Salmon's Tale Part 3

The Tribe- We were camping around Mt. Hood and I noticed how a little chipmunk was so busy stuffing his face with pollen cones. I looked down at my feet and picked up what was left behind and I tenderly picked up the stripped ends of the pollen cone. As I began to examine them closely they appeared to be little Nature Spirits. I stuffed a few in my pocket and when I got home I put them on a canvas. The canvas transformed into a small band of Indians. But the image stretched my imagination. They had become the Native American that had been stripped of their Natural resource and way of life. Their most precious Native Fishing grounds home of the salmon, now have become a place for an electrical dam. The power of that dam has been used more for industry than power for common people. It is an old story that has happened to all Indigenous Tribes around the world, a way of life that is no more.

Splitting Atoms- When you follow the Columbia River into the state of Washington you will find the very first Nuclear Site in the USA. This was the place the first atom bomb was made during W.W.II. The safety features and waste disposal program was inadequate. Radioactive materials were dumped into the Columbia River causing high cancer rates wherever the river flows. The Hopi Elders have shared this ancient prediction..."White man will invent a gourd full of ashes that will rain from the sky." He said the "gourd of ashes" referred to atomic bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The splitting of the atom is the biggest destructive force to Nature and Humanity that has ever happened. Atomic Energy never will be Green for it cannot be recycled. Everyone and everything suffers in its wake.

Here and Now The Wind Spirit is still strong in the Columbia River as it fills the sails of windsurfers and kiters alike. You can still see the Indian Ancestors as faces in the great stones as you drive through the Gorge. If you become silent and listen you can hear their voices in the wind. They are asking us to remember the salmon's song. Peace to the Waters, Peace to the Winds, Peace to the Sky, Peace to the Salmon that make their way back to their Source. May we as One People remember. May we become open and have Peace in our Hearts. Peace on Earth and to all our relations. Nature Artist Raylenea