The Tsi Akim Maidu Tribe is performing the Calling Back the Salmon Ceremony this Saturday morning on The Yuba River . Tribal Chairman, Don Ryberg, explains that the ceremony honors the Salmon People and begins with the first fish that is taken in fall using a traditional river-spear.

Click here to liste to Tribal Chairman Don Ryberg

Ryberg clarified that the Maidu believe all living things are “beings” and equal, so animals are often referred to as people.
The tribe didn’t preform the ceremony for about 150 years because the Salmon breeding grounds were destroyed by hydraulic mining and other toxins introduced into the river as a result of industrial progress.
The Maidu elders brought back the ceremony in 2006, and since then the Salmon run has increased each year. Coincidence?
The Calling back the Salmon Ceremony is Saturday morning at Sycamore Ranch Park.