Tribes Open First Commercial Fishery of 2021

PORTLAND — Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs, and Yakama tribal fishers are making their way to the Columbia River after the tribes announced that the first commercial gillnet fishery of 2021 will open on Wednesday, June 16. They will harvest summer chinook, sockeye, and a small number of steelhead that will be available for purchase by the general public from…

Umatilla River basin spring Chinook fishing reopened on May 25

PENDLETON – On May 26, the CTUIR’s Fish & Wildlife Commission (FWC) released Emergency Tributary Regulations for Spring/Summer Chinook fisheries. The notice came a day after the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife re-opened the Chinook salmon fishery on the Umatilla River. The Tribe has a treaty harvest of 75 fish on the Umatilla River, where ODFW managers have seen…

Goodbye and goodluck, salmon relatives

MORE THAN 134,000 spring Chinook salmon smolt were trucked from the Lookingglass Hatchery in Elgin to four raceways on Catherine Creek (Saxsaaxinma) in March. The setting includes fresh creek water pumped by an Isuzu diesel generator into the east end of each pond. It drains continually out the west side through standpipes covered with wire mesh. We acclimate the fish…

Burns selected to All-Star game

PENDLETON – The accolades keep coming in for CTUIR member Tyasin Burns, a football player for Pendleton High School. Burns was selected to the 5A/6A All-Star game called the Les Schwab Bowl July 3rd in Hillsboro. The CTUIR member was unanimously named to the 5A-Special District 1 First Team as a safety. He also earned Second Team honors as a…

Foot race to honor Spino

WARM SPRINGS – A CTUIR member’s efforts on another reservation are being celebrated this year. Azar Spino started the annual Super Man – Wonder Woman Endurance Foot Race in Warm Springs, which will occur June 27. Austin Green, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs’ Recreation Director, said the event will honor Spino this year, who started it in 2018.…

Soaring Eagle signs with Haskell

WHITE SWAN, Wash. – Teal Soaring Eagle, a 6-foot-2 guard from White Swan High School, signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kans. this fall. The CTUIR member earned his scholarship after performing well in a basketball tournament in Oklahoma City in early May. Instead of celebrating his birthday weekend, he decided…

CTUIR signs MOU with City of Kennewick

By Cary Rosenbaum of the CUJ, KENNEWICK – In referencing the aspirations to work together with the City of Kennewick, Board of Trustees member Armand Minthorn recalled the discovery of Kennewick Man, a 9,000-year-old ancestor of the Columbia Plateau Tribes who gained world interest for more than 20 years. “Not too far from here, Kennewick Man was discovered,” he said…

Windy Boy awarded State Seal of Biliteracy

By Cary Rosenbaum of the CUJ, MISSION – Robert Windy Boy is a one of a kind — literally. The Pendleton High School student earned the Oregon Seal of Biliteracy after becoming the only student to pass the CTUIR Language Department’s Nez Perce language proficiency test. The honor — which recognizes high school graduates who have attained a high level…

NCS welcomes three new faces

By Cary Rosenbaum of the CUJ, MISSION – Nixyaawii Community School added three new faces in May. Robby Bill (Behavior Support), Nicci Harrison (Language Arts) and Aaron Noisey (PE/Health) received contracts with the school. Bill, a CTUIR member, was hired in a Behavior Support position which is grant-funded. His role will be similar to an on-site counselor, the school announced,…