In the Northwest, where thousands of people have
rallied to save salmon, the salmon are helping young, at-risk
Native Americans. The Salmon Corps – a partnership of five tribes,
the federal Americorps, the city of Portland, government agencies
and several corporations – trains Native Americans, aged 18 to 25,
in stream restoration work, while they earn up to $4,750 a year for
college. Participants in the program spend at least 1,700 hours a
year planting native vegetation along stream banks, moving woody
debris into salmon habitat and placing salmon eggs in the
headwaters of streams. “The river tribes refer to us as
Wakanish Naknoowee Thluma, which means Keepers
of the Salmon,” says Chuck Sams, the Northwest director for Earth
Conservation Corps, the parent group of the Salmon Corps. Almost 40
percent of Salmon Corps graduates start the program without high
school diplomas and, of those participants, 75 percent complete
their high school degrees as a corps member, he says. Many Salmon
Corps graduates become tribal wildlife technicians or U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service hatcheries technicians. Each summer, about 100
Indian and non-Indian people are selected from the local area
unless vacant positions allow organizers to choose from regional or
national applicants.
For more information or to
join Salmon Corps, call 503/249-0820 or check out
www.salmoncorps.org.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Salmon Corps.
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