For the fifth annual, Remember the Water, canoe journey on August 4 through 7, 2021, Kalispel tribal members and friends are again portaging and paddling over 50 miles in dugout, wooden canoes, through their home lands and waters in the Pend Oreille lake and river watershed.  They will tentatively begin from the Hope Peninsula on Wednesday, August 4, and/or re-start or initially launch from Sandpoint City Beach Park on Thursday morning, August 5, ultimately reaching their destination of the Kalispel Village in Cusick, Washington, on Saturday, August 7.  Like during previous years, as depicted in linked photos and articles about prior paddles, Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) activists and area groups plan to welcome the travelers at Sandpoint, during possible journey arrival on Wednesday and departure on Thursday [1-9].

The canoe journey always happens just before the annual Kalispel Powwow and around the time of the Festival at Sandpoint music concerts.  The Festival poster this year portrays vibrant, past and rekindled, Kalispel and regional, indigenous culture with sturgeon nose canoes and teepees in the painted foreground of the Festival stage tents [10].  With late-week thunderstorms looming, and wildfires only seven miles from the journey start producing heavy, valley smoke and reduced air quality, we are concerned about the health and safety of paddle participants.  But even while fossil fuels pipeline and pipeline-on-rails infrastructure expansions impose and risk further harms to indigenous people and places across Turtle Island (North America), Native neighbors are upholding and continuing their sustainable, traditional practices, through admirable endeavors like this canoe journey and culminating powwow.

Please see the updated, enclosed, Remember the Water schedule, join WIRT in observing, supporting, and sharing this joyful, cultural resurgence at various journey route locations, and contact Nathan or Betty Jo Piengkham via facebook and/or respond to WIRT, for further information, logistics, and ways to help.

Wednesday, August 4: 10-mile paddle

7 am breakfast, canoes smudge, prayers, and a skipper’s meeting about water temperatures, wind, waves, directions, and maps

9 am launch at Sam Owen campground, Hope Peninsula Road, Hope, Idaho

12 pm lunch at Indian Meadows, Driftwood Yard Road, Hope, Idaho

Portage from Indian Meadows or Denton Slough boat launch to City Beach Park, Bridge Street, Sandpoint, Idaho

6 pm dinner, Sandpoint, Idaho

Thursday, August 5: 12-mile paddle

7 am breakfast, canoes smudge, and prayers

8 am launch with welcoming group WIRT at City Beach Park, Sandpoint, Idaho

12 pm lunch to be determined (TBD) at Balto Dog Park, Lakeshore Avenue, Dover, Idaho, or Mallard Bay Unit of the Pend Oreille Wildlife Management Area, Sagle, Idaho

Take out at TBD time at Morton Slough boat launch, Sagle, Idaho, and portage to Kalispel tribal lands at Carey Creek Game Management Area, Dufort Road, Priest River, Idaho

6 pm dinner and camp

Friday, August 6: 15-mile paddle

7 am breakfast, canoes smudge, and prayers

8 am launch from Carey Creek Game Management Area

Portage at TBD time from Albeni Cove campground, U.S. Highway 2, Oldtown, Idaho, to the Rotary Club Welcome Center boat launch beside the river bridge, Oldtown, Idaho

Lunch break at TBD time at Pioneer Park near Newport, Washington

6 pm dinner and camp at Kalispel property on Downs and Indian Islands, with parking at Indian Creek and boat launch access from Sandy Shores Road, Newport, Washington

Saturday, August 7: 14-mile paddle

7 am breakfast, canoes smudge, and prayers

Launch when ready from Indian or Downs Island or Sandy Shores Road boat launch

12 pm lunch break at Usk boat launch under the bridge, Davis Road, Usk, Washington

Land at TBD time at Kalispel Village boat launch

Small powwow for children, gift prizes for dancers

Dinner and camp at Kalispel Powwow grounds, showers available at Wellness Center, LeClerc Road North, Cusick, Washington

[1] Early August Climate and Indigenous Activism Opportunities! August 2, 2017 Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[2] Remember the Water Kalispel Pow Wow Paddle 8-3-17, August 5, 2017 Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[3] Kalispel Paddle the Pend Oreille in Dugout Canoes, Embracing Historic Ties to the Waterway, Katie Botkin, August 6, 2017 Spokesman-Review

[4] Kalispel Canoe Journey, Sandpoint Festival Spotlight, #No2ndBridge Appeal Participation, July 30, 2018 Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[5] Tribes Join Together to Make Second Annual Remember the Water Paddle, Katie Botkin, August 6, 2018 Spokesman-Review

[6] Spokane Conferences, Kalispel Canoe Journey, #No2ndBridge Actions, Fifth Panhandle Paddle, July 30, 2019 Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[7] Gas Well Spacing and Lakeside Logging Comments, Tribal Paddle and Oil Train Protest Reports, and More, August 25, 2020 Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[8] Fourth Remember the Water Paddle 7-30 to 8-1-20, August 9, 2020 Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[9] Fourth Remember the Water Paddle Report, August 9, 2020 Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[10] 2021 Poster Artist, Festival at Sandpoint