Submitted by trgavin on Thu, 2019-10-10 15:22 Yakima - 094 Vote Up Down +1 + Soft Hackle Nymph-b.JPG Our next regular meeting is Thursday, October 17th, 7:00 PM at Magic Pizza in Selah. We meet in their banquet room. Our speaker for October is Brian Saluskin. Brian is a fish passage biologist for the Yakama Nation. Brian is a tribal member and manages the Nation’s Yakima Sockeye Reintroduction program, an effort to restore the basin’s revered sockeye salmon, which were eradicated in the early 1900s when the rivers were dammed for irrigation water storage without provision for fish passage.The Yakama Nation is working with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and other Yakima basin partners to restore fish passage to four historical lakes (Cle Elum, Kachess, Keechelus, and Bumping) — now reservoirs, as well as Rimrock reservoir. The initial passage projects will be at Cle Elum and Rimrock lakes. The eventual goal is to have a self-sustaining run of sockeye available for tribal fishermen and residents of the Yakima Valley, and to restore salmon populations from less than 30,000 to over 300,000, including what could become the largest sockeye run in the lower 48 states.“The salmon are a part of us, a part of who we are, they identify us as a people … to bring these fish back after 100 years is so important to the Yakama Nation.” This should be a great meeting. Don't miss it! Remember our meetings are open to members and the public.