Eatonville Dispatch: New Mashel River logjams to protect salmon and property
From the Dispatch: New logjams in the Mashel River Ð being built this summer by the Nisqually Indian Tribe Ð will provide habitat for fish and help protect property from…
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…
Lummi Nation Celebrates First Salmon
The Bellingham Herald covered the Lummi Nation’s First Salmon Ceremony:
About 600 Lummi Indian Tribe members and guests gathered Thursday, May 14, at Lummi Nation School to celebrate the arrival of the first salmon – a celebration marked by both hope and fear for the future of the fish that defines tribal identity.
“When I was a young boy, I heard my grandfather say, when he was eating a salmon, ‘This is good medicine,'” said Merle Jefferson, the tribe’s natural resources director.
The First Salmon Ceremony is a key cultural observance for the Lummi and other Coast Salish tribes. For generations, the tribes have conducted these ceremonies to honor the salmon and assure their return. (more…)
Despite low chinook run, co-managers boost escapement
NISQUALLY – Good harvest management by tribal and state salmon co-managers has led to more chinook reaching the spawning grounds on the Nisqually River this year despite fewer returning chinook.
“Overall fewer chinook returned Puget Sound-wide, but because we managed our fisheries the right way, we were able to reach our escapement goal,” said David Troutt, natural resources director for the Nisqually Tribe. Escapement is the number of salmon that are allowed to reach the spawning grounds.
Nisqually River chinook are part of a larger Puget Sound population of chinook that are listed as “threatened” under the federal Endangered Species Act. (more…)
Upper Skagit Tribe replaces hatchery roof
SEDRO-WOOLLEY (Dec. 1, 2008) – The Upper Skagit Indian Tribe built a new roof for its hatchery, to protect fish and children from the elements. The 20-year-old hatchery used to…
Nisqually Tribe, landowner team up to clean creek for coho
EATONVILLE (October 27, 2008) - The Nisqually Indian Tribe is helping a local landowner reclaim a stretch of Tanwax Creek for salmon. Tribal technicians, volunteers and school groups are clearing…
Coho return to Upper Skagit reservation
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.
The Olympian: Alarm sounds for young coho
The Olympian covers the results of the Squaxin's Tribes efforts to track young coho as they migrate out of deep southern Puget Sound: Juvenile coho salmon are disappearing at an…
Dungeness Elk fence proposal still on the books
The Peninsula Daily News has an update about the proposal to build a fence to keep Dungeness Elk in Sequim south of the city. Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe natural resources director…
Increased Salmon Populations Following Dam Removal
SHELTON (November 8, 2006) – Coho populations on Goldsborough Creek have increased significantly since a dam on the creek was removed in 2001, according to data collected by the Squaxin Island Tribe.
“This shows us that dam removal works in restoring salmon populations,” said Andy Whitener, natural resources director for the Squaxin Island Tribe. “If you give salmon habitat to spawn and rear in, they’re going to use it.”
In 2003 more than 60,000 juvenile coho, the first batch of coho that benefited from the increased habitat, migrated out to sea. “While that first out-migration is still the largest in the five years, the number of coho being produced has increased steadily,” said Joe Peters, fisheries biologist for the tribe.