Across a colonial border, First Nations share salmon eggs to bypass dams

By Aaron Hemens, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews First Nations fish hatcheries on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border are celebrating 10 years of a collaboration to help salmon blocked from migrating by dams and other threats. Earlier this month, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington transferred more than 6,200 chinook salmon eggs from their Chief Joseph Hatchery to the Okanagan Nation Alliance’s (ONA) kł cp̓əlk̓ stim̓ Hatchery in snpink’tn (Penticton), nearly 200 kilometres north. This year marks one decade since the two tribal hatcheries started working together to restore the fish’s population throughout the Columbia River Basin. The partnership has seen Colville Tribes send more than 115,000 eyed chinook eggs to the ONA over the past 10 years. One year alone, 2019, saw 40 per cent…

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