Louie Pitt: River a Place with a “a Lot of Vibrancy for People.”

Louie Pitt (Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs) talks about the bountiful resources to be found at the river, if one looks for them. 1:28.

Bio: Louie Pitt works for the Warm Springs tribe in Governmental Relations. Louie Pitt works to continue traditional culture education opportunities, and advocates for treaty rights and protection of natural resources. He is the brother of artist Lillian Pitt.

Transcription:

“The river is just such a great provider, it provided fish just all year around. And it also, water which is always something needed for any village or any civilization to live. And then of course you need wood. So the river actually, if you know what you were doing, you would have places where wood would float down and you could gather it throughout the year. Our people traveled throughout the year through to different ways of life. Today we still celebrate like we have, I think for thousands of years, as Mrs. Staccona might have told you, our feasts start with water, start with then the first foods is salmon and deer and roots and berries and back to water again. And that’s kinda been one of our formulas that we’ve had that you take care of these gifts from the creator and they’ll take care of you. So that’s something that we’ve learned from the land. Anyways the river was just a very intense place with a lot of life, a lot of vibrancy for people and God’s gifts and natural resources.”