Members of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe have started a 100-plus-mile journey in hand-carved canoes to call attention to the tribe's interest in restoring salmon to the Columbia River above Grand Coulee Dam.
The dam has blocked fish passage in the river since the 1930s.
The Spokesman-Review reports that the tribe left Tuesday and will travel north on Lake Coeur d'Alene, down the Spokane River and into the Columbia. They will meet four other Inland Northwest tribes on June 17 for a summer solstice celebration and a salmon ceremony at the ancient fishing spot of Kettle Falls.
Coeur d'Alene tribe members fashioned the shovel-nosed canoe from a 28,000-pound log from a 700-year-old western red cedar tree purchased by the Upper Columbia United Tribes.