Return of the White Sturgeon

The Kootenai River flowing south from its headwaters in southeastern British Columbia enters northwestern Montana where it is held in part as a reservoir we all know fondly as Lake Koocanusa. It leaves the quiet water behind at the Libby Dam where it turns west. In Boundary County, it is the river you cross over at Bonners Ferry. At the Kootenai Wildlife Refuge, it turns again and meanders north, crossing the Canadian border a second time at Port Hill. Soon thereafter the Kootenai flows into Kootenay Lake and exits eventually as spillover into a short waterway before its confluence with the Columbia River at Castlegar, B.C.

It is home to the only naturally isolated population of white sturgeon in the entire Columbia Basin. Likewise, it supports burbot, another ancient species of fish isolated likely by geomorphological changes in the landscape during the last glacial period. Other white sturgeon in the Columbia River drainage are landlocked by hydroelectric dams, except one sturgeon population downstream from the Bonneville Dam which still has access to the ocean.

Fishing for white sturgeon has been illegal in Montana since 1979. Idaho ended the sport harvest of white sturgeon in the Kootenai in 1984, and white sturgeon fishing in the British Columbia portion of the Kootenai system was halted in 1990.

Due in great part to changes in habitat caused by fluctuating discharges from the Libby Dam, the Panhandle population of Kootenai River white sturgeon stopped reproducing successfully somewhere between 30 to 40 years ago. In select areas where the sturgeon normally spawned, their fertilized eggs ended up covered in silt wherein they would suffocate. Historically, sturgeon spawned on clean submerged gravel bars. The excessive silt deposits were being caused by fluctuations in the river flow. Also changes to the flow brought about temperature fluctuations in the water, something that is not good for the biological needs of incubating eggs. The Kootenai sturgeon were listed as endangered in 1994 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Ancestral Commitment

The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, headquartered along the banks of the river just west, northwest of Bonners Ferry, has held to its tribal heritage as stewards of the river and the fish that live in it. That tradition, born in vision, has been passed down from the beginning of time. It describes the Kootenai people as being created by the supreme being, Quilxka Nupika, and placed on earth to keep the Creator-Spirit’s Covenant to guard and keep the land and river forever.

The Kootenai people lived in relative peace until the arrival of strangers who spoke a new language and used guns to get their way. They wanted these Native Americans to sign a treaty and move to designated reservations. Noteworthy of record, no Kootenai ever signed a treaty that separated them from their spiritually assigned responsibility. The Kootenai have kept their Covenant.

Those were difficult times. Despite earlier government promises that land along the Kootenai River would always belong to the tribe, their land was systematically broken apart and distributed to others. The people suffered horrible epidemics as well. Many died from those illnesses. The struggle for a diminishing population of Kootenai people continued for decades without noticeable reprieve. The Kootenai people had been reduced to six scattered bands.

It’s documented in history that only 67 Kootenai remained in 1974 when all but a destitute vestige of people, without land of their own, declared war on the United States. Though such a declaration could easily have turned bad, that stressful time remains of record as a “peaceful war” accomplished without bloodshed. From the publicity gained in that great challenge, the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho was deeded 12.5 acres of land, where its headquarters now exist. As small as that was, it was a positive turn favoring tribal life.

Then, in 1986, the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho made another healthy stride with the construction of its wholly owned Kootenai River Inn at Bonners Ferry, complete with fine dining, a popular casino and hotel all in the same complex. Gaming arrived a decade later.

Many tribal members still speak fluent Kootenai language. In this way they pass down traditions and skills that might otherwise have been lost in cultural change.

It is highly respectful that despite the terrible losses of land and life through more than a hundred years, the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho never lost sight of their ancestral vision: to be the guardians of the land forever. Today, the Tribe’s positive input of power and leadership is recognized by all fortunate enough to work with them.

Two Hatcheries

The Tribe operates two state-of-the-art fish hatcheries on the Kootenai to aid in successful propagation of white sturgeon and burbot. Burbot are a freshwater member of the cod family and were also almost extinct in the Kootenai a decade ago. Adult male and female sturgeon are landed each spring by hatchery workers and transported by boat on stretchers to holding tanks in the hatchery where eggs and sperm are harvested for reproduction during the spawning period in May and June. These adult fish may weigh between 100 and 250 pounds, and one female may yield as many as 1,000,000 eggs in the wild. The fertilized eggs are incubated, hatched and reared in the hatcheries until the following spring, when the juvenile fish are marked and released into the river.

Other partners in this effort are the Army Corps of Engineers, the Bonneville Power Administration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Idaho Dept. of Fish and Game, Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks, and British Columbia Forest, Lands. Other individual groups and individuals work cooperatively with the Tribe to enhance restoration efforts as well.

The ancestral vision of stewardship preserved so keenly by the Kootenai people holds to the premise that all natural resources are connected through the web of life. This vision sees a healthy ecosystem under stewardship with clean, aquatic and terrestrial habitats interlaced and capable of supporting abundant life for all native species.

Dwayne Parsons is a Realtor for Century 21 Beutler & Associates of Coeur d’Alene working primarily in Boundary County. He can be reached through his email at dparsons@21goldchoice.com.

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