Local Whitworth grad raises awareness to plight of salmon in national fellowship
News Story by Matthew Kincanon | FāVS News
Sophia TurningRobe, a recent graduate of Whitworth University who is Spokane Tribe, Pauquachin First Nation and Siksika Nation, is working as a fellow in the 2024 cohort of the Brave Heart Fellowship (BHF). She uses advocacy and education at BNF to raise awareness to the plight of the salmon population in the Pacific Northwest, its cultural importance and solutions that could restore it.
The program is run by the Center for Native American Youth (CNAY) at the Aspen Institute. According to CNAY program manager Katy Stewart, it was created in 2022 to uplift youth voices while addressing the representation gap and inequities facing Indigenous peoples in the fight for climate justice.
Even though the program does not focus on what she studied in school, political science, TurningRobe said she is passionate about issues surrounding environmentalism and climate change.
“As an Indigenous person, our connection to the earth and to our environment, it still plays a really big role in my life even though that’s not what I studied,” TurningRobe said.
When she was applying, she knew the program was not within her specific field she was going to pursue, but because environmentalism is something she was passionate about she said she was glad she applied for it.
Training Native youth to share their perspectives
Stewart said the fellowship gives a platform, voice and training to Native youth so that their important perspectives and solutions can be heard.
Each fellowship, Stewart described, focuses on a different region of the U.S. The 2024 cohort is based in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska and runs from January to July. She said the fellowship is for Indigenous youths between the ages of 18 and 24 residing in Alaska, Idaho, Northern California, Oregon and Washington.
“This youth-led program equips Native youth to advocate and mobilize across their communities to protect traditional lands, waterways and sacred sites,” Stewart said. “Through a culturally immersive curriculum, BHF prioritizes intergenerational learning spaces with tribal leaders and community elders who have long been on the front lines of climate change.”
Of the applications that were submitted, Stewart said TurningRobe’s stood out because of her “impressive leadership and community activism.”
“She’s consistently involved herself in activities to foster more inclusive spaces for Native youth, and she’s held a clear interest and focus on environmental activism from an early age,” she said.
Brave Heart Fellows meet monthly for virtual sessions with one another, Stewart said, and each fellow is given a stipend to conduct a Brave Heart project centered on environmental activism in their community. TurningRobe’s project is centered on salmon restoration and its importance to not only the Spokane Tribe, but also the tribes of the Pacific Northwest.
She chose this issue because she said it is a pressing matter for Indigenous people in the Pacific Northwest. Her project addresses it through advocacy and education and she discusses it on her website. Taking research she gathered and stories she had been told, she created a compact and easy-to-read blog that’s accessible to everyone.
Importance of salmon to Indigenous peoples
Her website contains posts that describe the importance of the salmon in Indigenous culture, traditional fishing techniques, treaty hunting and fishing rights, the impact of the New Deal, the history of the Lower Snake River dams, how the dams negatively affected the Tribes and other topics surrounding the salmon and the dams.
She wanted to focus on educating and informing as many people as she could, including other Indigenous people who are not from the Pacific Northwest but still want to help the environment.
For Tribes in the Plateau region, her website said the dams represent the loss of ancestral lands, the disruption of sacred traditions, and the erosion of cultural identity. The flooding of traditional Indigenous territories caused by the dams, which included crucial fishing grounds, severed a vital link between these communities and their heritage.
One consequence of the dams her website described was the loss of traditional foods, particularly salmon, and how the dams disrupted migration patterns and decreased the salmon populations. Not only that, the annual salmon runs served as a bond connecting Tribal communities to their ancestors and Creator.
“For Natives in the Pacific Northwest and along the Columbia River, so much of our culture is centered around salmon,” TurningRobe said.
She described how they have spiritual ties to the salmon, and their ceremonies, diet and health revolve around it. The fish helped them sustain their lives and livelihood, and is comparable to the relationship between the Plains tribes and the buffalo.
Dam removals and salmon fisheries revitalization
The website also discussed some of the positive impacts of removing the dams including job creation in habitat restoration, recreational tourism and other industries. Also, it described how restoring the salmon populations could revitalize Indigenous fisheries and provide economic opportunities for Tribal communities.
Seeing the salmon come back would mean they would also see some of the culture they had lost come back, TurningRobe said. They would see their health improve as well as see an entire way of life return.
“We were really interested in Sophia’s idea of uplifting stories and knowledge from community elders to highlight the cultural significance of salmon for future generations,” Stewart said. “The intergenerational approach of Sophia’s project coupled with her project goal of advocating for the removal of the four Lower Snake River Dams is inspiring.”
First education then policy advocacy
When it comes to her project, TurningRobe said she wanted the first posts to focus on education and then have later posts shift toward policy, specifically for candidates who are running for Washington State’s 5th congressional district.
“I want to help people and inform people about the candidates that are running about their policies for the environment,” TurningRobe said.
She said she is excited to help people in Washington State better understand policies that will impact them more than they would think.
“I’m really passionate about analyzing policy and translating it in a way that is easy for people to understand. And that goes hand-in-hand with advocating,” TurningRobe said. “Advocating for Tribal communities, advocating for salmon and our way of life is always something that I’ve been really passionate about too.”
At the end of the fellowship in July, Stewart said the fellows gather for one in-person convening where they report on their projects, meet with regional advocacy experts and develop strong ties within their cohort.
Aside from salmon restoration, other fellows are focusing their projects on issues such as native plant reintroduction and wildfire prevention.
TurningRobe is excited to hear about what her fellow cohorts have been working on with their projects.
“We are thrilled to support Sophia as she explores ways to capture the history and cultural significance of salmon in PNW Native communities,” Stewart said. “Her plan to share her content digitally allows for a wide readership, and we look forward to disseminating her research and information with a broad audience.”
TurningRobe plans to pursue a JD from the University of Montana with a focus on American Indian law.
