Presentation by Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) and Columbia Riverkeeper on Thursday, Oct. 25.

The Columbia Center for the Arts, in Hood River, is sponsoring a presentation about the past, present and future of the Columbia River. Speakers are Jeremy FiveCrows from the Columbia River Inter-tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) and Brent Foster, executive director of Columbia Riverkeeper. The presentation is Thursday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Center, 213 Cascade Ave.

FiveCrows, a member of the Nez Perce Tribe, is a tribal liaison for the inter-tribal fish commission, and manages its publications and other communications. He graduated from Brigham Young University with a bachelor’s degree in conservation biology. His background enables him to understand the complex scientific issues involving Columbia Basin salmon and to distill this information for the general public.

CRITFC is a coordinating and technical organization composed of representatives of the four “treaty” tribes of the Columbia River, including the Warm Springs, Yakama, Umatilla and Nez Perce tribes. The commission’s purpose, in part, is to help counteract the dramatic declines in the salmon populations due to the range of man-made environmental problems that have caused those declines.

FiveCrows will be providing a Native American view of the river, both historical and contemporary, and will touch on some of the many complex environmental issues that the commission addresses as part of its mission. In addition, FiveCrows will be sharing a number of historical photos of the river, recently donated by a family in California, and never before seen in public.