Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

Suquamish tribal fisherman Ray Forsman is continuing the tradition of sharing a fisherman’s harvest with his community, ensuring that tribal members have enough to eat.

After harvesting Fraser River pink salmon in the San Juan Islands in March 2011, Forsman worked with the tribe to have more than 8,000 pounds of pink salmon canned at the Swinomish Fish Co. cannery and delivered to Suquamish.

Forsman has …

The Skokomish Tribe is targeting several lower Hood Canal beaches for restoration efforts this summer.
Shellfish populations near the mouths of the mainstem of the Skokomish River as well as Rendsland and Twanoh creeks have declined within the last decade, said Margaret Homerding, the tribe’s shellfish management biologist.

“While the habitat restoration work for salmon at the mouths of these waterways has been important, the shellfish …

The latest dramatic changes in the Elwha River include the highly anticipated sediment plume forming at the river mouth.

The Seattle Times’ Lynda Mapes has been blogging about the sediment recently, including posting aerial photos of the river mouth.  Her post explores how the sediment will help rebuild the beaches near the river mouth and compares the beach ecology near the Elwha River with the …

The North Kitsap Herald posted a story about Washington Governor Chris Gregoire recently signing a supplemental captial budget that includes money to purchase shorelines along Port Gamble Bay. However, the land won’t be purchased until a clean up agreement for the old mill associated with the historic town of Port Gamble is settled, which is expected to be done this year.

Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe chairman …

The South Sound Business Examiner recently published an article about NOAA and Washington State’s shellfish initiative, including exploring the tribal culture and economy of shellfish harvesting.

From the story:

“Shellfish have always been an important part of tribal culture here in western Washington and this initiative will help protect and restore shellfish by increasing accountability for activities that pollute beds and threaten our treaty rights,” said

…

The Skokomish Tribe and Mason Conservation District collaborated on a project to install more than 200 pieces of large woody debris (logs and rootwads) into channels within the Skokomish Tidelands. This video explains why and how massive logs are being transported into the tidelands. The story behind this project can be found here.

The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe has improved a 1-mile stretch of salmon habitat in the Salt Creek watershed with the help of a half-dozen property owners.

“This area has been heavily affected the past few decades by the presence of more than 30 fish-blocking culverts, in addition to residential development and logging along the streambeds,” said Mike McHenry, the tribe’s habitat program manager. “Partnering with property …

The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe recently learned that Sequim Bay is filled with more eelgrass than previously thought, and that’s good for the bay’s summer chum salmon, an ESA-listed species.

“It’s a good sign to see that eelgrass was found nearly all the way around the bay,” said Lohna O’Rourke, the tribe’s environmental biologist. “This provides a baseline of what’s there now and we can track the …

Logs and rootwads were airlifted to the Skokomish River estuary by a dual-rotor cargo helicopter as part of the Skokomish Tribe’s large-scale effort to restore salmon habitat.

Woody debris had been missing from the Skokomish tidelands for the past 80 years after 200 acres of tidelands were diked and developed to create Nalley Island in the 1930s. Upstream activities such as logging, land conversion and dam …

The restoration of the landscapes after removal of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams and their associated reservoirs is more than just planting a few trees, shrubs and grasses.
Since 2000, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and Olympic National Park have been collecting millions of seeds from native plants in the river valley. From those seeds, crews expect to plant more than 400,000 plants throughout nearly …