Streams And Rivers

EPA grants $2 million to tribes for Puget Sound projects

NWIFC Chairman Billy Frank Jr. and Executive Director Mike Grayum discuss the Hansen Creek restoration project with Lauren Rich, environmental planner for the Upper Skagit TribeA number of news outlets reported on this week’s announcement of $2 million in EPA grants to tribes in support of the Puget Sound Partnership.

KING 5 News:

More than a century ago, Native American tribes watched settlers dam, dike and straighten the area’s streams and rivers.

Today the federal EPA gave those same tribes millions of dollars to undo some of those changes.

During a ceremony at a 140-acre site near the Upper Skagit Indian Reservation near Sedro-Woolley, the EPA handed over $2 million to 19 tribes to fund several restoration projects. The money will be used at that site to remove dikes and other obstacles from Hansen Creek, a major tributary of the Skagit River.

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What’s Causing The Droughts?

Anyone who has listened to the tribes at all over the years should not be surprised that we’re facing a severe drought this summer. We have been trying to tell people for years that this region is in the midst of a long-term drought. The water shortages and forest fires we’ll experience will just be the latest in a long run of drought related events.

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Legislators, Tribes, Environmental Organizations And Others: Opposing The Water Bills

OLYMPIA (May 5,2003)-A coalition of legislators, Indian tribes, environmental organizations and fishing groups objected this morning to the potential passage of water bills to be considered in the special legislative session slated for May 12.

In a press conference in Olympia, State Senator Karen Fraser (D-Olympia), Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission Chairman Billy Frank, Jr., Washington Environmental Council President Jay Manning and others said the bills serve the interests of big water users at the expense of the environment and everyone else in the state.

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