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MONDAY, APRIL 21, 2003

For tribes in the Pacific Northwest, it's First Salmon time -- the return of the spring chinook to the Columbia River.

Tribes have gathered every year for the First Salmon ceremony. To them, salmon is the their most sacred food.

"In our religious ways, it was the first food that named itself for our benefit when the Creator called to all of nature to come forward for our food," Thomas Morning Owl, a pow-wow MC, told The Seattle Times.

The spring chinook, like several other species of salmon, is listed under the Endangered Species Act.

Get the Story:
Mighty chinook overcome dams, predators, nets and keep coming back (The Seattle Times 4/21)