Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

Leaders, scientists, policy analysts and legal staff of the Coast Salish Nations will gather April 26-27 to strengthen approaches, relationships and discuss potential issues of the environmental impacts of climate change on tribal natural resources, traditional rights and cultural sustainability.

The two-day Impacts of Climate Change on Our Tribal Lifeways in the Salish Sea Ecosystem Summit begins at 8 a.m. on April 26. To follow a …

The Skagit River System Cooperative (SRSC)  has found evidence that beavers living in the tidal marsh are creating prime salmon habitat. The SRSC is the natural resources arm of the Swinomish and Sauk-Suiattle tribes.

The Seattle Times reports:

Today, only about 6 percent of the tidal scrub shrub habitat is left in the Skagit River Delta, and that’s better than a lot of places where

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Over at the Squaxin Island Tribe natural resource’s blog, they just added some new content on their smolt trapping efforts.
From the post:

The Squaxin Island Natural Resources (SINR) is currently collecting data to estimate the number of coho salmon smolts outmigrating from Mill, Cranberry, Goldsborough, Schumacher and Sherwood Creeks. These five creeks empty in to Deep South Puget Sound, with in the Squaxin Island Tribes

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From the Smithsonian Magazine (hat-tip to Squaxin Natural Resources blog):

Craig Parker popped his head above the surf, peeled off his dive mask and clambered aboard the Ichiban. We were anchored 50 yards offshore from a fir-lined peninsula that juts into Puget Sound. Sixty feet below, where Parker had spent his morning, the seafloor was flat and sandy—barren, to unschooled eyes, except for the odd

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From the Squaxin Island Tribe’s natural resources blog:

This week the Squaxin Island Tribe Natural Resources (SINR) and Washington State Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) started hauling the first batch of juvenile coho to the South Sound Net Pens (SSNP) located in Peale Passage. SSNP is a co-managed facility by the SINR and WDFW that has released an average of 1.5 million coho smolt yearly to

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From Sunday’s paper:

For years there have been people in this community who have held on to their hate-filled beliefs that tribal fishers should not be allowed to harvest fish from the Nisqually. Courts have ruled otherwise, noting that treaties from the mid 1800s clearly give American Indians rights to fish and harvest other natural resources “in common” with settlers.

The Daily Herald of Everett:

The new president has been in office for less than 24 hours, but the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission is wasting no time in making their requests for the next four years.

In fact, the commission, which represents 20 tribes in the Pacific Northwest, including the Tulalip, Stillaguamish and Sauk Suiattle tribes in Snohomish County, submitted a 16-page document with recommendations

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The (Everett) Herald:

Tulalip tribal members may soon be allowed to harvest medicinal herbs and other plants used in spiritual ceremonies from the Mount Baker- Snoqualmie National Forest.

Late last week, tribal leaders announced an agreement they reached with officials at the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest that kicks off a joint effort to protect natural resources held sacred by local tribes.

The agreement was years

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It was a meeting long overdue.

Representatives of the 20 treaty Indian tribes in western Washington sat down for the first time in a public meeting with the entire Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission – the panel that sets policy for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

As co-managers of the natural resources in western Washington, tribes talk frequently and work closely with WDFW staff. …

The Seattle Times published a story focusing on the Skokomish Tribe and how the health of Hood Canal is affecting the tribe’s way of life…

HOOD CANAL — It’s a small harvest, but a prized one: fewer than a dozen or so Dungeness crabs, hoisted fresh from the steel-gray water onto the deck of the Grey Whisper.

Into the cooler they go, scrabbling with futility against …