The Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission (NWIFC) is a natural resources management support service organization for 20 treaty Indian tribes in western Washington. Headquartered in Olympia, the NWIFC employs approximately 65 people with satellite offices in Burlington and Forks.

NWIFC member tribes are: Lummi, Nooksack, Swinomish, Upper Skagit, Sauk-Suiattle, Stillaguamish, Tulalip, Muckleshoot, Puyallup, Nisqually, Squaxin Island, Skokomish, Suquamish, Port Gamble S’Klallam, Jamestown S’Klallam, Lower Elwha Klallam, Makah, Quileute, Quinault, and Hoh.

The NWIFC was created following the 1974 U.S. v. Washington ruling (Boldt Decision) that re-affirmed the tribes’ treaty-reserved fishing rights. The ruling recognized them as natural resources co-managers with the State of Washington with an equal share of the harvestable number of salmon returning annually.

Read more on our About Us page.

  • Shellfish Biologist – Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe

    August 27, 2020

    Download Announcement The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s (JST) Natural Resource Department is seeking a full-time Shellfish Biologist. The Shellfish Biologist will apply sound biological principles to the management of shellfish populations in JST’s usual and accustomed fishing area by collecting and analyzing biological data, monitoring and reporting on shellfish harvest, and evaluating biotic and abiotic conditions […]

  • Water Quality Specialist – Hoh Indian Tribe

    July 28, 2020

    Download Announcement The Water Quality Specialist will expand the Tribe’s Water Quality Program and implement and manage the Tribe’s EPA Clean Water Act 106 Program. The specialist will coordinate work with fellow staff, volunteers and consulting professionals focused on water quality issues on tribal lands on and off the Hoh Tribe Reservation and will work […]

  • Introducing Northwest Treaty Tribes

    August 24, 2015

    Tribes. Treaty Rights. That’s what we’re all about. This week, the treaty tribes in western Washington are launching a new communications effort called Northwest Treaty Tribes: Protecting Natural Resources for Everyone. At first blush, the only change you’ll notice is that instead of getting tribal natural resources news from social media and web platforms of […]

RSS News from nwtreatytribes.org

  • Kilisut Harbor, Oak Bay Finally Reconnected
    Juvenile salmon can move freely from Oak Bay to Kilisut Harbor for the first time in 75 years, following the recent removal of an earthen causeway that supported a road and undersized culverts. The man-made structures were replaced with a 450-foot-long bridge between Indian and Marrowstone islands this year, improving tidal flow, fish passage and […]
  • Major Salmon Habitat Restoration Completed in Nooksack River
    The last of 127 engineered logjams were placed in the Farmhouse reach of the North Fork Nooksack River this summer, completing an extensive multi-year salmon habitat restoration project. The Nooksack Tribe installed large woody structures in the North and South Forks of the Nooksack River nearly every year since 2008. This summer, the final 56 […]
  • Robust Razor Clam Populations Greet QIN Diggers
    Razor clams were the hero Quinault Indian Nation (QIN) tribal members needed following three seasons of blueback (sockeye) salmon fishery closures Not only was this the third year without a blueback fishery, the pandemic also stifled the market for most other fisheries. In their absence, razor clams provided sustenance to tribal members. Surveys Reveal More […]