The tasty smell of fresh Klamath River salmon cooking the traditional way over an open fire mingled with the tangy smell of smoke from wildfires at the Yurok Tribe’s 56th annual Klamath Salmon Festival on Sunday. The Yurok tribe had canceled serving salmon in 2016 and 2017 due to low fish runs.
The event’s annual parade featured two grand marshals who are military veterans, Joe Pitt (89) of Klamath, and Irving Wilder, of Weitchpec.
In a new addition to Sunday’s usual family fun, live music, car show and a wide array of vendors and information booths, seven expert traditional basket weavers from different local tribes worked in a tent area filled with different types of ceremonial regalia, basketry and other cultural objects. See the slideshow below for highlights.
This article appears in Creatures of the Shallows.
Ironic that the Yurok Tribe would serve up a species – Klamath River Spring Chinook – whose wild component is on the brink of extinction and which were recently petitioned by the Karuk Tribe for ESA and California ESA protection.
Of even more concern is that the State of California allows guides and anglers to take two of these fish each and every day. THAT is insane!
I guess tribal and white fishers would say the fish were mostly from Trinity Hatchery. But even if just a few wild Springers were taken (and eaten), those who took and ate them put wild Klamath River Spring Chinook at greater risk for extinction.