Lake Cd'A: 'The heart of our people'

One reason Lake Coeur d'Alene has no salmon is because of Coyote.

According to Coeur d'Alene lore, long ago, a Columbia River dam prevented salmon from swimming to Spokane and Coeur d'Alene country.

"There were three women who lived at that dam, and they kept all the salmon for themselves," Coeur d'Alene Tribe Cultural Resources and Protection program manager Peter Mahoney said Thursday as he spoke to Lakes Middle School sixth graders, who are learning about how water impacted ancient civilizations and communities, and connecting current issues with waterways around the world.

The story goes, different peoples in the region approached Coyote to break the dam. He turned himself into a baby and was taken in by the women at the dam. He snuck to the dam every day to break off little pieces, eventually dismantling it so salmon would be in the streams of the Coeur d'Alene, Nez Perce and Spokane people, Mahoney said.

Coyote, feeling good about his deed, told the Coeur d'Alene chief to give him a wife. The chief laughed and told him no. Coyote approached the Spokane people and was given a wife, same with the Nez Perce. Returning to the Coeur d'Alene people, Coyote was again refused in his request for a wife.

"Coyote grows angry and he stomps on the ground and he creates Spokane Falls. He stomps on the ground again and he creates Post Falls," Mahoney said. "That stopped salmon from getting up the river to Lake Coeur d'Alene, and that's why we don't have salmon in the lake."

This cultural tale was woven into Mahoney's presentation about the important role Lake Coeur d'Alene and other local waterways play and have played in the lives of tribal members in the Inland Northwest.

"A lot of the things the Coeur d'Alene Tribe needed to survive on were found in or on the lake," Mahoney said. "That's one of the reasons we call it 'the heart of our people.'"

Even tribal housing materials were found on the lake, Mahoney said, such as long, tall grass called "tule."

"We would go down and we would harvest those and we'd dry them out and we'd make them into these really big mats," he said, gesturing to images on a projector screen. "We would take those mats and we would wrap them around our houses, like this, and then when it rains or it snows, those would absorb some water and they'd get thicker and then become water tight."

Mahoney was joined by Coeur d'Alene Tribe restoration coordinator Rebecca Stevens. The presentation also included drumming and singing performances by the Rose Creek Drummers.

Mahoney and Stevens educated the students about the mining contaminants that have poisoned wildlife and destroyed parts of the lake and its waterways, as well as the restoration partnership in place to help clean and undo the damage caused by 200 years of mining in the Silver Valley.

"We are all in it for the same goal, we want to protect the lake," Stevens said.

Students asked questions about life on the reservation, water potatoes and what the lead contamination means for people who use the beaches and lands around polluted areas. Stevens said it's probably going to take twice as long as it did to pollute the lake before the lake is clean again.

"It's going to take kids like you to become leaders and help with some of those decisions that are really hard," Stevens said.

One student asked about the spiritual connection the Tribe has to Lake Coeur d'Alene.

"The lake is spiritual because it provides a lot of the things our people need to survive," Mahoney said. "It provided us with things to make our homes, it provided us with food and we've always looked at the lake like it's a living being."