Kootenai Tribe celebrates hatchery's launch

BONNERS FERRY — Endangered Kootenai River white sturgeon and burbot got a helping hand Thursday with the opening of the Twin Rivers Hatchery.

Taking part in the opening celebration were Kootenai Tribe of Idaho Chairman Gary Aitken Jr., Boundary County commissioners, Idaho Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, Bonneville Power Administration deputy administrator Greg Delwiche and a multitude of representatives from tribes, agencies and groups in Idaho, Montana, Canada and beyond.

The new hatchery facility will raise both the endangered Kootenai River white sturgeon and burbot, which have been functionally extirpated from the river system, Aitken said.

“We have partnerships where once there was opposition,” he said. “Twenty years ago or less I was swimming here. I never dreamed we could have a facility like this, the first of its kind.”

Boundary County residents and onlookers rubbed elbows with dignitaries and politicians, representatives from U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Idaho Fish and Game, Canadian and Montana wildlife administrators and employees and members of the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho as they got their first look at the completed state-of-the-art hatchery facility. Twin Rivers sits at the confluence of the Kootenai and Moyie rivers, in the canyon below Moyie Springs.

Aitken welcomed the guests, who filled the adult sturgeon holding and spawning room of the big box retail store-sized building to capacity.

“We have so many people to thank,” Aitken said. “We can’t express gratitude enough. We couldn’t be here without the help.”

Aitken spoke of the covenant with the Creator, describing how the Kootenai River valley has taken care of the Kootenai people for thousands of years, and that restoration of the valley from ridgetop to ridgetop is driven by the tribe’s charge to honor, guard and celebrate this creation.

After a tribal elder’s blessing, the Sukni Singers gathered around a large drum to sing and drum a grand entry song. Aitken then introduced Senator Crapo for the keynote speech, saying Crapo had been instrumental in the work and in hearing the Kootenai people’s message.

“The Tribe has been engaged for years building partnerships and consensus,” Crapo said. “I feel honored to be brought in as a close friend.”

Crapo described how the consensus-building efforts in the area can help preserve, develop and strengthen the local economy, protecting the environment while providing resource-based jobs. He congratulated the Kootenai Valley Resource Initiative for it’s natural resource work.

“I’ve used the Tribe and KVRI as an example all over the country of consensus building,” he said.

“We’ve come a long way,” Aitken Jr. said, “But I have mixed feelings about celebrating. As Ktunaxa, we are taught to be humble. We are just getting started with the burbot, and it feels too early to celebrate, but I am pleased and excited.”

Delwiche said he was head of Bonneville’s Fish and Wildlife division when the hatchery was just a dream.

“Now that dream has come true,” he said.

BPA funded the project as a part of mandated mitigation for ecosystem damage caused by dams on the Columbia River drainage.

“This is really a special day,” said Tribal Fish and Wildlife director Sue Ireland. “I want to thank the Tribal Council for putting their faith in me to further their objectives. This is a milestone. We still have many steps to take but today, let’s have fun.”

A community open house, with tours of the hatchery, will be held Oct. 25 from 9 a.m. to noon.