MAY 5, 2023 MAY 5, 2023 Yakama tribal member Donella Miller to lead CRITFC’s Fishery Science

Portland, OR - Donella Miller, a member of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, was selected to lead the Fishery Science Department of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC). She is also a descendent of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and the Blackfeet Nation. Miller began on March 1, 2023.

Aja DeCoteau, CRITFC’s Executive Director warmly remarked, “CRITFC is thrilled to have Donella Miller as a member of our management team. Her experience and passion for fisheries will be a great asset in our mission to restore healthy salmon ecosystems.”

Miller will manage CRITFC’s largest department, consisting of 35 scientists and support staff located in three locations: Portland headquarters; the Hagerman Genetics Lab in Hagerman, Idaho; and a research cooperative with the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho.

Collaboration between Yellowhawk & CTUIR Programs

The department Miller will lead is tasked with increasing the scientific knowledge about Columbia Basin fish and the habitats upon which those fish rely. Her team will continue to provide valuable research that informs tribal, state, and federal management agencies while increasing the visibility of tribal scientific accomplishments.

“I am excited to be a part of such an amazing team and to help build upon the great foundation which they’ve built,” said Miller. “My goal is to continue to work toward comprehensive solutions for fisheries recovery throughout the

Columbia River Basin.”

Miller is well prepared for her new position. She started working for Yakama Fisheries when she turned 18 years old and brings over 29 years of Columbia River fisheries work experience. Her most recent role was serving as the Yakama Nation Fisheries Program Manager. She is recognized for her significant contributions to sturgeon protection and conservation including many years working with white sturgeon production.

Miller’s educational background includes a Bachelor of Science in Fisheries Resources from the University of Idaho, but her knowledge and love of the salmon was instilled long before she ever attended college. Her life has been dedicated to taking care of the traditional foods and cultural resources passed down through teachings from her elders.

She succeeds Nez Perce tribal member Dr. Zach Penney, who was selected by the Biden Administration to be a NOAA Senior Advisor, with a focus on fisheries and tribal engagement.

The Portland-based Columbia River InterTribal Fish Commission is the technical support and coordinating agency for fishery management policies of the Columbia River Basin’s four treaty tribes: the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation and the Nez Perce Tribe. CRITFC, formed in 1977, employs biologists, other scientists, public information specialists, policy analysts and administrators who work in fisheries research and analyses, advocacy, planning and coordination, harvest control and law enforcement.

March 28, 2023

ANNOUNCEMENT: Uma-Birch Floodplain Reconnection Project Public Meeting

The Bonneville Power Administration is seeking your opinion on a draft environmental assessment evaluating a fish and wildlife habitat enhancement project in Umatilla County Attend an Open House meeting on May 2 to learn more about this project.

Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) is proposing to provide funding to the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation to enhance fish and wildlife habitat on a 241-acre area along a one-mile stretch of the Umatilla River (between river miles 48.7 and 49.7) and along Birch Creek (river mile 0.0 to 0.3) at its confluence with the Umatilla River, near Rieth, in Umatilla County, Oregon.

Project activities would include restoring the Umatilla River and Birch Creek to their historic channels, adding wood material for fish habitat, decommissioning a livestock feeding operation, installing a new bridge, setting back a portion of the US Army Corps of Engineers’ certified Pendleton 2a levee, as well as artificial berms to restore natural hydrology and reconnect the historic floodplain. The project would maintain the current level of flood protection provided by the existing levee through construction of a new set-back levee along Birch Creek Road.

Fish and wildlife habitat enhancement activities would include realigning Birch Creek’s main channel to its historic meander, realigning the Umatilla River into the floodplain areas previously restricted by the levee, and constructing wetland and side channel habitat along both Birch Creek and the Umatilla River to improve floodplain interactions to benefit fish and wildlife.

Open House Public Meeting

Vert Community Building (next to City Hall)

• May 2, 2023 5:00 – 7:00PM

• 480 SW Dorion Ave Pendleton, OR 97801

Information on the upcoming release of the draft environmental assessment and how to comment, as well as the project description and a map of the project area, are available at www.bpa.gov/nepa/uma-birch

Information describing BPA’s environmental review process under the National Environmental Policy Act is available at https://www.bpa.gov/learnand-participate/public-involvement-decisions/laws-and-requirements

For more information, contact BPA project manager Tim Ludington at (503) 308-0551 or tsludington@bpa.gov You can also call BPA’s Communications team at 800-622-4519 toll free Please refer to the “Uma-Birch Floodplain Reconnection Project.”