Change due to natural disturbances and disasters, population growth and decline, economic crises, and environmental and climate change creates significant cultural challenges. Rapid change and the transformation it brings also involve complex relationships between sovereign tribes, resources, and the global system. This article explores how salmon and the Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) people who depend upon them survive given invasion and treaty making, population decline and growth, destruction of salmon habitat and damming of streams, and impending climate change. The central assertion of this article is twofold: (1) nothing is forever, and change is constant; and (2) the Nimiipuu have retained their adaptive capacity through many substantial changes, and Nimiipuu culture is the strength from which adaptive capacity emerges. (Contains 41 notes.)