7/9/18 Monday

Today was a great day, we met Jeanette Burkhardt at White Salmon Field Office that is used for Yakima Tribal officers. She works for the Yakima County Tribal, she is a watershed planner. In my opinion, she is a really wonderful person that is very passionate about her career. The first activity we did with her was to visit a waterfall that is located in White Salmon, which is known as Husum Falls. That waterfall was very beautiful but it is not just known for its beauty only. Salmon and steelhead use it in order to travel down the river towards the Columbia River. 



The next activity was by far the most interesting that I have been part of in this class field trip. She took us to a location where an old water dam was located before its removal in 2013. That dam was known as Conduit dam which was constructed in 1912. It was amazing to see locations that were not so long ago underwater. She explained that it was demolished in order to restore its natural environment to its natural state. We hiked down a hill to where the dam once stood and it was shocking to see just how much the landscape has changed over four years. Jeanette then took us to a park that was known as Conduit restoration in order to eat our lunch and she brought us water that was really nice of her. In the park, she showed us what the tribal have done in order to restore the dead environment that was underwater for a hundred years due to the high levels of the water from the dam. She told us that in total they planted over 90 acres of native plans to revive the environment. What her organization is doing is simply amazing, they refuse to stand back and actually take action on what they love. 

After our visit to the park, we then visited a tribal location that was owned by Chief Johnny Jackson that is known as Under Wood Site. That site was very important because it is a site that was restored after Conduit dam was destroyed and affected the White Salmon River. At that site native plants were also planted to restore the environment to its original state. Chief Jackson shared a testimonial story on his land. He described how his land was owned by his father and it was only meant to be for the tribes of The Yakima Nation and Warm Springs. He described life before the coming of the white men according to him. He described times when they lived in tepees and went spearfishing. He is 88 years old and to me, he is a living testimony of history, he described how the government started to take his land without permission. The government built a highway through his land and then a railroad. He tried to fight his land back at court but sadly he lost and therefore part of his land was seized.  But what made me sadder was how the windsurfers of today and sports fishing have decreased fishes from his land and it is really hard for his people to fish. Fishing to them is and has been a vital part of his maintenance and survival of his people. In conclusion, Today was the best day so far on this trip, I’m so glad and thankful for the opportunity to meet wonderful people like Jeanette and Chief Johnny.