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NEWPORT — A couple times per year, the Kalispel Tribe opens their members-only fishing pond to none other than a group of grade-school students.
These students are in the Kalispel Language Survival School, a partnership program between the Tribe and Cusick School District that teaches the endangered Kalispel language, a language of the Salish family. As a field trip in the spring and fall, students are invited to fish at the fishing pond, which is located at the Indian Creek Community Forest alongside an archery range, 3 miles of hiking trails and native plant nursery.
About 16 fourth- and fifth-grade students attended this spring’s youth fishing day Tuesday, May 26. Besides youth fishing days, the fishing pond is open during Tribal events.
“These kids’ fishing events are really cool to get kids excited about fishing,” said Jason Connor, fisheries program manager and event organizer. “But then also, in my opinion, to create the demand for healthy trout.”
Employees in the Kalispel Natural Resources Department assisted the students with catching and preparing the fish for the students’ return home. Throughout the years, students have received lessons on baiting a fishhook, rigging a fishing rod and reeling, as well as cleaning, seasoning and cooking fish.
This spring’s students rotated between the fishing pond, archery range and hiking trails over the span of about two hours, fishing, shooting bows-and-arrows and walking through Tribe-restored nature.
“They can get outside and have some fun activities, but also learn about native plants and trees that are culturally significant to the Tribe and catch some fish,” said Mike Lithgow, KNRD policy and outreach director. “And reconnect to the landscape.”
In the 20th century, the Tribe discovered pollutants in the Pend Oreille River, including high concentrations of mercury in some areas. Connor said this was partly why the Tribe established the fishing pond, a resource that provides members with continuous access to healthy fish.
At about three-fourths of an acre in size, the fishing pond can hold up to 5,000 triploid rainbow trout raised in and then transferred from the Tribe’s hatchery. Bred for consumption, the trout maintain good growth rates, eat high-quality feed and are kept at low densities, Connor said.
The Kalispel have always consumed fish, Tribe representative Alec Bluff said. Like the school and native plant nursery, where the Tribe grows a diverse range of species for use in nature restoration efforts, Bluff sees the fishing pond as an opportunity.
“Any time we get the opportunity to take control of who we are and bring health and native plants, native fish back to our people, we’re going to do that,” Bluff said.
At 2050 Indian Creek Rd. in Newport, the Indian Creek Community Forest opened around 2018, a few years after the Tribe acquired the property in 2012.
Formerly an irrigation stock pond, the fishing pond underwent a series of renovations before opening to Tribal members, Connor said. Now, KNRD can screen and control all aspects of the fishing pond, from the trout population to the water supply.
KNRD restocks the fishing pond to meet demand throughout the year — something most hatcheries cannot accomplish, Connor said.
“The trail is ADA-accessible, the dock is ADA-accessible,” Connor said. “So we were really able to build an accommodating, clean, nice facility here.”
