Colville Tribes hail opening for $50M Columbia River hatchery

Tuesday, July 2, 2013  

The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington opened the $50 million Chief Joseph Hatchery last month.

The tribe is raising salmon to be released in the Columbia River, starting next year. “We are salmon people,” Chairman John Sirois said at the opening, The Spokesman Review reported.

Salmon were a main staple of the tribal diet until the construction of the Grand Coulee dam in the 1930s. The tribe was promised four hatcheries to make up for the reduced fish runs -- the Chief Joseph facility is the fourth.

Get the Story:
Colvilles celebrate $50 million hatchery (The Spokesman Review 7/2)