Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

Including traditional foods – like huckleberries, nettles, camas and salmon – into tribal members’ everyday diets is the goal of the Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty program. The two year project is funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture and is supported by Northwest Indian College’s Traditional Plants and Foods Program.

“This effort is about eating healthy and remembering who we are and where we come from,” said …

The Suquamish Tribe recently pulled up the bones of a gray whale from Agate Pass, with hopes of rebuilding the skeleton for educational purposes.

The tribe acquired the remains of the juvenile whale in July 2011 after the mammal beached itself and died near Silverdale. After biologists gathered tissue samples, the tribe wrapped the whale in net material and towed it to Agate Pass to let …

Following the Skokomish River estuary restoration effort in 2010, the Skokomish Tribe has been closely monitoring the project site in hopes of seeing salmon using the new habitat for feeding and refuge.

Since August, natural resources staff members have been seining dozens of locations within the restored 349-acre area, as well as 330 acres of tidelands nearby that escaped development.

The project area includes 219 acres …

Federal and private dikes built along the lower Dungeness River in 1964 and 1983 have caused ever-increasing harm to salmon.

A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dike and a private dike built on each side of the Dungeness River have protected the homes and property behind them for decades.  Now, the dikes are leading to flooding problems for landowners.

Concerned residents approached the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe …

Years of agriculture, development and other human activity have led to declines in salmon runs throughout Puget Sound. One reason is that these activities lead to a reduction in the stream flows needed for salmon to spawn and migrate.

In the lower 48 states, only the Skagit River is home to all five species of Pacific salmon.

“The Swinomish Tribe is committed to protecting salmon and …

The Lake Aldwell reservoir is starting to look like a river again. It’s just one of the changes to the Elwha River system that the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe has been watching with great anticipation since removal of the river’s two fish-blocking dams began in September.

By Nov. 1, the 108-foot-tall Elwha Dam had been lowered by 48 feet and the 210-foot-tall Glines Canyon dam by …

Biologist David Baldwin pours a mixture of copper, zinc, lead and other pollutants into a large tank of water at the Suquamish Tribe’s Grovers Creek Hatchery, then slips four adult coho salmon into the dirty brown liquid. The poisonous soup he creates is aimed to simulate the kind of stormwater runoff to which salmon are frequently exposed, especially in urban streams.

The tribe is working with …

For the Quinault Indian Nation (QIN), it is a grim truth that to protect the marine resources that sustain them, they must meticulously inventory those resources.

The Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska graphically demonstrated the need to quantify baseline populations of marine and intertidal life. To accomplish the task, QIN and other tribal communities are using a common data-gathering method established by the Multi-Agency Rocky …

There is a sense of urgency as black mesh bags filled with adult coho salmon are relayed down a steep hill toward the Elwha River. Standing on the bank, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe hatchery manager Larry Ward retrieves a bag, unzips it and gently prods out several salmon. Within seconds, the fish make a splash before quickly swimming away, seeking good spawning grounds.

The tribe, with …