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An ancient people with a modern climate plan
Climate Solutions
An ancient people with a modern climate plan
After a brutal storm in 2006, the Swinomish tribe off the coast of Washington state launched a strategy to deal with the effects of a warming planet. Now, 50 other native tribes have followed suit.
By Jim Morrison
NOVEMBER 24, 2020
For 10,000 years, the Swinomish tribe has fished the waters of northwestern Washington, relying on the bounty of salmon and shellfish not only as a staple of its diet but as a centerpiece of its culture. At the beginning of the fishing season, the tribe gathers on the beach for a First Salmon ceremony, a feast honoring the return of the migratory fish that binds the generations of a tribe that calls itself the People of the Salmon.
At the ceremony’s conclusion, single salmon are ferried by boat in four directions — north to Padilla Bay, east to the Skagit River, south to Skagit Bay and west to Deception Pass — and eased into the water with a prayer that they will tell other salmon how well they were treated.
In recent years, though, the tribe’s harvest, diminished by vanishing habitat and warming waters fueled by climate change, hasn’t been sufficient to feed the hundreds of people who come to pay homage to their ancestors and to the fish that sustained them. ... “We don't have that abundance anymore,” said Lorraine Loomis, an elder who has managed the tribal fishery for 40 years. “To get ceremonial fish, we buy it and freeze it.”
For the Swinomish, perched on a vulnerable, low-lying reservation on Fidalgo Island, the effects of a warming world have been a gut punch.
{snip}
An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the Skagit River is the last waterway in the continental United States that’s home to all five species of Pacific salmon. It is the last waterway in the continental United States to host all five species. This story has been updated.
An ancient people with a modern climate plan
After a brutal storm in 2006, the Swinomish tribe off the coast of Washington state launched a strategy to deal with the effects of a warming planet. Now, 50 other native tribes have followed suit.
By Jim Morrison
NOVEMBER 24, 2020
For 10,000 years, the Swinomish tribe has fished the waters of northwestern Washington, relying on the bounty of salmon and shellfish not only as a staple of its diet but as a centerpiece of its culture. At the beginning of the fishing season, the tribe gathers on the beach for a First Salmon ceremony, a feast honoring the return of the migratory fish that binds the generations of a tribe that calls itself the People of the Salmon.
At the ceremony’s conclusion, single salmon are ferried by boat in four directions — north to Padilla Bay, east to the Skagit River, south to Skagit Bay and west to Deception Pass — and eased into the water with a prayer that they will tell other salmon how well they were treated.
In recent years, though, the tribe’s harvest, diminished by vanishing habitat and warming waters fueled by climate change, hasn’t been sufficient to feed the hundreds of people who come to pay homage to their ancestors and to the fish that sustained them. ... “We don't have that abundance anymore,” said Lorraine Loomis, an elder who has managed the tribal fishery for 40 years. “To get ceremonial fish, we buy it and freeze it.”
For the Swinomish, perched on a vulnerable, low-lying reservation on Fidalgo Island, the effects of a warming world have been a gut punch.
{snip}
An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the Skagit River is the last waterway in the continental United States that’s home to all five species of Pacific salmon. It is the last waterway in the continental United States to host all five species. This story has been updated.