"I'm 78 right now and still in the courtroom all day, still talking about fixing the salmon problem," Frank said. "It never seems to get done, and we're running out of time." - Billy Frank Jr., Chairman, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission.
The Daily Herald of Everett reported on the $2 million in grants awarded to tribes by the EPA, describing how the Stillaguamish and Tulalip tribes plan to use the money:…
The Daily Herald of Everett reports on a future court date between the tribes and state to settle the Culvert Case
The Skagit Valley Herald:
For the first time in 50 years, the coho salmon have returned to the Upper Skagit Reservation.
To get them there, crews had to tear out a series of stacked culverts and remove 300 dump-truck loads of sediment that blocked the cohos’ path upstream.
The tribe and Skagit County also worked together to restore a lower section of Red Creek and one of its tributaries, channeling the water into two streams. This makes it easier for the 6- to 8-pound fish that had been forced to swim across a flooded field to reach the creek to spawn.
OLYMPIA (September 5, 2007) − Salmon and everyone who lives in the State of Washington are the biggest beneficiaries of the recent federal court ruling requiring the State of Washington…
Both the Seattle Times and PI ran editorials praising the culvert case decision from last week. From the Seattle Times: A federal judge articulated and reinforced a long-standing deal with…
The Seattle federal court decided in favor of treaty tribes in Western Washington in the so-called "Culvert Case." From the decision: The Court hereby declares that the right of taking…
CLALLAM BAY (December 1, 2004) – It’s not often that removing a road will provide better access, but for fish it does just that.
Salmon and trout in the Clallam River now have more access to spawning and rearing habitat after an old logging road along the river was partially removed and closed in August. The joint project between the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and the Washington Department of Natural Resources involved removing landfill, culverts and a bridge along the nearly 1-mile stretch of road near Clallam Bay.
RACEHORSE CREEK (Dec. 6, 2002) -- Thanks to a cooperative project between the Lummi Nation and the state Department of Natural Resources, coho salmon in a tributary of the Nooksack…
The State of Washington has a duty to the treaty Indian tribes who have always inhabited this region.
That Duty is to not allow salmon habitat to be degraded to the point that salmon are no longer available for harvest by the tribes, who gave up nearly all of the land in what is now western Washington under treaties with the United States government. Through those treaties, the tribes reserved certain rights that were the most important for them. Foremost was the right to continue fishing in all of their traditional fishing areas. The tribes reserved this right because the salmon was the very basis of their culture.