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Long Time Treaty Rights Warrior, Guy McMinds, Passes

Guy McMinds, 75, an influential member of the Quinault Indian Nation, whose contributions to protecting Indian treaty rights spanned many decades, passed away peacefully early Monday morning from natural causes.

McMinds graduated from Moclips High School in 1955, attended Grays Harbor College, served two years in the US Army, then went on to receive a Fisheries Science degree from the University of Washington in 1966. He then returned to the Tribe, where he was elected to the Quinault Business Committee. He served for many years as the Nation’s Fisheries Manager and Natural Resources Director. He retired in 2010 from his position as Advisor to the President of the Quinault Indian Nation.

In the mid-1960s, Guy McMinds met with the US Department of Commerce officials successfully obtaining funding to organize the Quinault Department of Natural Resources. This allowed the Tribe to implement research technology with new practices and innovative technology in salmon hatcheries, aquaculture and stream rehabilitation. The technology developed led to its worldwide use today.
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NWIFC Magazine: Quileute and Puyallup Tribes Keep Hatchery Programs Running

Assistant hatchery manager Brent Ramsey, right, and fisheries technician Donovan Ward clean algae from the Bear Springs ponds.
Featured in this season’s NWIFC Magazine is a story about how the Quileute and Puyallup tribes are picking up various aspects of the state’s hatchery management responsibilities as the state’s budget shrinks. You can download a free copy of the magazine here.

From the Magazine:

Treaty tribes in western Washington are assuming additional fisheries enhancement responsibilities to preserve hatchery programs in danger of closing because of cuts to the state budget.

…

The Puyallup Tribe of Indians is helping fund a program to restore spring chinook in the upper White River watershed.

“For more than 18 years we’ve been working with the state to release juvenile spring chinook produced at the Minter Creek hatchery into acclimation ponds in the upper White River,” said Russ Ladley, resource protection manager for the tribe.
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Lummi Nation holds dive safety course

The Lummi Nation organized a dive safety course last month for 32 tribal divers.

Underwater harvest of sea cucumbers, geoducks and sea urchins is integral to the livelihood of many tribal fishermen, especially in light of declining salmon runs.

“Our schelangen, or way of life, depends on the natural resources of the sea,” said Lummi Chairman Cliff Cultee. “Crab, prawn and salmon seasons are short, so dive fisheries can be a more stable source of income.”

Most tribal divers use a surface supplied air system rather than scuba gear. An onboard air compressor and umbilical hose connects the diver to the surface. (more…)

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Lower Elwha Klallam, DNR restoring former A-Frame site on Ediz Hook

Lower Elwha Klallam Ediz Hook Pre-restoration 2012 Mike McHenry Randall McCoy 5209 thumbnail
Lower Elwha Klallam natural resources staffers Randall McCoy and Mike McHenry look over the plans for the restoration of the beach at the A-Frame site on Ediz Hook.

A 1,200-foot stretch of Ediz Hook, a popular beach destination in Port Angeles, is undergoing habitat restoration this summer to benefit wildlife and people.

The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) are restoring the popular “A-frame” site on the spit, a former log dump area that was used until the 1970s. It will be cleared of fill and existing structures during an eight-week construction period starting in June. (more…)

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The Olympian: Voice for salmon heard again

John Dodge writes about Billy Frank Jr. in his Soundings column this morning:

Billy Frank Jr. speaks for the salmon. He always has and he always will.

The message delivered by one of the most famous Indians in Washington history rings loud and clear through a new biography released this week entitled “Where the Salmon Run, The Life and Legacy of Billy Frank Jr.”

The book authored by Trova Heffernan is the 13th in a series of oral histories and biographies by the Legacy Project housed in the Office of the Secretary of State.
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IHN virus detected in Atlantic salmon farm near Bainbridge Island

Photo: E. Peter Steenstra/USFWS

Infectious hematopoietic necrosis (IHN) virus has been detected in three privately-owned Atlantic salmon marine pen complexes in Rich Passage near Bainbridge Island.

American Gold Seafoods, which owns the Orchard Rocks, Fort Ward and Clam Bay complexes, is taking action to depopulate the infected net pens. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is responsible for ensuring this happens as quickly as possible. The virus was confirmed May 8, and American Gold Seafoods expects to harvest or destroy at least 400,000 fish from the three sites by mid-June. (more…)

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Lummi Nation teen builds boat for senior project

Students like Lucas Kinley give Lummi Nation Chairman Cliff Cultee hope for the future of tribal fishing.

Kinley built a 32-foot aluminum boat for his senior project at Ferndale High School. He named it Golden Eagle for his high school’s mascot, and plans to use it for crabbing, shrimping and long-lining.

“It’s really good to see some of our youth thinking long-range with the guidance of their parents,” Cultee said. “To be able to say, ‘I’m in this for the long haul,’ and still be continuing with education. That’s good to see those two things go hand-in-hand.” (more…)

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Upper Skagit Indian Tribe examines steelhead scales

The Upper Skagit Tribe is analyzing scale samples to determine the age of steelhead returning to the Skagit River.

Unlike most species of salmon, steelhead can spawn repeatedly before they die. They mature at 2 or 3 years, and can stay at sea up to three years before returning to fresh water to spawn.

Upper Skagit tribal staff took scale samples from 75 wild steelhead to be examined using equipment at the University of Washington. Analysis of steelhead scales can tell researchers how many years a steelhead has spent in fresh water before out-migrating and how long it spent at sea. The analysis also will show whether the steelhead migrated back out to sea after spawning in fresh water. (more…)

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Read more about the article Climate change: Washington coastal tribes hosting symposium blending indigenous knowledge with western science
Coastal tribes are already seeing changes to the natural resources they rely on due to climate change. It will be critical to bring their millennia of knowledge together with western science to help indigenous people to adapt.

Climate change: Washington coastal tribes hosting symposium blending indigenous knowledge with western science

Coastal tribes are already seeing changes to the natural resources they rely on due to climate change. It will be critical to bring their millennia of knowledge together with western science to help indigenous people adapt.
The inaugural First Stewards symposium, to be held July 17-20 in Washington, D.C. is a national event that examines the impact of climate change on indigenous coastal cultures and explores solutions based on millennia of traditional ecological knowledge.

Hundreds of native leaders, witnesses and climate scientists will join policy-makers and non-government organizations for groundbreaking dialogue in what is planned to be an annual meeting at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.

The Hoh, Makah and Quileute tribes and the Quinault Indian Nation created the symposium because indigenous coastal people are among the most affected by climate change. (more…)

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Skokomish Tribe, Partners Enhance Tidelands with Logs, Rootwads

Columbia Helicopter crew member Jim Hindman rounds up the chokes that were used to lower the wood pieces by helicopter into the estuary.

Logs and rootwads were airlifted to the Skokomish River estuary by a dual-rotor cargo helicopter as part of the Skokomish Tribe’s large-scale effort to restore salmon habitat.

Woody debris had been missing from the Skokomish tidelands for the past 80 years after 200 acres of tidelands were diked and developed to create Nalley Island in the 1930s. Upstream activities such as logging, land conversion and dam building prevented woody material from floating down river to the estuary.

The lack of wood in the river and estuary prevented good salmon habitat from forming. Coho, chinook and chum salmon historically have used the tidelands before moving up river to spawn.
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