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Read more about the article Nisqually Tribe removing lost fishing gear from South Sound
Jake Johnston, dive supervisor for the tribe's marine services division, handles an air hose after a tribal diver retrieved a lost crab pot.

Nisqually Tribe removing lost fishing gear from South Sound

Jake Johnston, dive supervisor for the tribe's marine services division, handles an air hose after a tribal diver retrieved a lost crab pot.
Jake Johnston, dive supervisor for the tribe’s marine services division, handles an air hose after a tribal diver retrieved a lost crab pot.

Divers from the Nisqually Indian Tribe Marine Services Division are reducing fish mortalities and helping to restore the Salish Sea habitat by removing lost fishing gear from the bottom of Puget Sound.

“Recreation and commercial fishermen have been on the water for decades,” said David Troutt, natural resources director for the Nisqually Tribe. “There’s lots of lost fishing gear in Southern Puget Sound.”

Multi-beam side-scan sonar was used to identify derelict crab pots near the mouth of the Nisqually River and nearby islands last fall. These targets were marked using global position system (GPS) software. The Nisqually Marine Services dive team is now returning to those sites to retrieve the gear. The 70-foot Dive Support Vessel (DSV) Hickson provides a platform to support this work.
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Suquamish Tribe Reaches Out to Tideland Owners

As a way to better connect with waterfront landowners, the Suquamish Tribe has been hosting a successful shellfish social hour the past two years.

At a restaurant in Silverdale each winter, the tribe invites property owners on Dyes Inlet to talk with tribal staff about its work, including tribal shellfish harvesting and its tidelands leasing program.

“Overall, it’s an opportunity to strengthen the tribe’s relationship with landowners and discuss the importance of clean water, the shoreline environment, and the mutual benefit gained by our shellfish tidelands leasing program,” said Viviane Barry, the tribe’s shellfish program manager. (more…)

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Read more about the article Sauk-Suiattle Tribe Tests Remote Site Incubator to Enhance Chum Run

Sauk-Suiattle Tribe Tests Remote Site Incubator to Enhance Chum Run

sauk RSI_1Sauk-Suiattle elders still talk about the old days harvesting chum salmon from Lyle Creek.

With chum runs on the decline since 2007, and no fish in Lyle Creek, the Sauk-Suiattle Tribe is testing a method of enhancing the population using a remote site incubator.

Salmon runs across Puget Sound are in decline because of lost and degraded habitat. Remote site incubators enable fisheries co-managers to supplement natural production where spawning habitat is inadequate. (more…)

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Read more about the article Swinomish Tribe’s Restoration Improves Fish Passage Beside Farmland
Swinomish environmental director Todd Mitchell observes a self-regulating tide gate that is mostly under water in the Smokehouse tidelands.

Swinomish Tribe’s Restoration Improves Fish Passage Beside Farmland

Swinomish environmental director Todd Mitchell observes a self-regulating tide gate that is mostly under water in the Smokehouse tidelands.
Swinomish environmental director Todd Mitchell observes a self-regulating tide gate that is mostly under water in the Smokehouse tidelands.

Farming interests in Skagit County often seem at odds with salmon habitat restoration, but an ongoing project by the Swinomish Tribe aims to show that it doesn’t have to be that way.

The tribe owns the land known as the Smokehouse tidelands along the Swinomish Channel south of the Swinomish Casino and Lodge. Historically, the land was part of a system of channels that served as estuarine rearing habitat for Skagit River salmon. When the Skagit Valley was settled, the tidelands were diked and drained for agricultural use.

Since 2005, the tribe has restored tidal flow and improved fish passage to the channels by replacing four traditional flap gates with self-regulating tide gates. In addition, three culverts have been replaced by bridges, and several have been removed. (more…)

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The Nisqually Tribe taking a close look at how salmon recovery can mean wildlife recovery

Troy Rahmig, a consultant working for the Nisqually Tribe, checks a game camera near Ohop Creek.
Troy Rahmig, a consultant working for the Nisqually Tribe, checks a game camera near Ohop Creek.

The Nisqually Indian Tribe is taking a look at how improvements to a creek meant to benefit salmon could also be helping elk, deer and beavers.

“For over a decade we’ve been planning and conducting restoration on miles of salmon habitat on Ohop Creek,” said David Troutt, natural resources director for the tribe. “But, what we’ve really been doing is restoring the ecosystem here. So, obviously, you’d expect other animals to benefit.”

The tribe installed a series of wildlife cameras in a newly planted forest near the creek. “Every time an elk or deer walk by, we get a photo of that animal,” said Chris Ellings, salmon recovery manager for the tribe.

The tribe also hired a consultant to conduct foot surveys, tracking the usage of the restoration site by wildlife. That information will be added to data collected by volunteers over the past five years. Last spring volunteers spent one intensive day counting and cataloging every bug, bird and plant in the restoration site. This was in addition to less intensive monitoring conducted each month by volunteers.

“We know historically that this was a major wildlife corridor, that lots of animals were using the area around the creek,” Ellings said. “Hopefully, what we find is a major bump in what animals are coming down here.”
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Read more about the article Swinomish Tribe Studies Effect of Climate Change on Community, Culture

Swinomish Tribe Studies Effect of Climate Change on Community, Culture

rainbow bridgeClimate change threatens not only the environment, but also tribal communities whose culture, livelihood and identities depend on natural resources.

“Current climate change assessments omit key community health concerns, which are vital to successful adaptation plans, particularly for indigenous communities,” said Jamie Donatuto, environmental health specialist for the Swinomish Tribe.

“Recent assessments show that indigenous communities, especially coastal communities, are disproportionately vulnerable to a number of climate impacts as reservation boundaries are fixed and many aspects of their culture are so closely tied to coastal health” said Eric Grossman, coastal and marine geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and partner in the project. (more…)

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Upper Skagit’s Sustainable Forestry Turns Maples to Guitars

guitar
Pacific Tonewoods general manager Eric Warner shows a guitar with a back made from a maple tree.

Two maple trees harvested from Upper Skagit Tribe timberlands have a musical future ahead of them.

The trees were sold to Pacific Rim Tonewoods, a specialty sawmill upriver from the Upper Skagit Reservation that sells lumber to guitar makers Taylor and Martin, among others. While most guitar tops, sound boards and braces are made from spruce, maple is often used for the back, in part because of its decorative figuring. Figures are not the same as a wood’s grain; they are the distinctive pattern trees have when cut perpendicular to the grain direction.

The mill’s owner, Steve McMinn, toured a parcel of timberland that the Upper Skagit Tribe owns near its casino off Bow Hill Road. Among several hundred trees, he found one that had the fiddleback, or flame, figures popular on guitar backs. When the parcel was harvested, he discovered another maple with a quilt pattern.

The trees sold for two to three times more than other maples sell to a regular sawmill. The lucrative sale is part of Upper Skagit timberland services manager Robert Schuyler’s plan to develop a sustainable forestry operation. (more…)

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Squaxin Island Tribe, partners, winning battle with invasive weeds

Brian McTeague, Natural Resources Quantitative Services Manager for the Squaxin Island Tribe, notes the location of knotweed along Skookum Creek.
Brian McTeague, Natural Resources Quantitative Services Manager for the Squaxin Island Tribe, notes the location of knotweed along Skookum Creek.

After three years of work, the Squaxin Island Tribe and the Mason Conservation District, have controlled the spread of salmon-killing knotweed in the Skookum Creek watershed. “This is a huge step forward,” said Andy Whitener, natural resource director for the tribe. “This shows that through consistent effort, monitoring and cooperation, we can tackle persistently troubling natural resources issues.”

Invasive plants like blackberries, knotweed and reed canary grass out-compete native plants that provide better habitat for fish and wildlife. “A stream might look healthy, surrounded by plenty of plants, and appearing undeveloped, but that doesn’t mean it’s providing good fish habitat,” said Sarah Zaniewski, habitat biologist for the tribe. “If the plants aren’t shading the creek or giving fish the nutrients they need, they’re providing little benefit to fish.”
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Read more about the article Upper Skagit Tribe harvests last full return of hatchery steelhead

Upper Skagit Tribe harvests last full return of hatchery steelhead

darryl schuyler steelheadIt’s the end of an era for Upper Skagit tribal fishermen as the last full return of hatchery steelhead arrives in the Skagit River this winter.

“Our ancestors gave up everything so that we could continue to fish in our traditional areas,” said Scott Schuyler, natural resources director for the Upper Skagit Tribe. “Without hatchery production, we can’t have a meaningful fishery.”

The last full steelhead fishery is especially bittersweet for Schuyler, whose 14-year-old daughter just received her first tribal fishing card. “Maybe she’ll be able to have one day of fishing a year,” he said. “That’s not a meaningful fishery.”

Steelhead are a culturally important species that the Upper Skagit Tribe harvests for commercial, ceremonial and subsistence purposes. Historically, steelhead were available during the long winter months when other species were not available to feed tribal families. (more…)

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