Preface
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2014
Summary
Drawn home over thousands of miles, by instinct honed over thousands of years, the fish circled together to shape loose sands into nests where they would lay their eggs. Clouds hung above them, darkly bruised with shades of winter. Hundreds of fins sliced through the water’s surface, leaving soft riffles in the shallows. They were tired, but worked tirelessly, in the natal waters where they were born.
Within a few days these chum salmon would be corpses scattered along the tidelands, their descendants safely nestled in the ancient river cobble of the Columbia River. Their only legacy would be a continuous strand of life – here, and at no other place on Earth. These fish shunned other spawning grounds for one simple reason: they were not born there. What more perfect deed could they have to this land?
I grew up watching these salmon at a place we called Wood’s Landing, located on the Columbia River in the state of Washington. This spot had existed as an Indian fishing camp when Lewis and Clark floated by in dugout canoes on November 5, 1805. Nature thrived plentifully during that time. Salmon crowded by the hundreds into small creeks along the river to spawn. Meadows, wetlands, and red cedar groves provided rich cover for migratory birds and deer, which supplemented the Indians’ fish diet. Squaw grasses gave sturdy raw material for nets and baskets. Stringy bark from cedar trees provided fiber for canoes, clothing, and huts. Camas root and thimbleberries proliferated.
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- Information
- Nature's TrustEnvironmental Law for a New Ecological Age, pp. xiii - xxPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013