Suquamish Tribe

Read more about the article Suquamish Tribe’s Doe Kag Wats estuary: Keeping good wood, removing bad wood

Suquamish Tribe’s Doe Kag Wats estuary: Keeping good wood, removing bad wood

The Suquamish Tribe’s Doe Kag Wats estuary is the site of a large woody debris removal experiment this summer.

”Our hypothesis is that by removing the excess amount of the milled and treated logs that have washed into the estuary, the native marsh vegetation will be restored, as well as insect species, many of which are important to both healthy and recovering salmon populations,” said Tom Ostrom, the tribe’s salmon recovery coordinator and project manager.

The project is two-fold: First, the tribe and the state Department of Natural Resources removed the remaining creosote pilings from the estuary. These toxic pilings have been pushed into the estuary by storms and tides for decades. (more…)

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Suquamish Seafoods builds new office, processing facility

The Suquamish Tribe has constructed a new seafood plant to increase the variety of products offered to consumers.

“With the new plant, we have the ability to deliver fresh clams, crab and salmon to our commercial customers,” said Suquamish Seafoods general manager Tony Forsman. “We also plan to develop our product lines further, making them available directly to the consumer.”

The new 16,000-square-foot building includes a flash freezer with a holding capacity up to 28,000 lbs. of Dungeness crab. (more…)

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Suquamish Tribe Reaches Out to Tideland Owners

As a way to better connect with waterfront landowners, the Suquamish Tribe has been hosting a successful shellfish social hour the past two years.

At a restaurant in Silverdale each winter, the tribe invites property owners on Dyes Inlet to talk with tribal staff about its work, including tribal shellfish harvesting and its tidelands leasing program.

“Overall, it’s an opportunity to strengthen the tribe’s relationship with landowners and discuss the importance of clean water, the shoreline environment, and the mutual benefit gained by our shellfish tidelands leasing program,” said Viviane Barry, the tribe’s shellfish program manager. (more…)

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Coho Salmon Eggs Put to the Stormwater Test

WSU toxicologist Jen McIntyre checks the condition of an embryo that was exposed to urban stormwater runoff. More pictures from the study can be found by clicking on the photo.
WSU toxicologist Jen McIntyre checks the condition of an embryo that was exposed to urban stormwater runoff. More pictures from the study can be found by clicking on the photo.

Peering through a microscope at the Suquamish Tribe’s Grovers Creek Hatchery, biologist Tiffany Linbo uses two pairs of tweezers to gently peel the protective layer off an 18-day-old fertilized coho salmon egg.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) biologist needs to do it without piercing the yolk sac so Washington State University (WSU) toxicologist Jen McIntyre can take a closer look at the embryo’s health and development, such as heartbeat, blood flow and eye size.

Linbo and McIntyre are looking at eggs that have been exposed to urban stormwater runoff collected from roadways in Seattle; they want to know if the embryos show signs of developmental toxicity. (more…)

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Suquamish Tribe, agencies restore eelgrass beds on Bainbridge Island

Work will begin this week on the final phase of a major eelgrass restoration project located just outside Eagle Harbor on Bainbridge Island.

The project is at the site of the former Milwaukee Dock, near Pritchard Park. The dock, removed in the early 1990s, historically served the Wyckoff creosote plant; the area is now a Superfund cleanup site.

The dock was constructed in a dense subtidal meadow of eelgrass, which was further impacted by navigation channels that left two large depressions too deep for eelgrass to grow and flourish. (more…)

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Tribal leaders, Congressional representatives and Secretary of Interior Jewell discuss tribal issues

Suquamish Tribe Chairman Leonard Forsman and Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, following a morning of discussions about tribal issues and climate change.
Suquamish Tribe Chairman Leonard Forsman and Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, following a morning of discussions about tribal issues and climate change.

6th Congressional District Representative Derek Kilmer hosted a tribal leaders summit at the Suquamish Tribe’s House of Awakened Culture on April 24. Tribal leaders participated in panel discussions about self governance, tribal sovereignty, economics and natural resources. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell was the keynote speaker, who then joined Suquamish Chairman Leonard Forsman on a tour of the Port Madison Indian Reservation. Photos of the day’s event can be found here.

From the Tacoma News Tribune:

Representatives of nine Washington Indian tribes told Interior Secretary Sally Jewell on Thursday that consequences of climate change are threatening their economies and cultures and that they need federal help to deal with intensifying climate-related problems.

The tribes, with low-lying reservations on Washington’s ocean coast and along Puget Sound, said rising sea levels caused by global warming, ocean acidification and more severe weather patterns are endangering the natural resources on which their cultures are based. (more…)

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