Linkages among pre-contact people, lamprey, and landscapes in the Willamette Valley
The U.S. Geological Survey and Portland State University are working with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and other partners to link past lamprey harvest locations with hydrogeomorphic conditions as landscape processes and shifting rivers have changed since the pre-contact archaeological period. This research provides a deeper historical context for lamprey conservation and restoration.
Background and Significance:
For over 10,000 years, Skakhwǝl (Eel, Chinook Wawa) or Pacific lamprey (Entosphenus tridentatus) have been an important source of food and medicine for Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest, and a key component of healthy river ecosystems. Declining lamprey populations began in the 19th century with environmental shifts and human-modified changes to river corridors. In the Willamette River Basin, Oregon, river channelization, dam construction, pollution, and landscape modification led to the transformation of streamflow and sediment patterns as well as losses of lamprey habitat.
This study, led by Portland State University and the U.S. Geological Survey, is a collaboration among tribal, federal, state, and academic partners. We aim to support lamprey restoration efforts in the Willamette River Basin by combining earth-surface processes and archeological sciences with historical data from Indigenous traditional ecological and cultural knowledge (ITECK).
We are studying pre-contact and historical data on lamprey presence, habitat, and fishing to identify past harvest locations. Further, we are working to link past harvest locations with data on past hydrogeomorphic conditions. This research will result in new information on the suite of conditions beneficial to lamprey, provide deeper historical context for lamprey conservation, and train students in interdisciplinary approaches to environmental restoration.
As a team, we will identify additional research questions, refine our methods, and develop shared conceptual models and terminology for our research. This pilot effort is necessary for identifying how to integrate cultural and hydrogeomorphic conceptual frameworks and datasets.
Objectives:
Our objectives are to study where pre-contact people gathered lamprey in the Willamette Valley, and to link fishing locations with data on past river and land conditions such as streamflow, substrate, and proximity to culturally important places.
Our initial questions are:
- What were the hydrogeomorphic conditions like at past harvest locations?
- Are these hydrogeomorphic conditions consistent with those identified in the current Willamette Valley landscape as supporting lamprey fishery health?
This project is supported by Portland State University and the USGS-PSU Partnership (UPP).
The U.S. Geological Survey and Portland State University are working with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and other partners to link past lamprey harvest locations with hydrogeomorphic conditions as landscape processes and shifting rivers have changed since the pre-contact archaeological period. This research provides a deeper historical context for lamprey conservation and restoration.
Background and Significance:
For over 10,000 years, Skakhwǝl (Eel, Chinook Wawa) or Pacific lamprey (Entosphenus tridentatus) have been an important source of food and medicine for Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest, and a key component of healthy river ecosystems. Declining lamprey populations began in the 19th century with environmental shifts and human-modified changes to river corridors. In the Willamette River Basin, Oregon, river channelization, dam construction, pollution, and landscape modification led to the transformation of streamflow and sediment patterns as well as losses of lamprey habitat.
This study, led by Portland State University and the U.S. Geological Survey, is a collaboration among tribal, federal, state, and academic partners. We aim to support lamprey restoration efforts in the Willamette River Basin by combining earth-surface processes and archeological sciences with historical data from Indigenous traditional ecological and cultural knowledge (ITECK).
We are studying pre-contact and historical data on lamprey presence, habitat, and fishing to identify past harvest locations. Further, we are working to link past harvest locations with data on past hydrogeomorphic conditions. This research will result in new information on the suite of conditions beneficial to lamprey, provide deeper historical context for lamprey conservation, and train students in interdisciplinary approaches to environmental restoration.
As a team, we will identify additional research questions, refine our methods, and develop shared conceptual models and terminology for our research. This pilot effort is necessary for identifying how to integrate cultural and hydrogeomorphic conceptual frameworks and datasets.
Objectives:
Our objectives are to study where pre-contact people gathered lamprey in the Willamette Valley, and to link fishing locations with data on past river and land conditions such as streamflow, substrate, and proximity to culturally important places.
Our initial questions are:
- What were the hydrogeomorphic conditions like at past harvest locations?
- Are these hydrogeomorphic conditions consistent with those identified in the current Willamette Valley landscape as supporting lamprey fishery health?
This project is supported by Portland State University and the USGS-PSU Partnership (UPP).