How ‘bout them fighting redband

Just in time for the holiday weekend, a story of collaboration and what makes the Spokane area unique.

The story begins with redband trout, a native species with home turf on the Spokane River. They’re hard fighting, never quitting, resilient and adaptive under any circumstances.

To Otto Klein, senior vice president of the Spokane Indians, they embody the competitive spirit of the baseball players who journey to Spokane in pursuit of their dreams each summer.

For Carol Evans, tribal chair of the Spokane Indians, they are a bridge to “ … a land where my ancestors lived.” A time and a culture that taught us “The river isn’t something we owned, it was a gift.”

Together, they reached out to city hall, the Forum and others to say let’s rally for the redband. Let’s celebrate its spirit and acknowledge its place in the river and in our hearts. It’s our region’s signature fish struggling to survive in a fast changing world.

The baseball team is going all out, introducing:
• an alternate jersey and hat to be worn by the team five times during the summer,
• a redband headband to be distributed at games and used to cheer the team on,
• hats and jerseys that can be bought on line or the team store to help carry the message to the community,
• educational messages and programs at ballgames, schools and community events.

By working with the Inland Northwest Community Foundation, the team will channel contributions and a portion of proceeds from redband merchandise to fund organizations working on the river. This will help us all rally for the redband.

The Forum is committed to working with the Spokane Tribe and baseball team to include interpretive signage featuring the redband’s story and the rich tribal history at Glover Field. Partnering with the city, conservation district and others, this river access and restoration project has hit the 90% design threshold. If the state capital budget includes funding of construction at Glover Field, the project will come to fruition in the summer of 2018.

The city, Spokane Riverkeeper and Trout Unlimited are also creating plans to build off this unique platform the tribe and baseball team have made possible.

The Forum thanks Otto and Carol for the vision and leadership that brings out the best in our community.