Gary James

Gary James is the Fisheries Program Manager for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Gary was the first fish biologist hired by the CTUIR in 1982.  He has managed the CTUIR Fisheries Program for the last 39 years. In that time the program has grown from one staff to about 70 full-time employees.  Gary oversees all aspects of the Tribe’s Fisheries Program including coordination with Tribal policy, co-managers, funding agencies and the public in planning, implementation and monitoring of the Tribe’s water/fish projects throughout NE Oregon and SE Washington.  CTUIR projects support a “River Vision” approach which describes healthy floodplain conditions necessary to protect, restore and enhance Tribal First Foods for the perpetual cultural, economic, and sovereign benefit of the CTUIR.  Projects include instream flow restoration, fish passage, floodplain habitat enhancement, hatchery actions, lamprey and freshwater mussel research and restoration, fish harvest management, and monitoring and evaluation of all the above to determine project success.  Gary received a BSc Degree in Fisheries from Oregon State University in 1979.