Oral history interview with William S. Skylstad

William Stephen Skylstad was born in Omak, Washington, in 1934, and grew up in the Methow Valley. He was ordained a Catholic priest in the Diocese of Spokane in 1960, then served as an assistant pastor in Pullman, Washington. In 1966, he graduated from Gonzaga University in Spokane. Skylstad became bishop of the Diocese of Yakima, Washington, in 1977, and served as bishop of the Diocese of Spokane, Washington, from 1990 to 2010. He was appointed as apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Baker, Oregon, in 2011, and retired in 2012. An advocate for the Columbia River, Skylstad was one of 12 bishops in the Pacific Northwest and Canada who jointly issued a pastoral letter about the impact of dams on the river in February 2001.

Sources: Vital records in Ancestry.com; information provided by Skylstad in his interview; "Bishop William Stephen Skylstad," (undated, accessed July 2026), https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bskylstad.html; "Most Reverend William Skylstad," Ethics and the Columbia River Treaty conference website (undated, accessed July 2026), http://waterplanet.ws/ethics/Bishop_William_Skylstad.html

In 1990, the Washington State Historical Society, Portland State University, and Washington State University Vancouver formed the Center for Columbia River History (CCRH) to promote research, education, and public programs about the Columbia River Basin. The center operated for more than 20 years. Among its work was the Columbia River Basin Project (CRBP), an umbrella project supported by a 1997 grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The CRBP included online exhibits, oral histories, and high school curricula about the history of the region's land, wildlife, and people.

As part of the project, CCRH partnered with the Oregon Historical Society Research Library’s oral history program, headed by Jim Strassmaier, to gather interviews. Oral Historian Michael O’Rourke spearheaded the Northwest Power Planning Council Oral History Series, while Oral Historian Clark Hansen oversaw the Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series, with aid from two Portland State University research assistants, Dannette Rowe and Tania Hyatt. In addition, CCRH conducted oral history interviews for a third project, Columbia Communities, and later donated the interview recordings and transcripts to the OHS Research Library, where they are designated SRC 1.

The Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series culminated in 59 interviews (approximately 184 recorded hours) conducted between 1998 and 2001. Interviewees included Native people, activists, farmers, conservationists, fishers, and others who contributed to the shaping of policies that have had, and continue to have, significant impacts on the Columbia River Basin in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and British Columbia. The interviewees opposed policies by agencies such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bonneville Power Administration, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and advocated for alternative visions of management and use of the Columbia River.

Sources: “Voices of the Columbia,” by Bryan White, PSU Magazine, Fall 1998, Page 17; Center for Columbia River History brochure, undated (circa 2000); Center for Columbia River History website (accessed July 10, 2025, partially archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250215175329/https://columbiariverhistory.org/; email correspondence with Donna Sinclair, 2025; email correspondence with Tania Hyatt, 2025; Oregon Historical Society Research Library internal documentation.