Salmon get a traditional hello Deschutes River: Fish and Wildlife officials expect 10,700 chinook to make the swim this year

The Olympian

OLYMPIA – About 100 people gathered Saturday at Heritage Park to witness something that hasn’t occurred in a long time: a group of South Sound tribal members dancing and singing to welcome salmon on their return trip up the Deschutes River.

Saturday’s two-hour celebration coincided with the final weekend of Here Today, the city’s monthlong program devoted to temporary public art, including eight colored-glass salmon that appear to be twisting and turning as they jump out of the lake. The leaping salmon display, called Beauty Swim Skins, was created by LisaNa Red Bear, an Apache woman, Olympia resident and graduate of The Evergreen State College.

Red Bear was on hand for Saturday’s celebration, as were about 12 members of tribal groups, including the Nisqually, Puyallup, Squaxin and Skokomish tribes. Nisqually tribal member Anthony Sanchez, who played a hand drum during the performance, said the group sang ancestral prayer songs.

After talking to local tribal elders, Red Bear said she thinks this was the first such multi-tribal gathering near the mouth of the Deschutes River since presettler days.

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