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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Salmon At Home In Hanford Ponds

Wendy Harris Associated Press

With defunct nuclear reactors as a backdrop, a group of five young Yakama Indians shovel river sediment from an acre-large cement basin on the north end of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

The huge, 17-foot-deep cement pond once held Columbia River water which had been cleared of debris before it was pumped through the reactors to cool them.

The reactors are now a thing of the past, but Westinghouse Hanford Co. has found a use for these half-dozen holding ponds that overlook the river: They make great fish tanks.

Once the Yakama crew finishes the messy job of cleaning the sediment out of the tank, it will be refilled with river water and will serve as temporary home to about a half-million freshly hatched fall chinook salmon.

“Though I don’t fish and catch salmon, there are a lot of Yakama people who rely on salmon and I see this as helping them,” said Alan Tahsequah, 18, of Wapato. “I see it as a contribution.”

Alan and his four co-workers are volunteers, who along with 12 other Yakamas are among the 72 participants in the $1.6 million Salmon Corps project. The Yakama crews, along with their fellow volunteers from the Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs and Shoshone-Bannock tribes, are working to restore the dwindling salmon runs along the Columbia River and its tributaries.

The yearlong project, which began in November, is part of President Clinton’s Americorps plan in which young adults exchange public service for a stipend and college tuition. Salmon Corps is a partnership among the tribes, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Earth Conservation Corps and the Columbia River InterTribal Fish Commission.

Last year, the Yakama tribe successfully raised a half-million salmon in one of the ponds. Westinghouse Hanford then gave the go-ahead for the Salmon Corps to continue the project and clean out and use two more of the cement basins.

“Look what they’ve done already,” said Hanford Special Projects Manager Nick Anderson, impressed by the progress made by the Salmon Corps crew.

By spring, the Salmon Corps crews and the Department of Energy hope to have the tanks ready for the baby salmon. A million or so fall chinook salmon will be brought in from Columbia River hatcheries. The fish will take about six weeks to mature to the smolt stage, when their physiology changes and they begin to seek the saltwater of the Pacific Ocean. Once released, it is hoped, they will make the journey West and then one day return to the Columbia River to spawn.

“Chinook salmon go to sea for three years,” Anderson said. “It’s not biologically understood, but they’ll know where they come from and they’ll come back to spawn. We have lots of natural spawning ground in the Hanford reach.”

While Salmon Corps’ mission is to help revitalize a valuable tribal resource, its goal is twofold. The program is also designed to help another precious tribal resource: its youth.

“I get a second chance,” said Jason Tulee of Toppenish. “I flunked out of college when I was 20 years old and thought I’d never go back.”

Tulee, 29, said he was laid off from his job last summer, and without an education or a similar job experience, he was having trouble finding work that paid well.

“I worked for tribal fisheries and I got laid off,” Tulee said. “But I didn’t have the education, training or experience. When this opportunity arose, I jumped at the chance.”

In return for their year of service, Salmon Corps volunteers receive an $8,500 stipend and a $4,725 scholarship to be used at the school of their choice.

While the Salmon Corps projects deal mainly with habitat restoration, Corps field director Jim Landon and his crews have some cultural projects in the works.

“We’re hoping to build a sweat lodge and smokehouse for the elders at Wanity Park, a retirement center near the cultural center,” Landon said.

But Landon said he only has a $2,500 budget for materials and is soliciting donations of materials from the tribe.

“We are working to preserve our salmon, but another part of our purpose is to preserve our way of life,” said Diane Pebeahsy, 20, of Toppenish. “We try to do what we can for our environment, our people and our culture.”