Tag Archives: Tulalip

Beavers relocated to improve salmon habitat

This summer, raceways at the Tulalip Tribes’ Bernie Kai-Kai Gobin Hatchery were renovated into temporary beaver condominiums. Six beavers nestled together in a furry cluster in one of the manmade lodges, confirming wildlife biologists’ suspicions that this was a family unit. Tribal staff, along with biologists from the University of Washington (UW), had captured the […]

Tulalip Tribes harvest highly nutritious stinging nettles

The Tulalip Tribes’ Hibulb Cultural Center is finding new uses for stinging nettles, a traditional medicinal plant. Participants in Hibulb’s Rediscovery Program, led by Inez Bill, harvest nettles from the tribes’ forestlands each spring. They process the plant before using it in tea, flavored lemonade, pesto and a diabetic-friendly version of buckskin bread called “Hibulb […]

Tribes partner to survey forestlands with LIDAR

The Stillaguamish and Tulalip tribes have partnered with the state Department of Natural Resources and three private timber companies to map forestlands in the Stillaguamish and Skykomish basins. LIDAR, which stands for Light Distance and Ranging, uses an airborne laser to survey topography. “The laser pulses from the plane are reflected back to record billions […]

Tribes study chinook use of small coastal streams

The Tulalip Tribes and Skagit River System Cooperative (SRSC) recently completed a six-year study of juvenile chinook salmon use of small coastal streams in the Whidbey basin. “Small coastal streams are often overlooked as potential salmon habitat because many flow seasonally and do not provide spawning habitat,” said Todd Zackey, the marine and nearshore program […]

Tribes partner in marine survival research

Treaty Indian tribes have invested millions of dollars in hatchery programs and habitat restoration, but poor marine survival continues to stand in the way of salmon recovery. Marine survival rates for many stocks of chinook, coho and steelhead that migrate through the Salish Sea are less than one-tenth of what they were 30 years ago. […]

Marine survival research focuses on juvenile salmon, preferred prey

Fisheries managers studying poor ocean survival of salmon are concentrating their research on juvenile fish and their preferred prey. Several tribes are collaborating on studies slated to begin in 2014 as part of the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project. The Tulalip, Nisqually, Port Gamble S’Klallam, Lummi, Swinomish and Sauk-Suiattle tribes are among the collaborators that […]

Video: Tribes survey Nooksack herd using elk scat

Wildlife biologists from the Stillaguamish and Tulalip tribes are using elk scat to estimate the population of the Nooksack herd in the Acme, Wash., area. Tribal biologists partnered with Western Washington University’s Huxley College of the Environment to collect DNA from the intestinal mucus coating the scat. “This is a non-invasive method that does not […]

North Sound media localize culvert ruling

The Herald of Everett takes a look at culverts in Snohomish County, some that will have to be repaired by the state under Judge Martinez’s ruling, and some that already have been repaired: Puget Sound-area Indian tribes in 2001 took the state to court over culverts and their effect on salmon runs. In 2007, Martinez […]

Tribes sample elk DNA to track population

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 […]