. As he battled addiction, depression and trauma, the river gave him therapy no hospital could. The river saved Kiona when he returned from the war in Vietnam. He finds strength, sanctity, even salvation in that struggle. The fish is fighting you, tearing holes in the net, jerking you off the scaffold.” “You feel exhilaration in your body when you dip that net in the water and feel the fish. “Fishing is an art and a spiritual practice,” says Kiona, a Yakama Nation elder. Kiona has fished for Chinook salmon for decades on his family’s scaffold at the edge of the falls, using a dip net suspended from a 33-foot pole - like his father did before him, and his son will after. His silvery ponytail flutters in the wind, and a string of eagle claws adorns his neck. ALONG THE COLUMBIA RIVER (AP) - James Kiona stands on a rocky ledge overlooking Lyle Falls where the water froths and rushes through steep canyon walls just before merging with the Columbia River.
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