Sacred Heart Mission, Washington and Idaho State, United States of America
Written by: Paige Buckley
¨Like the salmon, we were all born in different places, in different streams, with a power within that pushed us to grow and search for deeper waters. The little streams we were all born in find their way to the large rivers. There, we find many companions swimming alongside us, some different in shape and color, but all searching for the deeper waters.¨
– Fr. Pat Twohy, SJ, and friend
The Columbia River Basin spans areas of British Columbia, the U.S. state of Washington, Idaho, and four other U.S. states, covering a total area of roughly 108,000 square miles. The basin´s cold and oxygen-rich waters have contributed to the diverse salmon populations of the region, and it has historically served as a yearly spawning site for 2-4 million wild salmon and steelhead. The basin is also essential for the flourishing of orcas and other aquatic wildlife, and, most importantly, it is vital for the spiritual and physical well-being of the Indigenous People who reside in Idaho and Washington states.
The Schitsu´umsh People, known as the ¨Discovered People¨ or the Coeur d´Alene Tribe, reside along Hangman Creek in Idaho. This salmon spawning site flows westward into the Columbia River Basin. The Coeur d´Alene Tribe is one of many Indigenous tribes that have helped the Columbia River Basin´s once-thriving wild salmon population. The Tribe holds the basin as sacred land that has allowed their surrounding environment to flourish. Despite the colonization and industrialization of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe´s sacred territory over the past centuries, they have shown remarkable resilience in restoring harmony with the salmon population.
At the turn of the 20th century, the demand for electricity and irrigation in the United States led to the unprecedented construction of dams on Indigenous lands. These dams harmed the natural course of the Columbia River Basin by creating shallow streams. The unnatural shallow waters disrupted the salmon’s natural migration by hindering their ability to swim freely, and the population has steadily declined since the 1950s.
Indigenous Tribes along the basin have most directly witnessed the environmental consequences of industrialization on their land, like logging, mining, and dam building. The polluted Columbia watershed has detrimental effects on its migrating salmon population. Not only do Indigenous Tribes of the Columbia River Basin rely on the salmon population for food, but they also view nature and the salmon migration patterns as sacred. When industry and infrastructure target the tribes’ environment, they also target the culture, physical, and spiritual well-being of the tribes.
The spiritual paths of the Society of Jesus and the Coeur d’Alene people met in 1843, when the Jesuits began accompanying the tribe in its initiatives to preserve its ancestral lands. This collaboration, which has had a significant impact on the tribe’s efforts, is a testament to the Jesuits’ commitment to social and ecological justice. Thirteen Jesuits are buried in the DeSmet Tribal Cemetery, including Father Peter Byrne’s uncle, Cornelius Byrne, SJ, who testified before Congress in the mid-50s to protect the reservation. Fr. Peter Byrne is a current Jesuit who continues the Society’s and his family´s passion for preserving the tribe´s indigenous lands and culture.
In 1992, in response to the unprecedented construction of dozens of dams in the basin over the past few decades, the Coeur d´Alene Tribe launched a wild salmon recovery initiative under its Department of Natural Resources, headed by a tribal member, Caj Mattheson. This initiative, born out of the urgent need to restore declining salmon populations, fosters cooperation, improvement projects, and scientific research to ‘restore, protect, expand, and reestablish fish populations to sustainable levels, providing harvest opportunities within the historical and cultural territories of the Coeur d´Alene Tribe.’
Among its many salmon conservation initiatives, the Coeur d´Alene Fisheries Department places fingerlings in the reservation’s small rivers, such as Hangman Creek, that flow through the Spokane River and into the Columbia. The Tribe inserts small computer chips into the sides of the fingerlings to track their movement. When the fingerlings mature into salmon, the Chief Joseph Dam will inevitably block their journey back to the reservation. The chip alerts the tribe´s Fisheries Department when the salmon reaches that point, and workers eventually drive to the Chief Joseph Dam and safely transport the salmon in tanks back to the reservation to sustain the population.
Jesuits living with the Indigenous Peoples, such as Peter Byrne, Jake Morton, Joe Fortier, Mike Fitzpatrick, Victor Cancino, and Pat Twohy, understand that while they have a responsibility to educate the Indigenous Peoples of the Columbia River Basin formally, the tribal members are ultimately the experts in salmon restoration. These Jesuits have become students of the Indigenous Peoples themselves as they seek to embody a pillar of Jesuit education, cura personalis, the care and concern for every Indigenous Peoples of Washington and Idaho.
Fr. Pat Twohy writes about his experience accompanying the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation upstream of Hangman Creek in northeastern Washington and several coastal bands. He is most inspired by the tribal spiritual approaches to salmon restoration, and he adopts the tribal mindset to emphasize the importance of preserving our Common Home. He focuses on the harmful effects of commercial and sport fishing on salmon populations. After spending time with the tribe, he shares that God´s people and the salmon share the same mission: “Although human beings, like salmon, vary in color and shape, we must seek deeper waters. Only in those deeper waters can we find serenity and swim smoothly.”
Fr. Pat reflects, “If we are crowded in the shallow waters near the surface, we will bruise and wound each other. In other words, if we do not accompany the Indigenous Peoples in preserving their sacred lands and wildlife, individual tribes will have little room to thrive. So, we must work with them to care for the ancestral lands of the Colville and Coeur d’Alene tribes, so that we can all swim freely in deeper waters.¨ Fr. Pat uplifts the Indigenous Peoples while respecting their space, traditional knowledge, and initiative by learning and adopting the tribes’ approach to nature.
Many other Jesuits, like Fr. Peter Byrne, take a collaborative role in Idaho and Eastern Washington to uplift the Coeur d´Alene Tribe. Fr. Peter has been in the priesthood for 50 years and has continued to work for social and ecological justice as pastor of the Coeur d´Alene Tribe for the past six years. He has served as associate pastor of St. Aloysius and as a member of the board of Gonzaga Preparatory School. He uses his experience to inspire the local Jesuit community´s contribution to salmon restoration. He has successfully linked local Catholic Charities with the Coeur d´Alene Tribe´s initiative to give the tribe greater visibility and support.
“Accompaniment—a favorite apostolic means of Pope Francis—is increasingly becoming our way of being with the Indigenous Peoples,¨ says Fr. Peter. He adds that Fr. Pat Twohy is a remarkable role model for him and for other Jesuits who accompany the tribe. Fr. Peter emphasizes the need to promote Indigenous ecological knowledge, noting that Indigenous tribes possess a deeper understanding of their land than we do. He asserts, “Our responsibility as the Society of Jesus is to humbly follow the tribe’s initiative and use our resources to uplift its members.”
He attributes the success of the collaboration between the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and the Jesuits to the “mutual appreciation of both spiritual paths.” Fr. Peter understands tribal knowledge and practices ministry by learning. He says, “The way to learn is to listen respectfully and to keep striving to learn.”
Thanks to these Jesuits, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, and the Coastal Bands have access to outside support. Still, the tribes maintain agency over their initiative to preserve our Common Home because the surrounding community has learned to respect tribal control over their lands and waters. The Indigenous Peoples of Washington and Idaho have strengthened their initiatives while working with local legislation.
Due to the collaborative efforts between Indigenous Peoples and the Jesuits, the Coeur d´Alene Tribe has influenced the U.S. Federal Court to declare six different federal dam management plans illegal in the last 30 years. After extensive negotiations between the Tribe and the Federal Government of the United States, the Biden administration also set a path to restore the Columbia-Snake River Basin and breach the four lower Snake River Dams on December 14, 2023. The Tribe and the Biden administration continued to collaborate throughout his presidency.
Much work remains to be done alongside the tribal community in areas such as Washington and Idaho. May Fr. Pat and Fr. Peter’s examples of humility, cura personalis, and collaboration inspire many others to follow Christ in serving others. To continue the restoration of the Columbia Snake River Basin and other sacred Indigenous lands, we must uplift the Indigenous Peoples by allowing them to lead the mission to restore our Common Home and learning from their Indigenous knowledge of the environment.
References:
- Colbert, Amanda. “Columbia & Snake Rivers.” Orca Action Month, Orca Action Month, 20 June 2022, www.orcamonth.com/post/columbia-snake-rivers.
- “Schitsu’umsh.” Coeur dAlene Tribe, www.cdatribe-nsn.gov/. Accessed 8 Apr. 2025.
- “Programs and Projects.” Lake Management, www.cdatribe-nsn.gov/lake/programs-and-projects/. Accessed 8 Apr. 2025.
- “Timeline: A Long Fight to Restore Snake River Salmon.” Earthjustice, 30 Jan. 2025, earthjustice.org/feature/salmon-timeline-snake-river-litigation.
