Students at Wa-He-Lut, a school funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for any student who is a member of an Indian tribe, spent a few hours Thursday throwing frozen salmon carcasses into the Nisqually River near Yelm.
The carcasses have a key role in the ecology of the Nisqually River and the health of the salmon runs, said Wa-He-Lut sixth-grade teacher Victoria Johnston. In nature, salmon naturally die in the creeks after they spawn.
“Either they’ll decompose and become food for the bugs that the baby salmon will eat after they hatch,” Johnston said, “or the baby salmon will eat the salmon carcasses.”
Thursday’s activity was part of the Nisqually River Education Project, a regional project of the Nisqually River Council that educates students about the local watershed and involves them in some restoration efforts, Johnston said. The salmon thrown Thursday came from a local hatchery and were placed in a creek that does not have adequate runs of salmon, she said.
Students also made cultural connections to the science activity.
The school, which is next to the Nisqually River east of Lacey, conducts an annual First Salmon Ceremony, in which tribal elders give thanks for the first salmon catch of the season by burying the first salmon’s bones next to the river, Wa-He-Lut principal Harvey Whitford said.
According to the tradition of many Northwest Indian tribes, salmon are people who live underwater and who feed the tribes by offering themselves in the form of a fish at the same time every year. According to tradition, bringing the salmon bones back to the river ensures the fish’s return every year, Whitford said. At Wa-He-Lut, the ceremony is held as school opens in September.
“We are telling the salmon people that we respect you; we respect your spirit and what you’ve given us. Thank you for coming back,” Whitford said. “The children someday are going to be conducting these ceremonies when they are elders.”
Johnston said some of the students made the connection between the river’s ecology and its traditions.
“I asked them, ‘What are some of the reasons why are we giving the salmon back to the river?’” Johnston said. “Some said things like, ‘You give the salmon back to the river, saying thank you for coming.’”
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