News Release
For Immediate Release
18 Feb 1999
Contact: Rick Taylor, CRITFC, 503.731.1257
Today at its February commission meeting, the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) selected Donald Sampson to be its next executive director. Sampson is currently CRITFC Watershed Department Manager. Sampson succeeds Ted Strong, who has been CRITFC executive director for nearly ten years.
"We would like to express our gratitude to Ted for leadership, and for his innovative ways of implementing the vision and direction the tribes have given," said Nathan Jim, Commissioner from the Warm Springs tribe.
Umatilla Commissioner Roberta Wilson added: "The commission will be forever stamped by the spiritual as well as the practical guidance Ted has provided. Commissioners and CRITFC staff will miss his direction. He has set high standards for those who follow."
"Don Sampson is the ideal choice," said CRITFC Chairman Randy Settler. "He knows the fish, he knows the basin, he knows the politics of the basin. And he has proven leadership skills. He has the respect not only of these four tribes, but all of the tribes in the basin, and the other leaders in federal and state government as well as other stakeholders. That kind of knowledge and respect can help the region come together and find common agreements and help us to implement more elements of our tribesŐ salmon restoration plan, Wy-Kan-Ush-Mi Wa-Kish-Wit (Spirit of the Salmon)."
Sampson, 37, recently served four years as chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation Board of Trustees. He was one of the youngest tribal chairs in the nation.
"The region is gridlocked over salmon recovery," said Sampson. Restoring salmon means now more than ever that we will have to find ways to work together rather than against each other. We need to be willing to make honest assessments of what works and what doesnŐt work, what we know and what we donŐt know, and build a solid foundation for getting salmon back into our rivers and streams. I intend to do my utmost to find ways for all of us to work together as efficiently and effectively as possible. Quite frankly, spring chinook, summer chinook, sockeye, coho, and steelhead are running out of time."
Sampson, who has a degree in Fisheries Biology from the University of Idaho, has been a commissioner at CRITFC, has worked at the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority, and continues to fish for ceremonial and subsistence purposes. "I fish not only for myself, but for those who follow", he added. "Fishing is part of what it means to be Indian, it is part of our culture, our religion, our way of life. I want my children to fish as I did and my ancestors did. That is why I fish and will work to find ways to restore salmon to the rivers and streams of the Columbia Basin."
SampsonŐs father, Carl Sampson, is a traditional chief. They are descendants of Peo Peo Mox Mox, a leader of the Walla Walla Tribe at the time of the treaty signing.
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