july 10,2018


july 10,2018

Today we went to the Klickitat falls fishing site. We learned about how they tag the fish and put little trackers in them, so they can see where they go, and where they’ve been.

We met Shawn Bechtol he works at the Klickitat falls fishing site, and he is a fisheries biologist. He showed us how all machines work, and how they catch the fish, he also showed us how he checks to see if the fish is wild or not. He showed us how they put the fish asleep by shocking them and while they are asleep, he takes them and checks how long they are, he gets some scales from both side of the fish so they can take them to the lab and do research to see how old the fish is, after that he scans the fish to see if they have a tag in its belly if it doesn’t then he will put one in so they can track where ever it goes.

            We met John Washines he also works the Klickitat falls, he is a fisheries tech, he took us to where the scaffolds are and he was explaining the traditional food and he said salmon was not the first traditional food it’s the sucker fish, the sucker fish is yellow and that represented the sun, and the light. He said that “when you catch a fish or pick berries for the first time, you go and give it to an elder, aunt, or uncle or someone who isn’t able to go do it themselves.” He also said that it is in our blood to fish, hunt, and pick berries. He taught us how to say “people of the big river” in Sahaptin it’s  “ichi-wana-pam-thla”.

            When we were done with the tour around the Klickitat falls, we started going to Deschutes and that’s where we are going to camp until Saturday


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