Page 6 - Sanpoil River News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

For the first time in more than a generation, chinook salmon have spawned in the upper Columbia River system. Colville Tribal biologists counted 36 redds (a gravely nest in which female salmon lay their eggs) along an 8-mile stretch of the Sanpoil River, a tributary of the Columbia, in September. “I was shocked at first, then I was just overcome with complete joy,” said Crystal Conant, a Colville Tribal member from the Arrow Lakes and SanPoil bands. “I don’t know that I have the right words to even explain the happiness and the healing.” The news is a step toward full reintroduction of the migratory fish and another watershed cultural moment for the region’s tribes.

New yorkUnited statesArrow lakesBritish columbiaGrand couleeColumbia riverSanpoil riverGrand coulee damKettle fallsNew yorkerChris donleyCasey baldwinWashington department of fishCrystal conantColville tribalChief joseph