The Olympian ran a story this morning on the Squaxin Island Tribe’s request to protect salmon in the Johns Creek watershed:

The Squaxin Island tribe, concerned about salmon in the Johns Creek watershed near Shelton, has asked the state to halt drilling of new wells in the area.

The tribe filed a petition with the state Department of Ecology, saying wells are drawing water that normally would flow into the creek during summer.

“If summer flows were just at the minimum required, we would see 20 percent more spawning habitat available for summer chum salmon,” John Konovsky, environmental program manager for the tribe, said in a statement.

More information, including the petition itself, is available here.