Billy Frank Jr. ~ Earth Warrior ~ 1931-2014
Dana Schuerholz
Billy Frank Jr. was taught and taught others to protect the environment at all costs. He said, “ When the rivers are clean and the salmon are coming home we know we are healthier as human beings.” Billy was a leader in a movement in the Pacific Northwest known as the “fish wars.”
Billy Frank Jr. was arrested more than 50 times in the fight to save salmon and the Indian way of life. He was shot at, spat on, clubbed, punched, and gassed by Washington State Law Enforcement Officers. He never gave up and eventually, the courts upheld a provision in the Medicine Creek Treaty and the Fish Wars ended with what is called the Boldt decision which restored some of the Indian people's rights to fish. Billy Frank Jr then worked for thirty more years with the NW Indian Fisheries Commission to protect endangered salmon whose survival is the focus of tribal life for many in the Pacific Northwest.
