Michelle Ravenmoon

“When I was growing up out at Pope Vannoy, on the south side of Lake Iliamna, we would swim a lot in the summertime, and I really enjoyed fishing with my Grandpa. I just had a willow pole with a hook on it — it was pretty simple. But we must have had a lot of trout then, because it was so easy to catch fish. I remember one day I caught two at the same time on one hook. I was so impressed!

What makes these memories stick out so much is that the salmon returning home make such a big impact on life out there. It’s not just that we’re harvesting, and we’re busy, and the smokehouse is going — there’s a lot of things going on, and we’re happy, we’re full — but just seeing the immenseness of them. They’re big. There are so many of them. They would fill up the creek. I remember one year we didn’t have very much water. And all their backs were sticking out. All the way across the entire creek, a hundred yards of salmon fins sticking out, and you’d make a little movement, and they’d all splash and go one way or the other. It was so much fun to watch them.

Growing up, I sat and watched the salmon as they returned. I see the babies lingering around when the salmon are young. I’ve watched them in every part of their life where I could. We hang out with them all the time. We swim with them. They’re not separate from us. They’re part of our family.”

— Michelle Ravenmoon, artist and Pope Vannoy, Lake Iliamna resident

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