Buck on the River: Jesse “Buck” Jones’ Journey Through the Columbia River Gorge  

HOOD RIVER, Ore. – Jesse “Buck” Jones – horseman, star basketball player, and an advocate for tribal fishers on the Columbia River – shared his personal story with a live audience Feb. 12 during “A Sense of Place” podcast.

Jones, an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, talked with Sarah Fox, creator and producer of “Hear in the Gorge” and curator for the “A Sense of Place” at Hood River’s Columbia Center. Jones shared his story of how he gave up hoops and horses for fish, which led to his current position on “The Big River” as a Salmon Marketing Specialist for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC), the intertribal fisheries agency of the Yakama, Warm Springs, Umatilla, and Nez Perce tribes.

He said his path as a horseman and renowned basketball player changed when he decided to exercise his tribal treaty rights to commercially fish for salmon in Zone 6 of the Columbia River. Zone 6 is the portion of the Columbia River with treaty-reserved fishing rights for Yakama, Warm Springs, Nez Perce, and Umatilla tribal members. The 147-mile stretch of river goes from Bonneville Dam near Cascade Locks to McNary Dam near Umatilla, Oregon. If you were to travel up and down that stretch of river and asked any tribal fisher along there if they know Buck Jones, nine times out of ten they will tell you, “Of course I know Buck.”

Jones, who lived in Portland for more than 20 years, returned to live on the Umatilla Indian Reservation, but continues his work with CRITFC and advocating for tribal fishers.

Series host Fox first sought Jones out as a source for a podcast she was developing about tribal commercial fishers.

While sharing information about tribal history and treaty rights on Nchi’ wána (the Sahaptin name for the Columbia River, pronounced “IN´chee wana”), Jones wove in stories of his life. He painted a picture of his younger days filled with horses, basketball and family lessons from his late father and Cayuse Chief Jesse Jones, Jr. Eventually, what started out as a work engagement turned into hours of conversation about his choices that led to the Salmon Marketing Specialist job. Throughout their meetings, Jones’ personal tales were so interesting and informative that Fox asked him to attend the Sense of Place Event Series as a guest speaker.

The Court of Life: Learning Through Basketball

Jones grew up in Pilot Rock, Oregon, in a family of horsemen. Horses were a connection to his Cayuse heritage and formed his earliest ideas about responsibility and accountability. His father, a cowboy and farrier, taught him the importance of those expectations.

“I was a cowboy. My father was a cowboy,” Jones recalled. “We owned horses, and I wore cowboy boots. I didn’t even know how to tie shoes until third grade because I only wore boots.”

As Jones grew into adolescence, the familiar call of the court rang in his ears. Tribal basketball was also part of his family legacy. His father was a well-known player and even organized youth tournaments.

“In Indian Country, basketball is a way of life. Native kids don’t need hoops or courts, they can go out and shoot around. They don’t even really need a basket and they can dribble in the grass,” Jones said.

As the tournament trail called to Jones, he started to travel and practice more, and in the end, he chose hoops over horses.

Jones earned all-state honors and competed in state tournaments, but he didn’t take full advantage of his scholarship opportunities. Looking back, he sees the lessons in those decisions.

“I might not be where I am today without those challenges or things that I didn’t apply myself to. I might not have met the mother of my children or had my children. I might not be in the tribal culture that I am now.”

He also may have never taken the trip downriver to start fishing.

From the Basketball Court to the River: Becoming a Fisher and Learning Treaty Rights

Jones said most of his early experiences in commercial fishing were shaped by Mary Settler-Goudy (Yakama), a seasoned fish buyer who actively and loudly advocated for treaty fishing rights and subsequently spent time in prison for upholding them.

“She was raised on the river,” Jones said. “Totes of fish would come in and she would clean them so fast that she could plug up the whole line. I thought I was young and could keep up, but she ran circles around me.”

More than just the mechanics of fishing, Jones learned the deep history of tribal rights and resistance.

“She had a loft full of law books, Supreme Court decisions that upheld our treaty fishing rights. I would read that stuff, and it didn’t really sink in at the time, but later, when I was in college, it all came back around. Our people have already gone to the Supreme Court for our rights. All our tribal people should know this stuff, but it’s not taught in school.”

After years of fishing just upriver from Hood River at Stanley Rock, Jones applied to work at CRITFC in the Fishing Site Maintenance department.

“My very first job at CRITFC allowed me to meet all the fishers at all these treaty fishing access sites,” Jones said. “I had a narrow perspective before, but this job let me see the whole picture.”

He learned of the unique obstacles faced by fishers living out their ancestors’ wishes for them to stay close to the river.

When Jones began working in the maintenance department, there weren’t as many tribal fishers living at in-lieu and treaty access sites as there are today.

Originally intended for seasonal use, the fishing sites – many along Interstate 84 – have become year-round homes due to the lack of affordable housing in the Gorge.

“It’s not just a tribal problem—it’s a society problem,” Jones said. “The lack of affordable housing has made it so tribal members are staying at the sites year-round. We were supposed to have a budget [to maintain the sites] for 50 years, that was back in 2002 or 2003, but that’s already been depleted.”

Marketing Sovereignty: Helping Fishers Thrive

For seven years, Jones commuted 180 miles a day from his home in Milwaukie to the CRITFC maintenance headquarters in The Dalles.

When CRITFC’s Salmon Marketing Specialist Les Brown retired in 2015, Jones applied for and was selected for the position to head up CRITFC’s salmon marketing effort.

“Back in the 80s and 90s, our fishers were selling salmon for 25 cents a pound, while it was being sold in Portland for 8 to 18 dollars a pound,” Jones explained. “The commissioners at CRITFC saw this and created a salmon marketing program to ensure fair prices and educate fishers on quality control.”

While his predecessor laid the foundation for the program, Jones took that vision and structure and built on it from his cultural knowledge and experience as a tribal fisher himself. He advocated for expanding the position role to include food sovereignty advocacy. His understanding of the culture, needs, and priorities of the Columbia River fishing families along the river became a cornerstone of Jones’ goals to build better opportunities and promote food sovereignty.

His vision for helping fishers develop strong quality-control habits and maintain the tribal fishery was expanded by his earlier teachings from Settler-Goudy on sovereignty and treaty rights.

Jones worked to improve the economic benefits for tribal fishers participating in the commercial fishery, coordinating food safety workshops, outreach events, and seeking grants to fund new ways for fishers to get their harvest to market.

After 20 years of this work, the melding of his sovereignty work and salmon marketing became official with the creation of CRITFC’s new Community Development Department.

“Since 2024, we formed a whole new department called Community Development, which is where my food sovereignty work comes in. We secured USDA grants to buy food for our local tribes and put food on the table for our people,” he said.

A Pandemic Shift: Expanding the Mission

Jones’ advocacy for people on the river grew out of networking and his work on various committees during the COVID-19 pandemic. In-lieu and treaty fishing access site residents have been historically underserved by local and tribal services. With their home tribes being up to six and a half hours away, the commute for services was a hazard.

 

A lack of testing and vaccine accessibility weren’t the only needs revealed by those early days of digging into service gaps. Food and housing security, wrap-around services, and access to resources, have long been issues for Indigenous people removed from their historical homes, but the effort to obtain services highlighted how badly river communities needed help.

Jones said he became consumed with identifying ways to help his relatives on the river.

“How am I going to get food to my treaty tribal members? How am I going to get toilet paper to them? How am I going to get masks to them?” he recalled asking.

CRITFC policy representatives also carried concern and sprang into action to fill in some of the gaps. Eventually, the crisis led to deeper partnerships between CRITFC and organizations like One Community Health and the Indian Health Service. These services stretched far beyond the health of fishers and began aiming to address many of the social needs identified by the groups.

The Journey Home: A Life of Service

Throughout the evening, Jones’ personal stories were often greeted with laughter at his humor or audible gasps when he shared examples of the startling disparities faced by Native fishers and their families in the Gorge.

Jones said events like ‘Sense of Place’ are important to ensure that all the voices of the Gorge are heard.

“Sarah [Fox] has done a great job at bringing fair representation to the show. I am glad she’s dedicated to bringing in the Native voices so the larger communities can hear us tell our own stories,” he said.

Reflecting on his journey, Jones said he sees how all the twists and turns have led him to this moment.

“The most important part of my job is working for my people,” he said. “I’m fortunate to be in a position to advocate for them and to be a voice. CRITFC has allowed me to be at the table in a lot of places I would not be at if not for this position.”

He offered his sincere gratitude to the Settler-Goudy families for the lessons they provided.

Jones wants to fulfill the vision of his ancestors and, at the same time, advocate for the people who live and fish along the river.

“I still have that vision our ancestors had,” Jones said, adding that he wants to see a successful fish processing facility.

“We’re sending our Native-caught fish throughout the Northwest and the world,” he said, “If I could help get that [processing facility] going that would really satisfy me.

“Sovereignty,” Jones said, “is the whole reason I took this role.”

For 15 seasons, the Sense of Place series has amplified diverse voices to represent the culture and history of the Columbia River Gorge. Notable tribal leaders featured include former National Parks Director Chuck Sams (Cayuse/Walla Walla), the first Native American to hold this position; former CRITFC and CTUIR Chair Kat Brigham (Enrolled Confederated Tribes of Umatilla); CRITFC Fisheries Science Manager Donella Miller (Yakama), and Emily Washines (Yakama) were all speakers in various seasons and episodes. This event takes place annually in a series of episodes streamed in front of a live studio audience at the Columbia Center for the Arts in Hood River. For more information, visit the Mt. Adams Institute’s Sense of Place website at https://mtadamsinstitute.org/senseofplace/.

By Jill-Marie Gavin, CRITFC Communications