# Sammy Matsaw Jr. – Salmon, Sovereignty, and the Long Work of Healing

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/mountain-prairie-with-ed-roberson-323217/sammy-matsaw-jr-salmon-sovereignty-and-the-long-work-of-healing
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/mountain-prairie-with-ed-roberson-323217/sammy-matsaw-jr-salmon-sovereignty-and-the-long-work-of-healing.md
Podcast: [Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson](https://stenobird.com/podcast/mountain-prairie-with-ed-roberson-323217)
Published: 2025-12-30T20:24:00+00:00
Episode link: https://mountainandprairie.libsyn.com/sammy-matsaw-jr-salmon-sovereignty-and-the-long-work-of-healing
Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/mountainandprairie/Sammy-Matsaw.mp3?dest-id=1600085
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/mountain-prairie-with-ed-roberson-323217/episodes/sammy-matsaw-jr-salmon-sovereignty-and-the-long-work-of-healing
Duration seconds: 3933

## Resource

Sammy Matsaw Jr. is the Director of the Columbia Basin Program at The Nature Conservancy, where he works at the intersection of salmon recovery, tribal sovereignty, and large-scale river restoration across one of the most complex watersheds in North America. In this role, Sammy helps guide conservation strategies that span state lines, political boundaries, and cultural histories—while keeping people, relationships, and responsibility at the center of the work. Sammy grew up on the Shoshone-Bannock Reservation, surrounded by salmon stories, land-based learning, and a deep sense of responsibility to place. He served in the U.S. military, including combat deployments overseas, before returning home to heal, reconnect, and rebuild—eventually earning advanced degrees in ecology, policy, and conservation science. Along the way, he's navigated life as a soldier, scientist, ceremonial practitioner, husband, father, and now grandfather, carrying Indigenous knowledge forward while engaging directly with Western institutions and systems. In this conversation, we talk about salmon restoration as a healing journey—not just for rivers, but for communities and cultures shaped by loss, displacement, and change. We dig into Indigenous knowledge alongside Western science, the role of humility and trust in conservation, and why Sammy believes real progress only happens through relationships and long-term commitment. We also explore his vision for the Columbia Basin, his leadership inside TNC, and what it means to show up—day after day—with curiosity, care, and what he calls "barefoot trust-building." This is a thoughtful, hopeful, and vulnerable conversation, and I greatly appreciate Sammy taking the time to chat with me. I hope you enjoy. --- Sammy Matsaw Jr., Director of TNC's Columbi…

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