The Fight of the Salmon People: Blending Tribal Tradition with Modern Science to Save Sacred Fish by Douglas W. Dompier

Abstract

place. According toMcKevitt, Italian Jesuits also had some difficultywith theAmerican concept offreepublic education. They believed church schools, on theEuropean model, served a good purpose. Ultimately, the Italian Jesuits realized that theywould have to act on their own and, accordingly, established numerous college preparatory schools in the West, plus five Jesuit institutions of higher education, including Gonzaga University and Seattle University. McKevitt ismost effectivewhen he reviews the severalways Jesuit missionaries merged Catholic culturewith Native Ameri can spirituality This "brokering of cultures" became the titleof thebook (p. 322). An experienced teacher at Santa Clara Uni versity, where he isprofessor of Jesuitstudies, McKevitt is highly regarded as a classroom scholar, and he uses his pedagogical skills to good advantage in leading readers of this book through seventyyears of change in the American West. This is especially true in his carefulexamination of the Jesuit RockyMoun tain Mission, a vast territorythat spread from Oregon and Washington to eastern Montana. The research for this volume is impeccable. McKevitt's conclusions derive frommaterials he examined at Jesuitprovincial archives in Rome, Turin, London, Naples, Maryland, New York, Louisiana, Missouri, Colorado, Oregon, and California.McKevitt is leasteffective when his textunnecessarily elevates Santa Clara Uni versity to the forefrontof Western missionary activity.Happily, Brokers ofCulture provides twomaps and ten times thatnumber of perti nent illustrationsplaced among thirteenchap ters. There are endnotes aplenty ? more than one thousand? but no formal bibliography. That absence is,perhaps, theonly genuine flaw in thisotherwise remarkable book. Robert Carriker Gonzaga University,Spokane,Washington Purchase back issues of the Oregon Historical Quarterly by calling 503.306.5230 or writing to museumstore@ohs.org. THE FIGHT OF THE SALMONPEOPLE: BLENDINGTRIBAL TRADITION WITH MODERN SCIENCE TO SAVESACREDFISH byDouglas W. Dompier Xlibris Corporation, Philadelphia, 2005.Maps, notes, glossary. 351pages. $32.99 cloth, $22.99 paper. Among fish biologists and other experts, the sorry state of Columbia River salmon runs is generally attributed to the "4-Hs" of the anad romous apocalypse: hydropower,habitat [loss], harvest,and hatcheries.The lastof theseculprits is the leastunderstood andmost controversial among scholars, scientists, and advocates of salmon recovery. While many environmentalists regardhatchery fish as a threat towild stocks, Northwest Indian tribes and their allies place great faith in a technique called supplemen tation, which combines habitat restoration with hatchery transplants to rebuild naturally spawning runs.Fish biologistDouglas Dompier spent twenty-sixyears (1979-2005) develop ing and overseeing hatchery programs for the Columbia River Inter-TribalFish Commission (CRITFC). In The Fight of theSalmon People, he brings his vast experience and expertise to bear on thehistoryofColumbia River fisheries policy and politics since theearlytwentiethcen tury.Focusing on theroleofhatcheries and the rise of the tribes as resource managers, Dompier contends that the realproblem has never been hatcheries per se,but rathertheir manipulation by stateand federal agencies intenton serving themselves and their white constituents at the expense of Indians and salmon. The treaty tribeshave proven to be as resilient and reso luteas theirsacredfish,however, and Dompier believes that thepractical marriage of ancient tradition and modern science can put salmon back in the streams. His critique of the currenthatchery regime unfolds in five chronological chapters, fol lowed by a call formajor reforms in salmon management. Not surprisingly, givenhis train ing,thediscussion throughout emphasizes the 504 OHQ vol. 108, no. 3 science and policy sides of issues rather than theircultural and historical context.Although each chapter begins with a reference to tribal oral traditions concerning salmon, the book contains relatively little information about Plateau Indian fishing methods, spiritualbeliefs, or history. Instead, after a cursory review of the historical and legal background of treaty fishing rights,Dompier dives into a detailed presentation of the factors thatproduced and perpetuate the dysfunctional fisheries of the present. Startingwith the Mitchell Act of 1938, he explains, stateand federalagencies looked to hatcheries to offsetthe damage caused by the construction of dams in theColumbia Basin. Most facilities were built below Bonneville Dam, however, providing salmon for non Indian sport and commercial fisherswhile leaving Mid-Columbia Indians with badly depleted runs and theburden of conservation. Only courtvictories in the late 1960s and 1970s earned tribesa shareof thebenefits and a voice in management decisions. Even then, Dompier shows,fisheryagencies undercut Indian inter ests and salmon recoveryby focusinghatchery production on stocks valued...