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Columbia River’s salmon are at the core of ancient religion

A dog named Kaloua lies beneath a rack of freshly caught salmon at an "in-lieu fishing site," lands set aside by Congress to compensate tribes whose villages were inundated by dams, on the Columbia River in Bonneville, Ore., on Tuesday, June 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski) Freshly caught salmon is sliced and hung at an "in-lieu fishing site," lands set aside by Congress to compensate tribes whose villages were inundated by dams, on the Columbia River in Bonneville, Ore., on Tuesday, June 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski) Betty Jean Sutterlict slices, salts and hangs freshly caught salmon at their family campsite on the Columbia River in Bonneville, Ore., on Tuesday, June 21, 2022. For thousands of years, Native tribes in this area have relied on the Columbia River, or Nch'i-Wána, for its salmon and trout, and its surrounding areas for edible roots, medicinal herbs and berry bushes, which are used for food and rituals. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski) Fresh salmon hangs from a wooden pole at the campsite of Bettie Sutterlicht and Aaron Paul along the Columbia River in Bonneville, Ore., on Tuesday, June 21, 2022. For thousands of years, Native tribes in this area have relied on the Columbia River, or Nch'i-Wána, for its salmon and trout, and its surrounding areas for edible roots, medicinal herbs and berry bushes, which are used for food and rituals. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski) A dog named Kaloua sits next to freshly caught salmon along the Columbia River on Monday, June 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski) Betty Jean Sutterlict holds a pair of freshly caught salmon in Bonneville, Ore., on Monday, June 20, 2022. Young salmon, or smolts, swim down the Columbia River to the ocean, where they grow for between one and five years. Then they migrate back upstream to spawn. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski) Sandy Whitefoot stands with a dog at her home on an "in-lieu fishing site," lands set aside by Congress to compensate tribes whose villages were inundated by dams, on Monday, June 20, 2022. Many families at these sites live in trailers without restrooms, lights or drains. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski) Sandy Whitefoot smokes salmon near the Bonneville Dam at an "in-lieu fishing site," lands set aside by Congress to compensate tribes whose villages were inundated by dams, on Monday, June 20, 2022. Many families at these sites live in trailers without restrooms, lights or drains. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski) Alanna Harvey, 7, center, and other family members, set the table before a ceremonial meal at the Celilo Village Longhouse on Sunday, June 19, 2022, in Celilo Village, Ore. The tribe's first foods are placed on the table in seasonal order. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski) Bronsco Jim Jr., who was appointed mid-Columbia River chief, stands with his cousin Elaine Harvey, a fish biologist for Yakama Nation fisheries, at the banks of the Columbia River near the John Day Dam in Rufus, Ore., on Sunday, June 19, 2022. Harvey says the tribes are focused on preserving areas in tributaries such as the Klickitat and White Salmon, two glacial rivers that provide cold water for migrating salmon. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski) Yakama Nation elder James Kiona stands on the rocky edge of Lyle Falls on the Klickitat River, a tributary of the Columbia River, on Sunday, June 19, 2022, in Lyle, Wash. Kiona has fished for Chinook salmon for decades here on his family's scaffold, using a dip net suspended from a 33-foot pole. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski) Bill Yallup Jr. stands at the banks of the Columbia River, where he and his son fish for salmon and trout, on Friday, June 17, 2022, in Bingen, Wash. Yallup's family came to Celilo Falls when he was an infant, and he lives along the river during the fish harvesting season. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski) Bronsco Jim Jr., mid-Columbia River chief, cleans the longhouse altar, a rectangle of Earth, with water before a ceremonial meal at the Celilo Village longhouse on Sunday, June 19, 2022, in Celilo Village, Ore. The tribe's first foods are placed on the table in seasonal order before the meal begins. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski) The Celilo Village longhouse is supported by tall wooden beams in Celilo Village, Ore., on Sunday, June 19, 2022. In Native families that inhabit the Columbia Basin, education about first foods begins at home and continues in the longhouse, accompanied by teaching and ceremony. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski) Medicinal plants used by members of the Yakama Nation grow near the Klickitat River, a tributary of the Columbia River, on Sunday, June 19, 2022, in Lyle, Wash. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski) Dennis Moore steers a Columbia River tour boat on Saturday, June 18, 2022, in Cascade Locks, Ore. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski) Jared Squires, left, buys fresh salmon from Christy Sampson in a parking lot near the Columbia River on Friday, June 17, 2022, in Cascade Locks, Ore. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski) Native tribesmen and women sell fresh, smoked and canned salmon in a parking lot near the Columbia River on Friday, June 17, 2022, in Cascade Locks, Ore. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski) Terrie Brigham of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla stands on the banks of the Columbia River, where her family has used dip nets to fish from scaffolds for generations, on Friday, June 17, 2022, in Cascade Locks, Ore. Brigham's grandfather erected the family's scaffolds in the 1950s. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski) A man throws a fish back into the Columbia River from the Whitefoot family scaffold in Bonneville, Ore., on Monday, June 20, 2022. For thousands of years, Native tribes in this area have relied on the Columbia River for its salmon and trout, and its surrounding areas for edible roots, medicinal herbs and berry bushes, which are used for food and rituals. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski) Scaffolds used by Indigenous people while fishing line the banks of the Columbia River in Fort Rains, Wash., on Saturday, June 18, 2022. The waterway, which Natives call Nch’i-Wána, or “the great river,” has sustained Indigenous people in the region for millennia. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski) Travelers and locals cast fishing lines from the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River on Tuesday, June 21, 2022, in Bonneville, Ore. From its headwaters in British Columbia where the Rocky Mountains crest, the Columbia River flows south into Washington state and then westward and into the Pacific Ocean at its mouth near Astoria, Ore. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski) Water flows over The Dalles Dam on the Columbia River as seen from The Dalles, Ore., on Sunday, June 19, 2022. Hydroelectric dams, like The Dalles Dam, on the Columbia and its tributaries have curtailed the river's flow, further imperiling salmon migration from the Pacific Ocean to their freshwater spawning grounds upstream. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski) Water from the Columbia River churns below The Dalles bridge near The Dalles Dam, crossing the Washington and Oregon state line, on Sunday, June 19, 2022. The river is threatened by industrialization, climate change and pollution. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski) Water spills over the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River, which runs along the Washington and Oregon state line, on Tuesday, June 21, 2022. Hydroelectric dams, like the Bonneville Dam, on the Columbia and its tributaries have curtailed the river's flow, further imperiling salmon migration from the Pacific Ocean to their freshwater spawning grounds upstream. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski) Water rushes through Lyle Falls in the Klickitat River, a tributary that runs into the Columbia River, on Sunday, June 19, 2022, in Lyle, Wash. For generations, Indigenous people have fished for salmon and trout from scaffolds perched just above the sacred water. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)