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the negotiator 203harvestable fish, would pass through no fewer than 17 separate Federal,tribal, State and international jurisdictions. Thankfully, Sammy, asI affectionately came to call my imaginary salmon, did not need aseparate passport for each jurisdiction.”“And we had no treaty,” sums up Bill Wilkerson. From the state ofWashington, the pact was in the hands of Wilkerson, Billy, TimWapato, head of the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission,and Levi George, a Yakama, among others. “I can remember talkingto Billy and Tim one night and saying, ‘We’re going to have to getmore political about this thing.’ We had a treaty agreement that fellapart, I think, in ‘83,” Wilkerson recalls. “None of us were talking toeach other, so we didn’t know why. We didn’t have each other’s perspective.We were relying on the tribes to push the conservationarguments; we were pushing the allocation arguments. But there wasno coordinated effort whatsoever. Wapato agreed to provide thestaff to form this coalition, and he was dead serious about it. Fishweren’t getting back to the Columbia. Internally, we were avoidingthe litigation, we were campaigning like crazy about why what wewere doing was right.”“Judges and lawyers haven’t gotten us a damn fish!” an energeticBilly told the tribes. Wilkerson remembers Billy’s speeches. “He hada few doozies. I would always get him, ‘Well, I thought you didnumber 305 particularly well and effectively today.’ I mean, it was allexaggeration, and he would laugh about it.”But Billy kept the tribes at the table, Wilkerson says. “He was thetribal leader. The Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission was kindof the focal group, and the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commissionthat Tim Wapato ran. They were the two quote ‘managemententities’ for the tribes.“He always knew the right time to give one of his speeches,”Wilkerson recalls. “He was so respected in the Canadian delegationbecause they had a tribal delegation. He was Billy Frank to thosepeople, one of the top tribal leaders in North America. . . . It happened