More education is a key to protecting Oakland Bay
SHELTON – People living along Oakland Bay don’t think they have anything to do with a significant increase in pollution in the bay, according to a survey by the Sa-Heh-Wa-mish…
Will it be safe to eat fish from the Duwamish?
The P-I’s series on the Duwamish River Superfund site looks at the impact of the pollution on area tribes, which consume above-average amounts of seafood:
Health authorities condone eating salmon out of the Duwamish River up to four times a month. But some tribal members are consuming far more — eating it daily, in some cases.
Another tribe wants to gather clams from the polluted river after it’s cleaned up — but is criticizing the federal government for telling big Duwamish polluters and landowners to count on artificially low consumption rates.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to justify those lower rates, cited a study of a third tribe that doesn’t even fish the Duwamish — and eats a lot less seafood.
Ohop Creek benefiting from landowner driven restoration
The Tacoma News Tribune features the Ohop restoration project: It’s back to nature for Ohop Creek near Eatonville, where what advocates call the state’s most ambitious salmon habitat recovery effort…
Rivers End Homes Removed To Help Restore Estuary
DUNGENESS (Dec. 27, 2004) – In the 1800s, the lower reach of the Dungeness River flowed through a 100-acre floodplain before emptying into Dungeness Bay. The river was connected to a large estuary that provided essential spawning and rearing habitat for salmon.
Nowadays, the floodplain is the site of several homes and agricultural land. Dikes – built in the 1960s – on both sides of the river restrict the river’s course, protecting development and eliminating critical salmon habitat. The west-bank dike, known as the Rivers End levee, is privately maintained and hasn’t always worked, causing flooding problems for property owners and the environment.
Restoration Projects Would Improve Salmon Habitat In Salt Creek
PORT ANGELES (December 7, 2004) – The Salt Creek Watershed has about 50 miles of fish habitat, but half of it is inaccessible to salmon and trout, according to a recently completed assessment of the area.
The study, developed by the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and the North Olympic Salmon Coalition, will be presented at a public meeting on Dec. 13 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Crescent Bay Lions Club. The two groups, along with the WRIA 19 Citizens Facilitation Group, have scheduled the public meeting to discuss the results of the assessment with local landowners and others interested in the watershed.
Status Of Things To Come
January 5, 2004
As we embark on the year 2004, it seems worthwhile to evaluate the status of the treaties that spell out the legal relationship that exists between tribal and non-tribal governments here. It’s been 150 years since the first Washington Territorial Governor, Isaac Stevens, set foot here. From some counts, it has been seven generations since he established treaties, acting on behalf of the United States.
The treaties were, in fact, a federal prerequisite to the creation of Washington. No treaties, no state. No treaties, no landowners. No houses, no industries, no highways, no anything. And, whether you’re aware of it or not, that legal relationship still exists.
Tribe, Coalition Working With Landowners To Survey Salt Creek Watershed
SALT CREEK (July 30, 2003) – In the late 1940s, low water levels in Salt Creek left juvenile coho salmon marooned along a stretch of the stream running through John McFall’s property. Using buckets and a wheelbarrow, McFall scooped up the small salmon and transferred them to a nearby tributary flowing with water.
“Three years later, I started seeing salmon return to the tributary where I placed those fish,” said McFall, whose family has owned and worked land in the Salt Creek watershed for about a century. “To this day, I can take you up there around Thanksgiving time and show you spawning salmon.”