Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

The Puyallup Tribe of Indians is building environmentally friendly housing that also reflects their culture. This year the tribe’s housing authority opened The Place of Hidden Waters, an environmentally friendly 10-unit housing complex that emulates the traditional longhouse design.

“It was important that the building be culturally relevant to the tribe,” said Annette Bryan, executive director for the housing authority. “Another important part of the tribe’s …

The Swinomish Tribe is developing a subsistence manila clam fishery on Lone Tree Point.

“We’re using habitat we already have to increase opportunities for our tribal members to gather shellfish,” said Lorraine Loomis, fisheries manager for the tribe. “Shellfish always have been part of our traditional diet and culture.”

In 2011, shellfish biologist Julie Barber seeded five test plots totaling 1,000 square feet with good survival …

The Nisqually Indian Tribe is taking a creative approach to help a new streamside forest thrive.

“We’re using thousands of donated burlap sacks and transporting them across the Nisqually River by boat to make sure thousands of newly planted trees don’t get overrun by grass,” said David Troutt, natural resources director for the tribe. The tribe’s restoration planting crew recently reforested 15-acres of off channel habitat …

Is low oxygen in the ocean near Taholah killing off young crab each year, threatening the future of the fishery?

That’s the question Quinault Indian Nation (QIN) wants to help answer using special equipment to measure the extent and depth of low oxygen events.

QIN has requested a grant to pay for instruments that would measure dissolved oxygen from inside crab pots. “It’s a great way …

OLYMPIA – The state of Washington must fix fish-blocking culverts under state-owned roads because they violate tribal treaty rights, federal Judge Ricardo Martinez ruled on Friday, March 29.

“This is a historic day,” said Billy Frank Jr., Nisqually tribal member and chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. “This ruling isn’t only good for the resource, but for all of us who live here. It will …

The Upper Skagit Tribe is exploring the possibility of using a tangle net to learn more about Skagit River steelhead.

Last year, the tribe collected scales to determine the age and life history of 75 steelhead harvested over a two-week period during its ceremonial and subsistence fishery. But from a scientific standpoint, researchers need more than 75 samples and a longer sample period to learn about …

For just over eight years, the treaty tribes in western Washington have used automatic tagging trailers to make their hatcheries more effective. There’s a new tagging trailer hitting the road this year and here it is in action at a Puyallup tribal hatchery.

Here’s an piece about the first automatic tagging trailer.

You can view the movie after the jump.

The Puyallup Tribe of Indians is making sure juvenile spring chinook will still find their way to the upper White River each year.

The tribe is raising 250,000 spring chinook at their hatchery so they can stock acclimation ponds in the upper White. Legislative budget cuts forced the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to cease their White River spring chinook program.

“We used to get …

Wildlife biologists from the Stillaguamish and Tulalip tribes are testing a new way to track the population of the Nooksack elk herd using the animals’ scat.

Tribal biologists have partnered with Western Washington University’s Huxley College of the Environment to determine the most efficient way to collect DNA from elk scat. Genetic material can be found in the intestinal mucus coating the pellets. This winter, biologists …

From the Department of Natural Resources:

The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the Squaxin Island Tribe, the Port of Olympia, the South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group (SPSSEG), and private landowners are joining together to clear toxic derelict pilings and other structures from much of the southern end of Budd Inlet in Olympia.

The work, which is funded by the 2012 Jobs Now

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