By Debra Lekanoff
October 3, 2022
Seattle Times Guest Opinion: Special to the Times
If we want to solve the challenges that are sitting right before us, we sometimes need to act with a vision that looks much farther down the road. We need to make generational commitments.
Washington state continues to face one of the most significant crises of our lifetimes in the degradation of Pacific Northwest salmon. The salmon, whose numbers have been plummeting for decades, are now in some places facing extinction. Once the salmon are gone, the very foundation of Pacific Northwest Native American culture, laws and values will be irreparably damaged.
I stand before you as the only Native American in the Washington state Legislature. I’m asking your spirits and hearts to make the right choices to avoid salmon extinction.
Together, we can urge collaboration from the state, local governments, tribes, Congress and the Biden administration to act. Together, we can ensure a prosperous future based on our Washington state values of protecting the environment and economies.
Living our traditional ways of life is a Native right that depends on whether we make this generational commitment. It will take a shift in perspective that includes applying a salmon revitalization lens to our lawmaking and policy decisions.
The Pacific Northwest tribes once had salmon in our smoke houses and freezers all year around. When the tide was out, our table was set with salmon, seaweed and shellfish, and the forests were full of a balance of elk, deer, bears, cougars and owls.
That life we knew is no longer what it was due to real life impacts of policy decisions. But our sacred responsibility is grounded in our salmon and their role in our culture, values and laws. Salmon are the very foundation of sustainability that grounds our Pacific Northwest way of life, our economies and our future for seven generations and beyond.