Connecting Currents, The Pamunkey River

what does a river mean to you in this busy world many see rivers as nothing more than landmarks on a map a body of water to cross to get to the other side or unfortunately a place to dump trash and pollution but for some like the members of the monkey indian tribe a river means so much more [Music] for generations of us our river the pa-monkey has meant food for hungry families a highway used for travel to see friends a store to find items for trade and most importantly the banks of this river have meant a home for our people in our culture this river is as important as the blood in our own veins the beautiful monkey river has sustained us for centuries but in recent years it has come under pressure due to pollution and through an onslaught of invasive non-native species these challenges have changed our river and the way we see it but now we are fighting fast the pa monkey tribe and the federal government led by noah are working together with teams of experts to help change our ailing river and once again make it the lifeblood of our tribe [Music] [Applause] [Music] the pamunkey river is located on the east coast of america flowing through virginia's tidewater region connecting to other waterways leading all the way down to the chesapeake bay and into the atlantic ocean for thousands of years the pa monkey river has been the connective thread that ties a people to a place we are the linear descendants of the original to market the most formidable tribe of that great worldwide powertan consensus who met the first virginia colonists in america not only 300 years ago today but today on the banks of the market river 24 miles east of that old historic capital of the confederacy we own and occupy that same god-given spot upon which your forefathers first found it these shores are steeped in history spanish explorers traveled on these waters as did the first permanent british settlers at jamestown powhatan koko koweski queen of the pa monkey and pocahontas walk these shores before us later the union army traveled on these waters being led by pamonkey indian river guides towards their assault on the confederate capital in richmond the monkey tribe has been in this area of virginia for centuries we were among the first to welcome the europeans we were among the first to almost be wiped out of the agenda side of our tribe we've persevered we've continued we've maintained this original land mass theo treaty with the crown of england and we're very proud to occupy this site of land and be sitting on the river that bears their name [Music] the monkey river is integral to pamunke history and palmeke culture because it has served as our transportation system provided food it provided trade items and after european colonialism provided a market or cash economy for our tribal members and using the plants the animals and the fish to make the livelihood so whenever you think about the palmonkey tribe or history or culture you cannot talk about it without the river it was the one thing that sustained our community it is the reason why we are still here today [Music] so we catch shad and we used to sell them for shed and buy food and also eat some we just get a lot of herring and we'd salt them up and have them for the winter they used to catch so many fish put them in barrels and uh load them on the train train ship them to baltimore we also would take a net just like they did back then and go around the edge of this shore and we'd catch uh catfish white perch that would help us along during the summer months [Music] one of the most important things for people to know is that you know the monkey people were still here today always maintain maintained a vibrant culture and existence here in tidewater virginia it's very evident through our treaty tribute that we pay every year to the governor we still pay our treaty tribute from middle plantation that's established in 1677. that's something that has maintained pretty much every single year since it was first established i feel that's one of the most important things because the things that allow us to fish from the river or to harvest from the river or to gather as we need for cultural aspects that could easily be threatened if that treaty goes away even as we have maintained our treaties third-party actions have begun to affect our waterway recently the river that we are so proud of has started to change pollution erosion and invasive species are beginning to degrade the ecosystem that has matured over thousands of years even in my lifetime shad populations have been drastically reduced other populations of mussels that maybe people don't think about and then we have invasive species such as hydrilla and blue catfish that are crowding out the natural fisheries over the years we've developed partnerships with the department of game and inland fisheries noaa virginia marine resource commission and basically learned from them they they would provide the scientific expertise our tribal members would provide the fish the fishing the work hours the manpower needed to operate the hatchery that's where that's the way to go down the river fish could tangle up into it and then he belonged to me we started the hatchery the shad hatchery in the early 20th century as a way of giving back to the river for all that we were taken out and over the years we saw that we pretty much needed to because the populations were dropping so the shad hatchery has meant a lot both just as a means of giving back to the river and to replenish the shad population shad fishing was one of the key components of the pa monkey economy for thousands of years and it became especially important in the 19th and 20th centuries because that's what we would eat and that's what men would sell at the markets from all the way from florida all the way up to new york city and men would be gone for long times of the year and make cash with their fish and send that back to their families to use for the household without the river i don't think that you could really talk about palmonkey history or culture because of how important it is and you can see it behind me i mean not only does it provide a beautiful space for people to live today but it's the resource that we always look to when we talk about what's important to us what defines us as a community although undoing the recent damage might seem insurmountable we are trying today a small team of pa monkey tribal members and researchers from government agencies are working to find a way to mitigate the damage and begin a rebirth of our river together they are now tagging and logging the atlantic sturgeon population when the english arrived in early 1607 it was said the sturgeon were so plentiful a person could walk from one side of the river to the other on the backs of them while this is certainly not true today their population is in steep decline and research is being performed to better understand these beautiful massive fish in addition to shad sturgeon were once a big part of the monkey life their populations have diminished to the point where sturgeon are endangered species and we've been working with federal grants to study sturgeon and determine their life habits their life cycles where they bed so that we can hopefully bring back sturgeon in the abundant quantities they once were sturgeon played an important part in a spiritual part indigenous culture is all based around spirituality everything from bringing life into taking life out all decisions all thought all actions are based upon spirituality always has been always will be for indigenous people that wear it on the sleeves and in their heart in every breath atlantic sturgeon were put on the endangered species list back in 2012. their population has been declining at a rapid rate recently so what we're doing is we're trying to figure out biological and physiological aspects of what's going on in the river because they are an indicator species of there's something wrong if their population is dropping so we're going out there and we are tagging them taking dna samples and trying to get an abundance estimate of the adult spawning population much of the effort from the team surrounds tracking and logging the sturgeon that come up the river along the lower middle and upper parts of the pamunkey river the team sets up a series of stations to monitor the water quality for dissolved oxygen temperature ph levels and a host of other measurements the team also uses a series of receivers to track the sturgeon that enter the river numerous sturgeon have been tagged with acoustic receivers and as they pass the monitoring stations a ping is registered allowing the team to understand approximately where the fish are at that exact time the date and what the conditions were in the river working this project you get a better understanding of the river because you're out there almost every day during field season and then you learn about these huge fish that are in this river but i've never actually seen one until i worked this grant so it's kind of cool to actually work with the fish that you hear stories about from tribal members this place of peace continues to inspire generations of pa monkey indians with the help of the tribe and the federal government one day soon the ills of the river may be replaced once again with bounty i think one of the most important parts about monkey history about monkey culture and defining ourselves as an indigenous community is our relationship to the water to the paw monkey river without it i don't think that we could look to who we are today and really understand that we still have this precious and important resource that we can still use for our people so for me the river again is our bloodline it's our lifeline and without it we wouldn't be the monkey people we are today [Music] so [Music] you

Channel: Waverleigh Creative

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Length: 12min 59sec (779 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 16 2020