The Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation invite community members to join them Thursday, June 26 at Clackamette Park in Oregon City to learn about, eat and celebrate the lamprey. Those interested in attending can register for the free event, which will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at www.eventbrite.com/e/yakama-nation-willamette-falls-lamprey-celebration-2025-tickets-.

For centuries, the Yakama and other regional tribes have harvested lamprey at Willamette Falls. Though lamprey have been around for 300 million years — dating back well before the Mesozoic Era of the dinosaurs — numbers of the Pacific lamprey in the Columbia River and its tributaries have drastically dwindled since the construction of dams on the river.

That’s one of the reasons it’s so important for the community to gather, learn about and celebrate the lamprey, said Yakama Nation Fisheries public relations specialist Michael-David Bushman.

“The Pacific lamprey are fish harvested by Columbia River Basin tribal members and the Willamette Falls area — the Wilumpt is how we pronounce it — was always an area for harvesting the lamprey since time immemorial,” Bushman said. “The celebration is to acknowledge the area and acknowledge still the importance of this fish and the importance it has to our tribal traditions.

“We harvest lamprey alongside salmon at our tribal feasts. We have them side by side. At one point they were more abundant. Obviously today they’re not, which is another acknowledgement of the celebration. We’re doing everything we can to restore the lamprey population alongside our salmon and alongside our traditional medicines and roots.”

During the celebration, community members will have the opportunity to not only learn about and eat lamprey but take a boat tour to the falls to see tribal members harvesting lamprey.

Bushman emphasized that many of the Yakama’s celebrations — including the lamprey celebration — are not just for tribal members but the broader community as well.

For him, the celebration is a chance to teach people who may not know much of the important history of the falls about why the spot is so significant and why lamprey, which some consider frightening and parasite-like, are not actually scary.

“It’s about camaraderie and an opportunity for the community to learn about these things and have a good time — and what better way to do that then to have it during our harvesting window and with a meal,” Bushman said.