Salmon Public Outreach and Education 2021

This is an ongoing (multiyear) effort to provide public outreach and education around CTUIR goals for salmon and first foods restoration and conservation. This iteration primarily funded activities occurring between winter 2023 through spring 2024.



The CTUIR utilized PCSRF funding to support conservation and restoration efforts through public outreach and education. The Public Outreach & Education Specialist educated the public and tribal community about the CTUIR’s First Foods Mission. This mission guides the CTUIR in the protection, restoration and enhancement of the First Foods, which include water, aquatic species, game and waterfowl species, rooting and fruiting plant species for the perpetual, cultural, economic and sovereign benefit of the CTUIR. Goals were accomplished by utilizing traditional, ecological and cultural knowledge and science to inform the public about population and habitat management goals and actions and natural resource policies and regulatory mechanisms. CTUIR Aquatic and First Foods Public Education and Outreach included the following tasks, and utilized public and social media platforms to educate and promote outreach events.



Outreach events included Salmon expedition series presentation conducted throughout Oregon and SE Washington and Idaho including presentations at schools from elementary through high school, the Return to the River Salmon Festival at the Walla Walla Community College celebrating the return of spring chinook to the Walla Walla River, and tribal member engagement through the First Foods Use and Access project.

Species that benefit from DNR’s outreach and education project include:

• ESA listed summer steelhead and bull trout,

• Reintroduced spring chinook and Pacific lamprey, and

• Inland redband trout and margined sculpin, listed as vulnerable under Oregon’s Sensitive

Species rule.

CTUIR DNR manages every component of the river basin system from a fully functional and diverse ecosystem perspective following Tamánwit and nature’s ecological law that all resources are important and connected to one another. Salmon is a critical resource along will all other

First Foods. They are ecologically related to each other and span across the landscape with vast biodiversity. They are reliant on one another as are the people who also rely on them. It is important that we manage our resources from ridgetop to ridgetop, down to the flood plain, and

onto the ocean. These projects supports the DNR First Foods management approach and also focus on the wildlife and plant species connected to the same habitat areas that directly benefit from aquatic species restoration efforts. Educating the public about the significance of ESA listed species will increase support for habitat restoration projects and fish protection. Through education and outreach efforts within the schools, students return home and share information with parents and family. This sharing of information supports restoration efforts by increasing awareness about natural resource management curriculum and the impacts that students can have on their natural environment. The goal is to create young stewards to carry the mantle of natural resource protection and preservation into the future. The CTUIR is also working to increase public support and stronger partnerships for future salmon and watershed restoration projects.