FORKS (October 3, 2008) – A joint effort of the Lower Elwha Klallam and Makah tribes, the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Rayonier Forest Resources L.P. has been successful in restoring an important part of the Hoko River as a thriving feeding and spawning ground for fish and other wildlife.
At the expense of the salmon recovery effort, recreational interests have delayed plans to restore crucial chinook habitat in Wiley Slough, in the South Fork of the Skagit River delta. Puget Sound chinook salmon are listed as “threatened” under the federal Endangered Species Act. Restoration work was set to begin last summer to return tidal flow to a 157-acre parcel of land around Wiley Slough. Project partners, including the Skagit River System Cooperative and state Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), identified the area as a priority for estuarine restoration in accordance with 2003 state legislation to restore public lands for salmon recovery before looking to private land. The parcel, also known as the Headquarters Unit of the Skagit Wildlife Area, was acquired by the state in 1962 through a land swap with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The estuary was converted for recreational use – and the salmon habitat destroyed – through dikes, drainage ditches, culverts and tide gates.
Following Monday’s listing of Puget Sound steelhead as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act, the Skagit Valley Herald (subscription required) reported the following:
Swinomish tribal officials said today that the tribe would likely cut back on its already limited take of steelhead.
“The listing of steelhead as threatened is one more indicator that now is the time to act to save our anadromous fish” said tribal Chairman Brian Cladoosby.
NISQUALLY (January 19, 2005) – A decade ago, only 400 chinook salmon spawned in the Nisqually River. This year more than 2,600 chinook returned. “Nisqually River chinook are making a comeback because of sacrifices by tribal fisherman and a dedication by the Nisqually Tribe and it’s neighbors to protect and restore salmon habitat,” said David Troutt, natural resources director for the Nisqually Tribe.
“Restoring and protecting habitat, along with restricting fisheries, are the reasons more chinook are returning to Nisqually River to spawn,” said Troutt. Nisqually River chinook are part of a larger Puget Sound population of chinook that were listed as “threatened” under the federal Endangered Species Act in 1999.
January 3, 2004
Habitat is the key to wild salmon recovery in western Washington.
That’s why the treaty tribes who have always called this region
home were surprised by the Bush Administration’s plan to reduce
by more than 80 percent the critical habitat needed to recover wild
salmon.
We know that harvest and hatcheries also are critical to recovering wild salmon stocks, of which three in western Washington have been listed as “threatened” under the federal Endangered Species
Act. Tribes have stepped up to the challenge by reducing their harvests up to 80 percent over the past two decades. Together with our co-managers, the State of Washington, we are in the fifth year of a hatchery reform project that is helping to recover wild salmon while supporting sustainable fisheries.
November 1, 2004
We need good, strong laws to protect salmon.
King, Pierce and other counties surrounding Puget Sound are strengthening habitat protection rules by updating their Critical Area Ordinances. These rules are required under the Growth Management Act. They protect water quality, prevent flood damage and make sure new development doesn’t harm salmon.
Making these rules stronger is a great idea. They will prevent trees from being cut down along salmon streams and keep oily water from running off our roads and into Puget Sound. They will protect what salmon need most, good habitat and cool clean water.
Tribe files 60-day notice of intent, but still hopes negotiations can ward off a suit
LACONNER (September 11, 2003) — Seeking to protect Skagit chinook salmon, the Swinomish Tribe today notified a Skagit County Diking District of their intent to file a lawsuit under the federal Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act. After years of attempting to find mutually acceptable solutions locally, the tribe is turning to the federal courts. “We have tried to work cooperatively with the farming community, the Governor, the county and the state, and in every instance they have turned us away,” said Brian Cladoosby, chairman of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community.
BLYN (Feb. 14, 2003) — In the mid-1990s, fisheries biologists throughout the Pacific Northwest turned their attention on a small hatchery in the lower Dungeness River, where a new approach to restoring a dwindling chinook population was in the works. If successful, it was thought the project could improve hatchery techniques, and most importantly bring back a salmon species from the brink of extinction.
In 2003, attention once again has turned to the Hurd Creek hatchery near Sequim. Not because of the facility’s success with recovering wild salmon, but because the hatchery itself is close to extinction. Gov. Gary Locke’s proposed budget for the next two years calls for three state Department of Fish and Wildlife hatcheries to be closed, including the Hurd Creek facility.
January 16, 2003
It’s just plain wrong.
In response to yet another suit from an animal rights group, a three-judge panel from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that requirements of the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act take precedence over the tribe’s treaty-reserved right to hunt whales. “We conclude that the MMPA must apply to the Tribe, just as it would apply to any other person,” the judges wrote.
The U.S. Constitution clearly states that treaties are “the supreme law of the land.” Even the Marine Mammal Protection Act itself addresses the question of tribal treaty rights: “nothing in this act…alters or is intended to alter any treaty between the U.S. and one or more Indian tribes.”
OLYMPIA (8/23/00)--Let's face it. The state of Washington has failed to protect the environment of our region from development and natural resource habitat destruction. Nowhere is this more evident than…