They have survived on Earth for 450 million years — outlasting dinosaurs, ice ages, and mass extinctions. But in Oregon's altered river systems, Pacific lamprey are struggling to hold on. Now, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs are playing a leading role in a multi-agency effort to bring them back.
Tribal biologists and researchers with the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) are conducting translocation work to reintroduce lamprey to Oregon waterways they can no longer reach on their own — including Coyote Creek and the Long Tom River — because of dams and other impassable barriers.
A Species With Deep Cultural Roots
For the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and other Columbia Basin tribes, lamprey are far more than a fish. They are a traditional food source, a cultural keystone, and a part of the spiritual relationship between tribal peoples and the rivers they have stewarded for thousands of years.
"The lamprey has been around 450 million years. The thought that we could drive something extinct that has been on Earth for that long is terrible."
— Jeremy Five Crows, Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission
Lamprey populations have declined sharply across the Pacific Northwest over the past century, largely due to hydroelectric dams that block upstream migration, habitat degradation, and reduced water quality. Unlike salmon, lamprey receive far less public attention and federal restoration funding despite their ecological and cultural significance.
The Translocation Work
Lamprey biologists Aldwin Keo and Courtney Golts are leading the hands-on translocation effort, physically moving lamprey from populations below barriers to waters above them. The goal is to reestablish self-sustaining lamprey populations in river segments that have been cut off — in some cases for decades — from the migratory fish.
The work is painstaking. Lamprey are collected, transported, and carefully released into suitable habitat upstream of dams. Biologists monitor the reintroduced populations to gauge survival and reproduction. Early results from similar projects elsewhere in the Northwest have been encouraging.
A Broader Stewardship Legacy
The lamprey restoration effort is part of a broader pattern of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs taking an active, science-based role in natural resource stewardship across the Columbia River Basin. The Tribe's natural resources department works on salmon recovery, water quality monitoring, forest management, and other conservation efforts that benefit not just tribal members but communities across the entire region.
CRITFC, which represents the fishing rights of four Columbia River treaty tribes including Warm Springs, coordinates much of the inter-tribal conservation science and advocacy.
For those interested in learning more about lamprey restoration or Warm Springs natural resource programs, visit warmsprings-nsn.gov.