Stephanie Holubowsky is a fan of salmon dinners, but until recently, she hadn’t considered where it came from or the historic and cultural issues around it. “I never gave much thought to how it ended up on my plate and the struggles people went through with being able to fish and getting thrown in jail for even trying to fish,” she says. “Today has opened my eyes to have a better understanding.”
Holubowsky is an Online Academy Teacher for grades 7-12 in the Puyallup School District and was one of 25 teachers who attended PEI’s Honoring the Waters: Tribal Sovereignty, Salmon Recovery, and Co-Management workshop at Nisqually Red Wind Casino on August 12th. The focus was to provide resources and training for educators to integrate local Indigenous and state histories of treaties, salmon fishery co-management and tribal sovereignty into their curriculum. Additionally, teachers learned about fish hatchery management and green careers related to aquaculture and fisheries. The Nisqually Tribe funded the workshop through a grant to PEI.
Participants viewed a special screening of the documentary Fish Wars and heard from Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission Virologist Matt Stinson about fish populations, health risks and treatment. They also got a rare opportunity to hear about salmon recovery history and co-management practices from the Nisqually Indian Tribe’s Willie Frank III, son of legendary activist Billy Frank Jr.; Bill Dewey, Director of Public Affairs at Taylor Shellfish Farms; and Kelly Susewind, Director of Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife.
“I was really inspired by our panel today and thankful that they took the time to be here with us,” said Heather Akiyama, a 7th and 8th-grade science teacher in Hood Canal School District. “I learned a lot from their perspective on history. I’m coming away with an idea for a simulation about co-management of fisheries that would give real-life challenges and an opportunity to communicate, look at data, to make decisions together with the idea that nobody wins unless you both win.”
Heidi Hoel teaches fourth grade in the Federal Way School District, and her class includes many immigrant children from Afghanistan. She plans to develop an activity that will be relevant for all students, focused on developing a treaty when both sides don’t fully understand each other’s language, as happened with the Medicine Creek Treaty.
“What do my students want their future to look like in five generations?” she wonders. “What cultural resources were or are important for their own cultures? What language would they make sure was in a treaty and will that impact the bigger picture?”
Unlike most attendees, 15-year-old Natalie Sanderson is a student rather than a teacher, but with an unusual degree of responsibility. Sanderson started the first Roots & Shoots chapter in Washington State and is part of Jane Goodall USA. She works with high school and college students across the United States through meetings and training that support conservation and advocacy.
Recently, she started an online environmental education group focused on salmon. “Watching the film was very inspiring,” she says, “seeing how people can come together and protect salmon. My online group is working on salmon restoration and outreach.”
Holubowsky, meanwhile, plans to share what she learned with her Online Academy students. “I’m sure a lot of them, like me, eat fish and never give much thought to what people went through to get that fish,” she says. “I want them to think about things they probably have never considered.”
