Being Frank

From bear grass to huckleberries to cedar and more, it's getting harder and harder for the treaty Indian tribes in western Washington to find and access natural resources that are…

The Swinomish Tribe is sharing part of its traditional tribal lands with the public, thanks to an innovative partnership. The tribe and the state Parks and Recreation Commission have purchased…

Treaty tribal and state co-managers wrapped up their annual process of setting salmon fishing seasons recently and I was again reminded of those who say that a total ban on…

Sometimes it just takes guts, not money, to do the right thing for salmon. The Squaxin Island Tribe recently asked the state Department of Ecology to do the right thing…

I am excited that those two Elwha River dams will begin to come down next year, and you should be excited too. It's been a long time coming. After more…

We know that protecting and restoring habitat are the keys to wild salmon recovery. But how are we really doing on that front? Puget Sound chinook and steelhead, Hood Canal…

The status quo jeopardizes wild salmon recovery. That's what NOAA Fisheries, the federal agency in charge of implementing the ESA told the Federal Emergency Management Agency in reviewing FEMA's floodplain…

Our five senses combine in another sense that is important to all of us as human beings: a sense of place. It is a powerful sense, it takes time to develop and can be lost when folks move around a lot from place to place and job to job.

I have been blessed with a strong sense of place for my home, the Nisqually River. I know my place, my home. It’s where I feel the best.

Place is an important part of treaty tribal fishing rights, too. Our rights are place-based.

That means we 20 treaty Indian tribes in western Washington can only fish in the places we have always fished. These are our “Usual and Accustomed” fishing places, the places where we exercise our treaty-reserved right to fish.
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If you caught a fish this fall, chances are you have a salmon hatchery to thank.

Salmon hatcheries provide most of the salmon for harvest in western Washington. That’s because wild salmon habitat has been degraded to the point that few wild runs can sustain much harvest.

The combined tribal, state and federal salmon hatchery system in western Washington is the largest in the world. This system keeps us fishermen on the water while we try to solve the problem of limited and damaged habitat for wild fish.

With our state co-managers, tribes have been on the cutting edge of enhancement science, making sure our efforts with salmon hatcheries are the best for salmon, fishermen and our communities.

• The Squaxin Island Tribe recently finished a study into the habitat of one of their local creeks. It helped the tribe, state and a local enhancement group figure out a better way to build natural coho populations in the stream. The tribe will soon add 30,000 young coho from hatchery broodstock that will spawn naturally and boost the run.

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I saw an ad on TV the other day. The theme was "Puget Sound Starts Here." It's a good ad because it reminds people that Puget Sound is sick. It…