Portland, Oregon – The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission and its member tribes (Umatilla, Yakama, Warm Springs and Nez Perce) have completed the first update to their comprehensive fisheries restoration plan, Wy-Kan-Ush-Mi Wa-Kish-Wit (Spirit of the Salmon). The update addresses a host of issues and opportunities that have arisen since the original plan was written almost 20 years ago.
The update describes the progress and needed modifications to the institutional and technical recommendations in the original plan. It also identifies and addresses several new challenges and recommendations 18 years into the 25-year plan. Issues such as climate change, unmanaged predation and water quality are a few of the new issues addressed in the updated plan.
“With this update, Wy-Kan-Ush-Mi Wa-Kish-Wit is once again the most comprehensive and holistic fish restoration plan in the Columbia Basin,” said Paul Lumley, Executive Director for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. “This updated plan reflects the Columbia’s changing landscape and the new challenges and opportunities that have presented themselves over the past 20 years. Those challenges can no longer be ignored.”
Wy-Kan-Ush-Mi Wa-Kish-Wit or Spirit of the Salmon Plan was originally developed in 1995 to provide a framework for restoring anadromous fish such as salmon and lamprey as well as sturgeon in upriver areas above Bonneville Dam. The plan takes a gravel-to-gravel management approach that corresponds to the migratory range of these fish and extends throughout the Columbia River Basin wherever activities occur that directly affect them.
The updated Spirit of the Salmon Plan is available on online at plan.critfc.org. The online plan is fully searchable and includes the complete 2014 supplement, the original 1995 plan, the 2004 subbasin management plans as well as hundreds of links to related materials.