Oral history interview with Bill Green

Collection

Identifier: SR 2788

Transcript, digitized audio recording of interview, and digitized photograph of Bill Green

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Scope and Contents

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Audio recording and transcript of an oral history interview with Bill Green that was conducted by Clark Hansen on September 25, 2000, at the Ktunaxa Kinbasket tribal headquarters in British Columbia, Canada, as part of the Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series. Accompanying the audio and transcript are two copies of a color photograph taken of Green at the time of the interview.

In this interview, Green discusses his experience as a teacher in Papua New Guinea during the 1970s, and describes how it influenced his later work on salmon restoration in British Columbia, Canada. He compares the structures of the Canadian and United States governments in regard to fish and wildife management. He shares his reasons for accepting the position of director of the Canadian Columbia River Intertribal Fisheries Commission in 1994, and he discusses how the issues affecting the Columbia River Basin differed from those of coastal British Columbia, where he had worked previously. He speaks extensively about historical events that led to the depletion of salmon and other fish populations in the Upper Columbia, particularly dam construction. He also talks about the legal status of First Nations people in Canada, particularly in regard to fishing and hunting rights. He shares his opinion on various fish conservation measures, including hatcheries and dam removal. He closes the interview with a discussion on the Columbia River Treaty between U.S. and Canada, and the possibility it might be renegotiated in 2024.

Dates

Creation: 2000 September 25

Creator

Green, Bill (William) (Interviewee, Person)
Hansen, Clark (Interviewer, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society. Use is allowed according to the following statement: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Biographical note

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William “Bill” Green grew up in Ontario, Canada. He graduated from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, where he studied botany and geology, then spent four years as a teacher in Papua New Guinea. From 1994 to 2017, he was director of the Canadian Columbia River Intertribal Fisheries Commission. He also served as operational director of the Ktunaxa-Kinbasket Tribal Council (now named the Ktunaxa Nation Council). In 2011 and 2015, he was the Green Party candidate to represent the riding of Kootenay-Columbia in the Canadian Parliament.

Sources: Information provided by Green in his interview; “Bill Green honoured for fisheries work,” by Ian Cobb, East Kootenay News Online Weekly, August 20, 2015 (accessed June 2026), https://www.e-know.ca/news/bill-green-honoured-for-fisheries-work/; Canadian Columbia River Intertribal Fisheries Commission website (accessed June 2026), http://ccrifc.org/who-ccrifc/; “William Green throws in hat for Green Party,” by Alex Cooper, Revelstroke Review, March 31, 2015 (accessed June 2026), https://revelstokereview.com/2011/03/31/william-green-throws-in-hat-for-green-party/

Historical note

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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.

Full Extent

0.1 Cubic Feet (2 audiocassettes (2 hr., 4 min., 51 sec.) + transcript (55 pages) + 2 photographs (color))

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Oral history interview with Bill Green, conducted by Clark Hansen on September 25, 2000, as part of the Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series. Green discusses his work in salmon restoration as director of the Canadian Columbia River Intertribal Fisheries Commission, and shares his opinion on various fish conservation measures, including hatcheries and dam removal.

Existence and Location of Copies

Audio, transcript, and photograph available online in OHS Digital Collections.

General

Forms part of the Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series.

Processing Information

This interview was previously cataloged as part of SR 2700.1, the Center for Columbia River History Oral Histories. SR 2700.1 included oral histories gathered for two separate projects: those conducted by the Oregon Historical Society Research Library for the Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series, and those collected by the Center for Columbia River History for its Columbia Communities Project. In 2024-2025, as part of digitization of the Dissenters interviews, the collection was reprocessed to separate the two sets of interviews for improved access. Each of the 59 Columbia River Dissenters interviews was cataloged individually under the name of the interviewee. The interviews for the Communities project were kept together as a single collection that was redesignated as SRC 1, Columbia Communities Project oral histories.