J.S. Barber, T. Mitchell, J. Gibson, T. Hoyopatubbi, T. Gobert, A. Ferderer. 2012. Clam population variability within a Puget Sound bivalve management region. Swinomish Indian Tribal Community Technical Report #SWIN-TR-2012-01. 32 pp.

Abstract

Puget Sound beaches support extensive recreational and commercial shellfisheries that are of significant economic, cultural, and ecological value. In order to best co-manage bivalve resources, state and tribal managers divide public tidelands into eight distinct bivalve management regions. We used data gathered during our annual bivalve surveys to examine how clam populations vary within one of these regions. Specifically, we were interested in quantifying the following: temporal change in clam biomass at a single beach, differences in weight frequency distributions of clam species among multiple beaches, and variation in clam biomass among beaches within a management region. We also collected temperature data at one of the surveyed beaches and developed length-weight models within Bivalve Management Region 4, which was one of the few management regions lacking length-weight models for hardshell clam species. The Region 4 length-weight model was sufficient at predicting weights for various clam species at all of the individual beaches except one, where the beach-specific model for Clinocardium nuttallii was significantly different from the Region 4 model. Butter clam (Saxidomus gigantea) biomass decreased significantly from 2007 to 2011 at one beach within our management region. Individual beaches within this region had significantly different weight distributions when compared to one another for all considered clam species. We also found that biomass per m² quadrat varied significantly by species and beach within the management region. Ultimately, our goal is to combine these data with information on harvesting and environmental factors (e.g. current regime, temperature, larval supply, competition) to determine what drives clam variability within a management region.

Annette Bryan, director of the Puyallup Tribal Housing Authority, and Ted Franzen, a resident at “The Place of Hidden” waters chat outside the new environmentally friendly building.

“It was important that the building be culturally relevant to the tribe,” said Annette Bryan, executive director for the housing authority. “Another important part of the tribe’s culture is reliance on natural resources, which this project goes a long way toward protecting.”

“The energy efficient design of the building literally includes hidden waters,” Bryan said. The building’s temperature control system uses the moderate soil temperatures to cool the building in the summer and warm it in the winter.

The longhouse project also used recycled and local sustainable construction material. Rainwater from paved areas of the development are filtered through a rain garden, instead of into a traditional stormwater drainage system.

“We kept in mind the existing trees and natural habitat of the site before we started construction,” Bryan said. The building is built toward the eastern edge of a parcel, leaving the western side wooded. The preserved area connects to a 60-acre area that is being restored by the Nature Conservancy and the Port of Tacoma. The housing authority was also able to preserve several mature maple trees on the property.

The Puyallup Tribal Housing Authority provides housing opportunities to enrolled members of Indian tribes. Their mission includes building new affordable housing and revitalizing older housing developments.

The Place of Hidden Waters was preceded six years ago by another green tribal project called the Elder Healthy Home. The 1,300 square foot single family home was a demonstration project that included passive radiant solar heat, native plants and pervious pavements. It was also was constructed with local and certified sustainable wood.

Many of the environmental issues faced by the tribe stem from impacts of poorly thought-out development. For example, the acres of impervious surface in the Puyallup River watershed increased from 47,000 acres in 1986 to over 70,000 acres in 2006. “Because it is an important mission for the tribe, we’re trying to do things here in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way,” Bryan said.

The tribe purchased the 15-acre property, located near the tribe’s reservation, in July 2012 mainly to preserve it for the community, said Noel Higa, the tribe’s economic development director.

“I think there was a real sense that a treasure could be lost if the tribe didn’t do what it could to rescue it,” he said. “Tribal council has been incredibly supportive of the garden restoration effort.”

Acting head gardener Celia Pedersen cleans vines from an arbor. Click on the photo for more of Heronswood.

Heronswood was established in the late 1980s by local horticulturist Dan Hinkley and gained global recognition as a nursery of rare plants collected from around the world. It was purchased by corporate nursery retailer Burpee in 2000 but then shut down by the company in 2006. The property was put to auction in July 2012 and was purchased by the tribe.

The tribe’s goal is to restore the gardens back to their historic internationally-acclaimed level but also to reflect tribal ownership, culture and traditions, said Laurie Mattson, executive director of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Foundation, the non-profit arm of the tribe that is overseeing Heronswood.

“We want to see the tribe get more involved in the development of the gardens too,” said Nancy Heckler, Heronswood general manager. “After all, it’s their garden now.”

There has been discussion about developing traditional and medicinal plant gardens as well as opening the grounds to private events. The tribe has already hosted one event – same-sex marriage ceremonies in February – and will host its first garden open and plant sale on May 18.

The conditions of the gardens are currently being assessed by the tribe and professional gardeners. Volunteers, including tribal citizens and former employees of Heronswood, are weeding, mulching and fixing up 6 acres of garden beds that are filled with native and non-native plants.

“The gardens are in restoration mode, including weeding, cutting back plants that have taken over, determining what plants currently exist and if they are properly associated with the garden’s naming system,” Heckler said. “Heronswood was known for its international collection and everything was catalogued. It’d be a shame to see it go to waste. Plus, there’s enough land to do all sorts of things.”

Mike McHenry, a fisheries habitat biologist with the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, strides across a newly revealed mudflat above the lower dam. It’s a place very few people have seen because it’s been underwater for 100 years. McHenry is about eight miles from the mouth of the Elwha. Not too long ago, this was a 250-acre reservoir known as Lake Aldwell. Now it’s a lifeless-looking mudflat with the Elwha flowing through it in braided, chocolatey channels. But McHenry says nature’s already bouncing back.

“There’s life here,” he says, bending down to brush the green leaves of a tiny thimbleberry shrub that’s fighting its way out of the sandy soil. “You can already see the early plant succession happening. We’ve seen pools that have amphibians in them already. A lot of insect activity. It’s not a moonscape it’s an early successional landscape and it’s just gonna get better.”

Other than the dead fish, nothing appeared out of the ordinary. Because there was no obvious cause of the fish deaths, Wildlife called in Ecology, which arrived about an hour later.

But Ecology workers saw no sheen on the water that might indicate a chemical spill and didn’t note any chemical smell. And though many suspected agricultural overspray, they were unlikely to identify a responsible party.

Ecology spokesman Larry Altose said workers took fish and water samples, but by that time the water already had drained from the slough into Skagit Bay. Without a responsible party, Ecology would not test the samples, he said.

“Samples are used if you have a potential responsible party, and you’re able to confirm that because you can bill the cost to the responsible party,” he said.

Altose said there have been no fish kills reported in that area in the week since then. He said it could be “an isolated fish kill incident that could be related to anything.”

“It’s possible the fish kill will be unsolved,” Altose said. “It won’t be the first time, and it won’t be the only time that this happens.”

In departmental emails on April 26, Ecology workers seemed dismissive of the fish kill.

“The WDFW people there don’t seem to have much interest so I’m not sure why we should,” wrote Dale Davis with Ecology’s spills program.

Brian Williams, a habitat biologist out of Wildlife’s La Conner office, said, “We are in fact very interested and concerned. … However, without a clearer understanding of what triggered the fish kill, it is premature to engage enforcement staff.”

But Ecology said nothing could be done unless a cause was obvious.

“Ecology is the correct contact for a water contamination issue, but like you, we are not able to do much without a (responsible party),” Davis wrote.

Davis was clear: If there’s no responsible party, Ecology will not test the samples.

“So fill me in on why we would ever call you again if you can’t be bothered to establish a cause,” wrote La Conner District biologist Brett Barkdull. “We would have called enforcement if we had cause, we can’t arrest someone without cause. You basically wasted our time.”

Altose said that testing is only done if Ecology knows the culprit.

“Testing is usually done as a confirmational exercise, but not for the purpose of fishing (for a cause),” Altose said in a phone conversation. “There could be any number of things that could be out there.”

Ecology’s budget also plays a role, he said.

“We have to make judgment calls in what we can attend to and cannot attend to,” Altose said.

Estuaries like Browns Slough are critical salmon-rearing habitat, said Eric Beamer, director of research for the Skagit River System Cooperative. The Cooperative has studied that exact spot on Browns Slough for the past 18 years.

Every two weeks or so, a crew from the Cooperative traps the fish in a fine-mesh net. As the tide recedes and flows out of the nearby tide gate, the fish are harmlessly captured, counted and released.

On Thursday, April 25 — the day before the fish kill — the Cooperative noted 416 Chinook fingerlings in its trap. Beamer called it a “good, solid catch” during a peak time of year.

There also were several hundred chum salmon, a handful of coho smolts and several other species. The group also monitors dissolved oxygen, food sources and water temperature — all of which were fine that day.

“Places like Browns Slough are full of these chinook salmon,” Beamer said. “The Skagit has millions of juvenile chinook coming down, passing Mount Vernon and colonizing the estuaries.”

The estuaries, like Browns Slough, are critical for the salmonids’ survival. In the weeks and months they are present, Beamer said they can double their length and increase weight tenfold.

“It’s a critical part of what they need to survive in the ocean,” Beamer said.

Anyone who witnesses a fish kill, pollution discharge or knows the cause of the die-off in Browns Slough in April should call the state Department of Emergency Management: 1-800-258-5990.

Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe seeks fisheries professional to apply sound biological principles to manage, monitor, evaluate and report on shellfish activities. Perform interagency liaison work, field operations, vessel care and technical support for enhancement & aquaculture projects.

The state of Washington must fix fish-blocking culverts under state-owned roads because they violate tribal treaty-reserved fishing rights, federal Judge Ricardo Martinez ruled in late March. The court found that more than 1,500 state culverts deny salmon access to hundreds of miles of good habitat in western Washington, harming salmon at every stage in their life cycle.

We didn’t want to file this litigation, but the salmon can’t wait. At the pace that the state has been repairing its blocking culverts, there would be few, if any, salmon left by the time all were fixed. Martinez’s ruling will result in hundreds of thousands more salmon returning to Washington waters each year. These salmon will be available for harvest by everyone who lives here, not just the tribes.

We could have avoided the suit if the state followed its own laws. One of Washington’s first laws on the books requires fish passage at any blockage in creeks and rivers.

Instead, the state chose to largely ignore the problem along with the tribes’ treaty rights, which depend on salmon being available for harvest. And once again, our treaty rights were upheld by the federal courts, just as they have been consistently since the 1974 Boldt decision that re-affirmed those rights and established the tribes as co-managers of the salmon resource.

This isn’t something new to the tribes. The state’s approach has long been to ignore treaty rights even if that means ignoring the best interests of all of its citizens.

State agencies told the Legislature in 1995 that fixing culverts was one of the most cost-effective strategies for restoring salmon habitat and increasing natural salmon production. The cost to benefit ratio goes up as the number of culverts repaired per year increases, they said. Two years later, state agencies said every dollar spent fixing culverts would generate four dollars’ worth of additional salmon production. Recent studies support that estimate.

Still, Judge Martinez had to issue a permanent injunction against the state’s continued operation of fish-blocking culverts under state roads. The reason is that the state has actually reduced culvert repair efforts in the past three years, which has led to a net increase in the number of barrier culverts. At the current pace, the state would never complete repairs, Martinez said, because more culverts were becoming barriers to salmon than were being fixed.

The federal court’s ruling will not bankrupt the state. Judge Martinez gave the state and its Department of Transportation (DOT) 17 years to complete repairs. Other state agencies were already planning to have their blocking culverts corrected within the next three years.

Culvert repair cost estimates being provided by the state are higher than the actual repair costs presented in court, Martinez ruled. The state claims that the average cost to replace a state DOT culvert is $2.3 million. But the evidence showed the actual cost of DOT culverts built to the best fish passage standards has been about $658,000.

It’s important to note that repairs will be funded through the state’s separate transportation budget and will not come at the expense of education or other social services. It’s also important to understand that state law already requires that culverts allow fish passage. The culvert case ruling directs the state to do nothing more than what is already required, except to correct DOT fish-blocking culverts at a faster rate.

The treaty Indian tribes bring much to the salmon management table. Salmon populations in western Washington would be in far worse shape without the salmon recovery efforts, fisheries management expertise, leadership, hatcheries, funding, and traditional knowledge the tribes provide. More habitat would be lost, fewer salmon would be available for harvest, and there would be far less funding for salmon recovery.

We prefer to cooperate rather than litigate to achieve salmon recovery. But if our treaty rights can be used to re-open these streams and enhance wild salmon populations, that’s a win-win for all of us.

(END)

Billy Frank Jr. is the chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. 

For more information, contact: Tony Meyer or Emmett O’Connell, (360) 438-1181.

The 600-foot-long road and the two 6-foot-wide culverts restrict tidal flow to a 37-acre estuary within the harbor adjacent to Sequim Bay, blocking fish access and harming salmon habitat.

The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe seined Washington Harbor to develop a baseline of fish populations in the harbor. The harbor’s roadway and two culverts will be replaced by a bridge later this summer. More photos can be found at NWIFC’s Flickr page by clicking on the photo.

The tribe seined the harbor in April to take stock of current fish populations before construction begins this summer. Chum and chinook and pink salmon, as well as coastal cutthroat, all use the estuary. Young salmon come from a number of streams, including nearby Jimmycomelately Creek at the head of Sequim Bay.

Historically, the area had quality tidal marsh and eelgrass habitat until the roadway and culverts were installed about 50 years ago, said Randy Johnson, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe habitat program manager.

“The roadway and culverts appear to have severely degraded this habitat, with evidence showing that the estuary marsh has been deprived of sediment and is eroding,” he said. “The structures restrict access for fish and for high quality habitat to develop.”

Swinomish biologist Julie Barber and technician Courtney Greiner survey juvenile manila clams on Lone Tree Point.

The Swinomish Tribe is developing a subsistence manila clam fishery on Lone Tree Point.

“We’re using habitat we already have to increase opportunities for our tribal members to gather shellfish,” said Lorraine Loomis, fisheries manager for the tribe. “Shellfish always have been part of our traditional diet and culture.”

In 2011, shellfish biologist Julie Barber seeded five test plots totaling 1,000 square feet with good survival results. Last summer, tribal members and staff seeded an entire acre of varied beach habitat north of the lone tree that gives the beach its name.

“This beach includes areas of desirable habitat such as sand and gravel, as well as areas of mud and fine silt, which is poor manila clam habitat,” said shellfish biologist Julie Barber. “Because the tribe will not be enhancing the poor substrate with gravel, as many commercial growers do, we avoided seeding these areas. Since the 2012 seeding, we have been monitoring survival and growth throughout the seeded area to determine how survival differs along the beach by location and elevation.”

Manila clams are a staple of many tribal shellfish programs because they survive at higher elevations in the intertidal zone than native littleneck clams, and are found in a shallower depth, so they are easier to dig. They reach a harvestable size two or three years after planting.

So far, survival seems to be better on the southern part of the beach, so the tribe plans to concentrate its efforts there. Some of the clams from the 2011 test plots could be harvested as soon as next summer.

For more information, contact: Julie Barber, shellfish biologist, Swinomish Tribe, 360-466-7315 or jbarber@skagitcoop.org; Kari Neumeyer, information officer, NWIFC, 360-424-8226 or kneumeyer@nwifc.org.

Gobin was born May 29, 1941 in Tulalip, Wash. He is survived by his wife, Inez Bill-Gobin; two sisters, Anna Mae Hatch (Verle, deceased) and Isabelle Legg (James, deceased); a brother, Earl “Moxie” Renecker (Bernice, deceased); and three sons, Rick, Brian, and Bill Coriz, all of Sante Fe, N.M. He is preceded in death by his parents, Henry and Isabelle Gobin; and siblings, Shirley, Emery, Daryl, Frank and John.

Gobin attended the Santa Fe Indian Boarding School where he received both his high school diploma and certificate in Ceramics and Painting at the Institute of American Indian Arts in 1965. From 1965-1970, he attended the San Francisco Art Institute, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts. He then went on to complete his master’s degree at Sacramento State College in 1971.

Gobin returned to Tulalip in 1989, in his words, “Like a migrating salmon returning home.” He served as the tribes’ cultural resource manager for 24 years, and developed Tulalip’s language program. Gobin worked with the community in setting the foundations of the cultural teachings, protocols, and values surrounding the tribal family canoe journey. He also worked closely with tribal, federal, state and local governments and agencies on issues of cultural and environmental interest and established standards that met the needs and concerns of the Tulalip Tribes.

Throughout his career, Gobin dedicated much of his work toward building a tribal museum. He advised, initiated and designed what became the Hibulb Cultural Center and Natural History Preserve.

“Our community mourns the loss of a truly great man,” said Tulalip Chairman Mel Sheldon. “He was a prolific artist, activist and traditional scholar, who worked in the areas of art, education, language revitalization, museum studies and traditional foods research. With the Hibulb Cultural Center and Natural History Preserve, Hank leaves the Tulalip Tribes with a precious gift, for it was Hank’s vision, dedication and commitment that made the long-held dream of our elders a reality. Hank was a brilliant, talented, generous and kind man who dedicated his life to protecting and preserving our Tulalip culture. He will not be forgotten.”

Read the full obituary at the state Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation.

Memories may be left on the Legacy.com guest book.

Fran James was born May 20, 1924 on Portage Island. She is survived by her son, Lummi Nation Hereditary Chief Bill James, Tsi li xw; sisters Ernestine Gensaw, Rena Ballew and Beverly (Jack) Cagey; brother Glen Lane, and numerous nieces and nephews.

She is culturally survived by many sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

James shared her life and knowledge with everyone, and taught all that wanted to learn. A few of her favorite sayings were “Weaving together the fabric of our lives,” and “Just make it.”

The community is gathering each evening at the the Wexliem Community Building. Open casket visitation will be Wednesday, May 1, 3-6 p.m. at Moles Farewell Tributes Ferndale Event Center with a prayer service following. A funeral mass will be Thursday, May 2 at 10 a.m. at St. Joachim Catholic Church at Lummi Nation with burial to follow in Lummi Nation Cemetery.

More information about the service is on the Moles website, where tributes also may be left.

Under immediate to general supervision, responsible for performing technical and skilled work and operates and maintains a variety of research equipment in the completion of data collection and research for the Swinomish Water Resources Program’s Kukutali Preserve habitat research and conservation management project. Employee in this classification is responsible, in coordination with the Water Resources staff, for implementing fieldwork and research, collecting data, completing data entry and data summaries. This is a full-time, benefited, and term-limited (9 months with possible extension to 12 months.) position based in the Swinomish Office of Planning and Community Development, and is supervised by the Water Resources Manager.

The fish consumption rate is part of a human health criteria used by state government to determine how much pollution is allowed to be put in our waters. The rate is supposed to protect Washington residents from more than 100 toxins that can cause illness or death.

“We don’t need more debate. We have the science and we have had all of the discussions,” said Billy Frank Jr., chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. “Time is running out and we must move forward. We need the governor to work with us to make this happen,” he said.

“This is a public health issue for everyone who lives here,” said Brian Cladoosby, chair of the Swinomish Tribe. “We have worked hard with the state for the past eight years to revise our state’s fish consumption rate and water quality standards. We did not expect this issue to be kicked down the road, but that’s what happened. Now the debate is over and we need to move toward implementing a new rate, but we need a firm commitment from Gov. Inslee that he will help make that happen.”

Tribal, state and federal leaders agree that current rate is not accurate and that actual fish consumption is much higher. Tribes suggest a rate of at least 175 grams per day – the same standard recently adopted by Oregon – as a starting point for discussions.

The state’s current fish consumption rate of 6.5 grams per day – about one 8-ounce seafood meal per month – is one of the lowest in the nation, despite the fact that Washington has one of the highest populations of seafood consumers. That rate has been in place for more than 20 years and is not protective of most residents, especially tribal members and others who consume large amounts of seafood. Furthermore, tribal treaty rights depend on fish and shellfish being safe to eat.

The tribes and state Department of Ecology had been working to increase the rate when the effort was stalled last summer by business interests who complained to state government that a rate change would be too costly for them to implement. Since then tribes have been working with Ecology and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to get the process back on track.

“This is not a choice between a healthy environment and a healthy economy. Both of those things can go hand in hand,” said Russ Hepfer, vice chair of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe.

Lummi Bay Hatchery Releases Yearling Coho Salmon from NW Indian Fisheries Commission on Vimeo.

Eddy Villegas, a member of the Nisqually Tribe’s planting crew, unloads burlap sacks after a trip across the river.

The Nisqually Indian Tribe is taking a creative approach to help a new streamside forest thrive.

“We’re using thousands of donated burlap sacks and transporting them across the Nisqually River by boat to make sure thousands of newly planted trees don’t get overrun by grass,” said David Troutt, natural resources director for the tribe. The tribe’s restoration planting crew recently reforested 15-acres of off channel habitat owned by the Nisqually Land Trust.

“Usually, we’d drive in with weed whackers and selectively use some herbicide to make sure the grass doesn’t take back over,” Troutt said. “But, this parcel is wet and remote, which means we had to take extreme measures.”

Much of the Land Trust property on the mainstem Nisqually is covered with water, so the tribe decided against traditional herbicide, because it might have spread downriver. Placing burlap sacks around the young trees prevents grass from crowding them out. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters in Sumner donated five pallets of used burlap sacks for the project.

After the initial work, the crew will return by boat every few weeks with weed whackers to take care of the plants they couldn’t put burlap around because they were too close to water. “We’ll have to maintain some plantings by hand because we’d probably see burlap sacks floating down the river if we tried to keep the grass down that way,” Troutt said.

The tribe employs a handful of tribal members on a planting crew that conducts and maintains salmon restoration planting projects across the watershed. Almost every habitat restoration project in the watershed has some element of planting and plant care. In just more than five years the crew has planted over 200,000 trees and shrubs.

Off-channel habitat is vital to the survival of young salmon, especially chinook, coho and steelhead. Those species can spend take more than a year before leaving for the ocean, so the quality of freshwater habitat is especially important. Both Nisqually chinook and steelhead are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.

“Off channel areas give salmon a place to rest and feed during the winter when the mainstem of the river might be flooding, making it inhospitable for them,” Troutt said. “Hopefully, by restoring and protecting this spot on the river, we’ll see larger salmon runs for everyone in the future.”

(END)

For more information, contact: David Troutt, natural resources director, Nisqually Indian Tribe, (360) 438-8687. Emmett O’Connell, information officer, NWIFC, (360) 528-4304, eoconnell@nwifc.org

“A few years ago, we released 70,000 fry and 164 came back last year, which is a good return for us,” said Bill Hagen, the volunteer coordinator for the community group.

Suquamish natural resources technician Ben Purser takes a dip net of chum salmon fry from the tribe’s Grovers Creek hatchery near Indianola. The fry were transferred to Carkeek Park’s Piper Creek in Seattle. More photos of the transfer can be found on NWIFC’s Flickr page. 

“We appreciate volunteers all over Puget Sound who are excited about the salmon life cycle and teaching others about it,” said Jay Zischke, the tribe’s marine fish program manager. “These types of programs are key to helping stress the importance of clean water, for both fish and people.”

The fish were donated in March and kept in a large swimming pool at the end of a trail on Piper’s Creek until released in April. Volunteers, from retirees to entire families, feed the fish three times a day until they are released.

The creek and trail are popular with school groups learning environmental science and the salmon-watching public, especially in the fall.

About 700 people came up this trail last year, Hagen said, so it gets a lot of traffic and is a good place for both kids and adults to learn about salmon.

“This is enjoyable for everyone who comes up here and if it weren’t for the tribe, we wouldn’t have it,” Hagen said.

“This MOA will solidify an enduring relationship for decades to come,” said Rear Adm. Keith A. Taylor, commander of the 13th Coast Guard District. “The agreement establishes consensus guidelines of environmental stewardship necessary to succeed over the long-term. Additionally, the MOA will serve as a model for cooperation between Coast Guard leaders and other sovereign tribal authorities.”

Additionally, the Makah Tribe  bestowed a name and dedicated artwork for the primary conference room of the Thirteenth Coast Guard district. For more details about the MOA, see the full United States Coast Guard press release.

Billy Frank Jr., chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, earlier praised the nomination of Jewell:

Frank praised Jewell’s knowledge of tribes and tribal issues, and respect for tribal sovereignty and treaty rights. “We are facing big challenges such as achieving salmon recovery, protecting water quality and adapting to climate change,” Frank said. “Our cultures, economies and treaty rights depend on a healthy environment and healthy natural resources.”

The Quinault Indian Nation proposes to research how low oxygen events may be affecting Dungeness crab populations in their traditional fishing waters. Dungeness crab is important culturally and economically to most western Washington treaty Indian tribes.

That’s the question Quinault Indian Nation (QIN) wants to help answer using special equipment to measure the extent and depth of low oxygen events.

QIN has requested a grant to pay for instruments that would measure dissolved oxygen from inside crab pots. “It’s a great way to get them distributed as part of a fisherman’s normal crab pot routine and they can retrieve them once a month for us so we can download the information,” said Joe Schumacker, marine scientist for QIN.

“Right now, all we know is that dead fish and crab have washed up on our shores in varying degrees in the summer for the past few years” Schumacker said. “We have no idea how far the low oxygen zones extend or how long they last. We see a result and we need to define the problem.” There is also no oral history among Quinault people for consecutive seasons of this sort of die-off.

Dungeness crab is a delicacy served in many fine restaurants and a signature Washington state seafood. Not only has it been important to tribes culturally for millennia, it forms the mainstay of the fishing season for many tribal members on the coast and in Puget Sound.

“Crab has always been a cultural resource for us,” said Ed Johnstone, QIN fisheries and ocean policy representative. “Ever since we have been on these shores, the abundant crab and razor clams sustained us along with the greens of the sea.”

QIN has only one measurement of the oxygen problem from a fish kill in 2006 when a QIN fishermen was pulling his cab pots in a line running north and south. “As he headed north toward Taholah, he was getting live crab in his pots until he crossed the Moclips River. Then it was pot after pot of dead crabs until just past the Quinault River. That’s about eight miles,” said Schumacker. One of the things QIN would like to know is if oxygen-poor water is settling over young crabs who take refuge in nearshore areas. “Maybe we’re losing whole age classes sometimes. We just don’t know,” said Schumacker.

 The instruments QIN would use cost $8,500 each including annual maintenance that includes calibration. Six devices would allow QIN to minimally cover the nearshore part of their traditional fishing area. The Nation would also test less expensive dissolved oxygen meters that have traditionally been used in freshwater streams, but would need field testing side-by-side with the more expensive meters to evaluate performance in saltwater and ocean depths.

Low oxygen water naturally upwells from deep in the ocean and gets oxygenated at the surface. “Somehow this mixing isn’t occurring during some summers,” Schumacker said. “These events tend to happen when the winds and the ocean go calm.

 “There is a lot of research interest in the low oxygen events along the Pacific Coast, but this affects treaty-protected resources and we need a great deal more information for our area to understand the extent of the problem and how we can adaptively manage around it,” Schumacker said.

–End–

For more information, contact: Joe Schumacker, marine scientist, Quinault Indian Nation – (360) 276-8211; Debbie Preston, coastal information officer, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission – (360) 374-5501, ext. 22, dpreston@nwifc.org

Puget Sound-area Indian tribes in 2001 took the state to court over culverts and their effect on salmon runs. In 2007, Martinez ordered the state and tribes to agree on a schedule to replace culverts, but they were unable to do so.

In his latest ruling, March 29, Martinez gave the state 17 years — until 2030 — to replace its culverts.

Tulalip tribal Chairman Mel Sheldon Jr., in a written statement, applauded the judge’s decision.

“We hope for the day it will be a commonly held notion that to protect our salmon resource does not negate economic opportunity and growth; it is our challenge, together, to find creative and innovative ways to have both,” he said.

The state has replaced or removed 22 culverts in Western Washington since 2010, said Lars Erickson, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation. Changing out a culvert usually involves rebuilding it to make it much wider to allow the water to flow as it might with no culvert. In some cases, the culvert is simply removed and the stream reopened to daylight.

…

Adopt A Stream’s 2005 survey studied culverts in streams flowing to Lake Washington from Snohomish County, as well as Quilceda and Allen Creeks between Marysville and Arlington.

Of 678 culverts in those watersheds, 391 were barriers to fish migration, Murdoch said — about 58 percent.

Of those, 191 were on private property, 99 were owned by Snohomish County and 45 were owned by King County, he said. Of the remaining 56, the state owned 17 and Marysville, Lake Forest Park and the Tulalip Tribes owned the rest.

“The Tulalip Tribes were amazing and removed the barriers on their property as soon as they were made aware that the problems existed,” according to Murdoch.

The Get Whatcom Planning blog also reported on the culvert ruling:

In a nutshell, the court found that the depletion of salmon stocks has harmed Washington’s tribes, including the Lummi Indian Nation and the Nooksack Tribe, both of which are parties to the case.  It also found that salmon habitat has been degraded by blocked culverts, and requires the state to fix barrier culverts under transportation projects.

The case is based on language in the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott, in which the Tribes were promised that “[t]he right of taking fish at all usual and accustomed grounds and stations, is further secured to said Indians, in common with all citizens of the Territory.”  As the decision notes, “Governor Stevens assured the Tribes that even after they ceded huge quantities of land, they would still be able to feed themselves and their families forever.”  (U.S. v. State of Washington at 2 of 35.)

Ed Johnstone, Quinault Indian Nation tribal member and policy spokesperson, addresses those attending the First Stewards climate change symposium.

Ed Johnstone, Quinault Indian Nation fisheries and ocean policy spokesperson, was recognized at a White House ceremony as part of the Champions for Change program April 11. Johnstone was lauded along with 11 other citizens, businesses and community leaders who are Champions of Change working to prepare their communities for the consequences of climate change.

Johnstone was honored as a voice for alerting the world to climate change impacts on the ecosystems and fisheries that support QIN culture and economy. He was one of the co-leaders of the inaugural First Stewards climate change symposium held at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian last year.

The Champions of Change program was created as a part of President Obama’s Winning the Future initiative. Each week, the White House features a group of Americans  – individuals, businesses and organizations – who are doing extraordinary things to empower and inspire members of their communities. The full list of honorees and their biographies will be here in the coming days.

Fix it, pay for it, get it done. A federal judge is virtually that blunt in telling the state of Washington to repair culverts that block passage to salmon habitat.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez reminded the state it has a narrow and specific treaty-based duty to ensure Northwest tribes access to healthy fish runs.

…

“The Tribes and their individual members have been harmed economically, socially, educationally and culturally by the greatly reduced salmon harvests that have resulted from state-created or state-maintained fish-passage barriers,” Martinez wrote in his ruling.

The judge put the state departments of fish and wildlife and parks, which have done some work, on a path to fix culverts by 2016.

The state Department of Transportation has a 17-year timeline for an extensive to-do list.

Martinez said the state has the capacity to accelerate work because of expected growth in transportation revenues in years ahead. Separate budgeting for transportation and the general fund, the ruling notes, prevents harm to education and social programs.

The Kitsap Sun, “Ruling gives state 17 years to fix culverts that block salmon“:

The ruling, issued Friday by U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez of Seattle, is expected to accelerate the replacement of about 1,000 culverts managed by the Washington Department of Transportation and other state agencies.

Lars Erickson, spokesman for the transportation agency, said agency staffers must review the 35-page decision and seven-page injunction to see how it will affect his agency’s budget and ongoing plans for highway construction.

Previously, the transportation department estimated that the cost of fixing all the problem culverts in Western Washington at about $1.9 billion. As a practice, the department has been replacing culverts as state highways are widened or upgraded. In addition, a stand-alone program to fix other culverts grew from $7.8 million in 2001 to $23 million in 2011, but there has never been a firm target date for fixing all the culverts.

The new ruling grew out of a lawsuit brought by 21 Western Washington tribes. The case is an offshoot of the landmark 1974 Boldt decision, which determined that treaties signed in the 1850s guarantee tribal members the right to take half the harvestable salmon in Washington waters.

“The tribes have demonstrated … that they have suffered irreparable injury in that their treaty-based right of taking fish has been impermissibly infringed,” Martinez wrote in his latest ruling. “This injury is ongoing, as efforts by the state to correct the barrier culverts have been insufficient.”

The Seattle Times, “Tribes’ court win may flow beyond culvert repairs to protect fish“:

“This culvert case is a ringing of the bell, OK you got to wake up,” said Ron Allen, chairman of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe. “We have to protect and restore the environment while we continue to look creatively for ways to develop new job and industry opportunities.”

Martinez ordered the state departments of fish and wildlife, parks, transportation, and natural resources to accelerate work to remove, replace and repair about 1,000 culverts to help restore salmon runs within 17 years.

Last summer, the state put the brakes on the process to increase our unrealistically low fish consumption rate. Now a report by Investigate West gives us a look behind the scenes of the pressure changed the debate.

From Investigate West’s “Business Interests Trump Health Concerns in Fish Consumption Fight“:

Ecology emails show that by mid-summer, the agency already had been trying for months to assure Boeing and other business interests that it was coming up with “implementation rules” that would make it easier to comply with the new pollution limits. Among the ideas floated was allowing businesses up to 50 years to reduce their toxic pollution loads. Such so-called “variances” of up to 40 years still are under consideration, Gildersleeve said in an interview this week.

It’s clear from internal emails obtained by InvestigateWest that Ecology staffers were hearing from industry a lot in the run-up to changing course. For example, the head of the agency, Ted Sturdevant, commented on a Forbes article that identified Washington as one of the top states likely to boom over the next five years.

“Not if we pass new fish consumption rates! At least according to industry,” Sturdevant wrote in an email to co-workers.

You can read the actual emails that make up the report here.

“This is a historic day,” said Billy Frank Jr., Nisqually tribal member and chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. “This ruling isn’t only good for the resource, but for all of us who live here. It will result in more salmon for everyone. This is a great victory for all who have worked so hard to recover wild salmon.”

Martinez issued a permanent injunction requiring the state to repair more than 600 state-owned fish-blocking culverts over the next 17 years to “ensure that the State will act expeditiously in correcting the barrier culverts which violate treaty promises.” Treaty Indian tribes filed the initial culvert case litigation in 2001. The tribes, the United States and the state spent several years trying to settle the case, but were unable to reach agreement.

Tribes reserved the right to harvest salmon in treaties with the United States government more than 150 years ago. That right was upheld in U.S. v. Washington, the 1974 ruling that recognized the tribal right to half of the harvestable salmon returning to state waters and established the tribes as co-managers of the resource with the state.

The injunction was necessary, Martinez ruled, because the state has reduced repair efforts in the past three years, resulting in a net increase of fish blocking culverts. At the current rate, repairs would never be completed, he ruled, because more culverts were becoming barriers to salmon than were being fixed.

“The salmon needs our help now,” Frank said. “Salmon habitat throughout the region continues to be damaged and destroyed faster than we can repair it, and the trend is not improving. This ruling is a step in the right direction.”

Blocking culverts deny salmon access to hundreds of miles of good habitat in western Washington streams, affecting the fish in all stages of their life cycle. State agencies told the Legislature in 1995 that fixing culverts was one of the most cost-effective strategies for restoring salmon habitat and increasing natural salmon production. In 1997 state agencies estimated that every dollar spent fixing culverts would generate four dollars worth of additional salmon production. Recent studies support the state’s findings.

In the ruling Martinez wrote that the state’s duty to fix the culverts does not arise from a “broad environmental servitude” by the state to the treaty tribes, but rather a “narrow and specific treaty-based duty that attaches when the state elects to block rather than bridge a salmon-bearing stream. . .”

“Judge Martinez’s ruling was clear,” Frank said. “Our treaty-reserved right to harvest salmon also includes the right to have those salmon protected so that they are available for harvest, not only by the tribes, but by everyone who lives here.”

Cost estimates provided by the state are higher than the actual repair costs shown in court, Martinez held. He noted that repairs would be funded through the state’s separate transportation budget and would not come at the expense of education or other social services. Costs will be spread out over a 17-year correction program. As highway projects go, the corrections are mostly small.

“The cost will be a small sliver of the State’s two-year $7 billion transportation budget,” Frank said.

The March 29 ruling follows an August 2007 summary judgment issued by Martinez in favor of the tribes, but did not include a remedy to fix the culverts. He encouraged the tribes and state to continue to try and resolve the issue outside of court, but those efforts were unsuccessful.

“We prefer to collaborate with the state to restore and protect salmon and their habitat,” Frank said. “However, the state’s unwillingness to work together and solve the problems of these salmon-blocking culverts in a timely manner left us with no alternative except the courts.”

(END)

For more information: Tony Meyer, NWIFC, (360) 438-1180 or (360) 951-9341

Washington uses one of the lowest fish consumption rates in the country – about 6.5 grams a day, or one 8-ounce fish meal a month – to set rules for how much pollution that industry can put in our waters. That rate is supposed to protect us from more than 100 toxins that can make us sick or kill us, but it was set more than 20 years ago. Even the state Department of Ecology recognizes that the inaccurate rate does not protect most of us who live in Washington, a state with one of the largest populations of seafood consumers in the country.

We should not face an increased risk of illness from toxic chemicals when we try to improve our health by eating seafood. Washington’s fish consumption rate should be at least as protective as Oregon’s, which has been raised to 175 grams, or about one fish meal per day. Plenty of scientific evidence supports an increase to that amount or more.

Treaty tribes have been trying for years to get Ecology to update the fish consumption rate. Our health and our treaty rights depend on our food being safe to eat.

Work to raise the rate finally began last year, but about halfway through the process Ecology did an about-face and progress skidded to a halt. The cause? A phone call from industry representatives who said revising the rate would be bad for our economy because it would increase the cost of doing business.

We’re trying to get the process back on track, and remain hopeful that Gov. Inslee and new Ecology Director Maia Bellon can help make it happen. We’re also working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to form a Government Leadership Group to move forward.

It’s not going to be easy, though. We’re up against some powerful interests.

Opponents claim federal water quality standards in place here already protect all of us. But how can that be, if we already know the fish consumption rate is wrong? Their answer is that existing rules can include a larger fish consumption rate as long as those who eat more fish accept a higher risk of getting cancer.

Imagine that. What they’re saying is that most people in Washington would be protected by a rate of risk that one in one million people will get cancer from toxins in water. But for anybody who eats more than one seafood meal per month, including Indians, Asians and Pacific Islanders, that risk rate can be as high as one in 10,000. That’s unacceptable. Current state law requires cancer risk rates to protect everyone at the rate of one in a million. That standard should remain unchanged.

There’s no question that seafood is good for us, but it won’t be that way for long if pollution is allowed to contaminate the waters it comes from. It is unjust for Indian people and others who consume a lot of seafood to be at greater risk for getting cancer than everyone else.

Developing a more realistic fish consumption rate and keeping risk standards in place to protect our health is a matter of justice – social justice and environmental justice – for everyone who lives here. None of us deserves anything less.

(END)

Billy Frank Jr. is the chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. 

For more information, contact: Tony Meyer or Emmett O’Connell, (360) 438-1181.

This position is responsible for all beach maintenance and provides crew leadership and oversight on a 120 acre Shellfish Farm located in Henderson Inlet.

You can download the injunction here.

Here are some quotes from the injunction itself:

The Tribes have demonstrated … that they have suffered irreparable injury in that their Treaty-based right of taking fish has been impermissibly infringed. The construction and operation of culverts that hinder free passage of fish has reduced the quantity and quality of salmon habitat, prevented access to spawning grounds, reduced salmon production in streams in the Case Area, and diminished the number of salmon available for harvest by Treaty fishermen. The Tribes and their individual members have been harmed economically, socially, educationally, and culturally by the greatly reduced salmon harvests that have resulted from State-created or State-maintained fish passage barriers.

…

State action in the form of acceleration of barrier correction is necessary to remedy this decline in salmon stocks and remove the threats which face the Tribes. The State has the financial ability to accelerate the pace of barrier correction over the next several years and provide relief to the Tribes.

The Turtle Talk blog has more filings from today’s decision and the original 2007 summary judgement.

You can read the permanent injunction below:

Last year, the tribe collected scales to determine the age and life history of 75 steelhead harvested over a two-week period during its ceremonial and subsistence fishery. But from a scientific standpoint, researchers need more than 75 samples and a longer sample period to learn about the steelhead run. This year, tribal natural resources staff are investigating whether a tangle net could enable them to sample a greater number of fish without increasing the impact to the run.

Tangle nets are similar to gillnets, but have a smaller mesh size, allowing fish to be released.

“Tangle nets have been demonstrated to allow steelhead to be released with limited mortality,” said Bob McClure, fisheries biologist for the Upper Skagit Tribe.

“The purpose of this year’s exploratory fishery is to collect additional biological and abundance data for management purposes,” McClure said. “If the tangle net fishery is successful, we could eventually use this method to gather data about winter steelhead outside of the traditional commercial fishery.”

During future fisheries, fishermen who harvest steelhead tagged with fluorescent orange Visual Implant tags are asked to contact McClure at 360-854-7058 with the tag and catch information.

In addition to taking scale samples, tribal natural resources staff measure and mark each steelhead with a small reflective orange tag behind its right eye. The tag  will provide additional information if the fish is recaptured or harvested later during this fishery. It also allows for long-term identification beyond the duration of the test fishery.

For more information, contact: Bob McClure, fisheries biologist, Upper Skagit Tribe, 360-854-7058 or BobM@upperskagit.com; Kari Neumeyer, information officer, NWIFC, 360-424-8226 or kneumeyer@nwifc.org.

The Bellingham Herald reports:

The tribes contend that their fishing rights, recognized by the federal courts based on the Point Elliott Treaty of 1855, also contain a guarantee of Nooksack River water that is abundant enough and clean enough to support the salmon that spawn in the river and the shellfish in the tidelands that can be harmed by pollution.

Local governments don’t dispute that, but years of negotiations have failed to reach agreement on how much water must be left in the river and its many tributaries to maintain tribal fisheries.

In June of 2011, both the Lummis and the Nooksacks wrote letters to the U.S. Department of Interior asking that agency to file a lawsuit to seek a federal court determination of how much of the Nooksack River water supply is reserved for them.

It’s a vital question. The city of Bellingham gets its water supply from the river by an indirect route, through a diversion pipe that carries water from the middle fork to Lake Whatcom. Other communities along the river also use it for drinking water. Farmers pull water from tributary creeks to irrigate berry fields and other crops – often without an established legal right to do so.

The determination of the tribal share also will determine how much water is left over for everyone else.

Read the full story.

From the Peninsula Daily News:

PORT ANGELES — Adeline Smith, the Lower Elwha Klallam tribal elder who played key roles in preserving the site of Tse-whit-zen village, the Elwha River dam removals and documenting the Klallam language, has died.

Smith, who turned 95 last Friday, died Tuesday morning in Tacoma, where she was staying with family members, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles said Tuesday afternoon.

Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe elder Adeline Smith, at the September 2011 Elwha River Dam Removal ceremony. She passed away March 13, 2013.

Smith celebrated her 95th birthday with family members and other members of the tribe, Charles said.

No memorial service date has been announced.

Born March 15, 1918, Smith grew up in the Port Angeles area, watching the decline in salmon runs on the Elwha River and the disappearance of Tse-whit-zen village on the Port Angeles Harbor waterfront.

In the early 21st century, she witnessed the preservation of the Tse-whit-sen site after a state dry-dock construction project to build floating-bridge pontoons was halted.

And she celebrated with tribal members at the September 2011 ceremonies to begin the removal of the two Elwha River dams.

Once the reservoir behind the lower Elwha Dam was drained, she witnessed the tribe’s ceremonial creation site that had been inundated since Lake Aldwell was created just before she was born.

• Sr. Quantitative Fisheries Scientist:
  Fisheries Scientist trained in advanced biometrics.  Under general direction, designs, plans, and performs biometrics research, analysis, problem solving, scientific report writing and review of technical reports related to Pacific Salmon fisheries management and research. https://careers-muckleshootgov.icims.com/jobs/1978/job
• Quantitative Fisheries Scientist:
  Conducts professional level biological and stock assessment work with emphasis in salmon Commercial Harvest, including planning, developing and evaluating fisheries management projects and/or activities requiring the knowledge and application of statistical and mathematical methodologies. https://careers-muckleshootgov.icims.com/jobs/1979/job

The Skokomish Tribe is working with U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to map the topography, morphology and habitats of the delta and the tribe’s 1,000-acre estuary in southern Hood Canal.

The goal is three-fold: to determine the amount and condition of existing nearshore habitats; to better understand how the river’s sediment transports to the delta; and how sediment movement effects ecosystems, including eelgrass, tidal flats and food resources for salmon.

A map of the Skokomish delta that shows preliminary findings after USGS scientists used sonar to read the topography of the seafloor. Photo: USGS

“We’re mapping what’s in between the nearshore and deeper waters,” said Eric Grossman, the project’s USGS principal investigator. “It’s an area that’s been studied sporadically since the 1950s but is lacking data on elevation, substrates and physical processes, such as sediment movement.

“We’d like to see what habitats exist for salmon, such as eelgrass and the ridges, in order to determine how they may change with actions in the river, climate change and the estuary restoration work,” Grossman said.

Preliminary findings include discovering ridges up to 90 feet tall at the base of the delta; tidal channels transporting sediment from the river to the canal; and eelgrass beds.

“The slope of the delta front is one of the steepest I’ve seen in our mapping of Puget Sound deltas,” Grossman said. He also observed channels and slump features that suggest the delta is actively changing. Linear ridges at the base of the delta stand 45 feet to 90 feet tall with a wave length of 300-450 feet and up to a half-mile in length.

These features provide complex habitat that have been found around the world to be important for fisheries and ecosystems, Grossman said. With the updated information, the tribe hopes to further study the large ridges.

“We would like to better understand the age and substrate of these ridges and how they formed,” said Shannon Kirby, the tribe’s habitat biologist.

The USGS team used sonar to map the depth of the seafloor and tidelands over approximately 7 square miles. They also measured the thickness of recent sediment layers on the seafloor, penetrating between 120 feet and 240 feet below the seafloor.

The sonar data will be merged with LiDAR data, collected by plane, to create a seamless onshore-offshore map and digital elevation model showing the elevations and morphology of the shorelines, marshes, tidal flats, and deeper offshore regions of the delta, Grossman said.

“This will provide the first comprehensive model of the entire Skokomish Delta and allow the tribe and partners to better assess coastal resources and model potential changes owing to climate and land-use change,” he said.

Here’s an piece about the first automatic tagging trailer.

You can view the movie after the jump.

 

The tribe is raising 250,000 spring chinook at their hatchery so they can stock acclimation ponds in the upper White. Legislative budget cuts forced the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to cease their White River spring chinook program.

“We used to get these fish from the state, but now the Muckleshoot Tribe is allowing us to have some of their excess spring chinook,” said Blake Smith, enhancement manager for the Puyallup Tribe. The Muckleshoot Tribe also raises White River springers at one of their hatchery.

Before picking up the state’s effort completely this year, the Puyallup Tribe has chipped in with the cost of clipping the spring chinook.

The state’s White River spring chinook program had been one of the oldest salmon recovery projects in the state. The effort began almost 40 years ago when the state began capturing fish for broodstock from the weak early run. “Probably the only reason we have White River springers to protect is because of the state’s early action,” said Russ Ladley, resource protection manager for the tribe.

In 1986 only six spring chinook returned to the White River, putting the viability of the run in question. “At the time, there was a chance that so few fish would return that the run would blink out,” Ladley said.

When the Muckleshoot Tribe opened their hatchery on the White River, fisheries managers began releasing the spring chinook back to the river to supplement the run. Because of diligent hatchery management, the spring chinook population on the White River has slowly increased since, with returns now normally in the thousands.

After being transported to the acclimation ponds, the juvenile spring chinook will be fed by the tribe for eight weeks. Once they are imprinted on the upper watershed creeks, they’ll be released to begin their journey to the ocean.

The acclimation pond program has played a large role in the recovery of the spring stock. “More and more springers are coming back each year to the upper tributaries,” Smith said. “Some creeks went from zero spawners to dozens in the last decade.”

Not many people know it, but Lincoln’s birthday on Feb. 12 also holds a special place in the hearts of the treaty Indian tribes in western Washington.

It was on that day in 1974 that federal Judge George Boldt handed down his landmark ruling in U.S. v. Washington that upheld our treaty-reserved fishing rights and established us as co-managers of the salmon resource.

Although he was ready to rule sooner, Judge Boldt purposely delayed the court proceedings so that he could deliver his decision on the birthday of one of the greatest presidents we’ve ever had, a president who upheld the basic human rights of all people. And that’s what Judge Boldt did. He upheld our rights, and for that we will always be grateful.

It’s been 39 years now since Boldt’s decision, and things have changed a lot since then.

• More than 1 million people have moved into western Washington, making a big impact on our natural resources.
• Herring populations in Puget Sound – an important food for salmon – have shrunk to a small fraction of former levels.
• Our floods and droughts have gotten worse because of climate change and changes we’ve made to our landscape.
• We’ve lost nearly all of our old-growth forests, native prairies and salt marshes.

We’ve also lost most of our salmon harvest. Ongoing damage and destruction to salmon habitat have led to tribal harvest levels that are lower than they were in 1974, and this trend isn’t showing signs of improvement.

Nonetheless, we are hopeful as we begin planning for the 40th anniversary of the Boldt decision next year.

As part of the celebration, a pair of movies that focus on the treaty fishing rights struggle were recently released by our friends at Salmon Defense, a non-profit organization working to turn the tide for salmon.

The first is “As Long as the Rivers Run,” the fundamental documentary about the Fish Wars of the 1960s and 70s by Carol Burns and Hank Adams. They generously donated the film to Salmon Defense so that it can be preserved and shared. The second movie is “Back to the River,” which was produced by Salmon Defense to provide additional perspectives on treaty rights and the natural resources management challenges we face today.

Both of these movies are available for free by contacting Salmon Defense at salmondefense.org or by calling (360) 528-4308.

(END)

Billy Frank Jr. is the chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. 

For more information, contact: Tony Meyer or Emmett O’Connell, (360) 438-1181.

Facing Climate Change: Coastal Tribes from Benjamin Drummond / Sara Steele on Vimeo.

The Swinomish Tribe has lived on the coasts of the Salish Sea for thousands of years. Today, rising seas not only threaten cultural traditions, but also the economic vitality of this small island nation in the shadow of two oil refineries.

After scientists identified sea level rise as a threat to the Lower Skagit River area, the tribe launched a climate change initiative to study the long-term impacts of climate change on their reservation, and to develop an action plan to adapt. Impacts of sea level rise on the island, including coastal erosion, habitat loss, and declining water quality, raised central concerns. The study presented the Swinomish with a difficult question: whether to plan for inches or feet of rise?

Planning must embrace a range of possibilities. Important factors used to calculate global sea level rise, such as melt rates of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, vary widely. In addition, regional estimates must include local factors such as wind patterns and tectonic activity.

For more information: facingclimatechange.org

You can also watch both episodes online right now if you don’t want to wait.

River of Kings, Part 1

River of Kings, Part 2

Wildlife biologists from Stillaguamish, Tulalip and Western Washington University sample DNA from elk scat.

Wildlife biologists from the Stillaguamish and Tulalip tribes are testing a new way to track the population of the Nooksack elk herd using the animals’ scat.

Tribal biologists have partnered with Western Washington University’s Huxley College of the Environment to determine the most efficient way to collect DNA from elk scat. Genetic material can be found in the intestinal mucus coating the pellets. This winter, biologists sampled fresh scat using toothpicks and cotton swabs, submitting the samples to a genetics lab to determine which method is most effective at providing an animal’s unique genotype.

“This is a non-invasive method that does not require collaring animals or helicopter time to survey them,” said Stillaguamish biologist Jennifer Sevigny.

While the current method of using tracking collars and aerial surveys is expensive, it allows state and tribal wildlife managers to determine the bull-to-cow and cow-to-calf ratios needed to set harvest levels. To fit elk with tracking collars, the animals must be captured and tranquilized.

In the spring, the Stillaguamish and Tulalip tribes plan to coordinate a large population survey, sampling elk scat in the North Cascades Mountains, including forested landscapes that are hard to monitor during aerial surveys.

“Once individual elk are identified by their DNA, a population estimate can be obtained by re-sampling an area and comparing the number of originally identified individuals – the marked animals – to the newly identified animals – the unmarked animals,” said Tulalip wildlife manager Mike Sevigny.

During the past two decades, tribal and state co-managers completed numerous habitat restoration projects to improve forage for the Nooksack herd, which had declined to about 300 animals by 2003. According to 2012 aerial surveys, the herd has rebounded to as many as 1,400 elk.

For more information, contact: Jennifer Sevigny, biologist, Stillaguamish Tribe, 360-631-2372 or jense@stillaguamish.nsn.us; Mike Sevigny, wildlife manager, Tulalip Tribes, 360-716-4623 or msevigny@tulaliptribes-nsn.gov; Kari Neumeyer, information officer, NWIFC, 360-424-8226 or kneumeyer@nwifc.org.

The suit involves tribal rights to hunt on “open and unclaimed lands”.

From the story:

The lawsuit claims that actions by state agencies and officials have denied tribal members access to their legitimate hunting areas. Furthermore, state officials have imposed civil and criminal sanctions on tribal members and promoted a “discriminatory scheme” of hunting regulations that favor non-Indians, the suit says.

…

The lawsuit asks the federal court to define the extent of the tribe’s hunting and gathering rights, identify the territory where the tribe may operate, confirm the tribe’s “exclusive and co-concurrent management authority” and declare a tribal allocation for game, roots and berries.

From the story:

 

(U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin) Settle found that the suit was moot because, since the suit was filed, the tribe had obtained permits from federal fisheries officials to carry out programs at its hatchery, leaving no question to settle.

“It speaks for itself,” said the tribe’s lawyer, Steven Suagee. “The initial complaint had been that the tribe didn’t have the approvals for these hatchery programs, and now we do.“

In addition, the tribe has agreed to stop stocking Chambers Creek steelhead at its hatchery. The steelhead are not native to the Elwha River, but were brought in to provide fish for tribal fishermen since the native stocks declined as a result of two dams being constructed on the river and severely damaged the salmon habitat. The two dams are currently being deconstructed. 

As the state of Washington begins to attempt to address an issue that threatens both tribal and non-tribal communities alike, it is a good time to post a link to Alin’s presentation, which begins at the 2:10 mark. Additionally, her slide presentation can be found here.

Daniel Kuntz, biologist with the Squaxin Island Tribe, inspects creosote pilings on the tribe’s tidelands before they’re removed.

From the Department of Natural Resources:

The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the Squaxin Island Tribe, the Port of Olympia, the South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group (SPSSEG), and private landowners are joining together to clear toxic derelict pilings and other structures from much of the southern end of Budd Inlet in Olympia.

The work, which is funded by the 2012 Jobs Now Act, begins this week and continues through March 14. The project is expected to cost roughly $278,000.

The Squaxin Island Tribe’s involvement in the project began when they received three acres of tideland as a donation from a family estate. The tidelands included 224 pilings from a former industrial site.

“We saw this as an opportunity to restore these tidelands by taking out the pilings that are leaching pollutants into Budd Inlet,” said Andy Whitener, Natural Resources Director for the tribe. “There is a lot of work to be done in Budd Inlet to restore its ecological function. Getting these pilings out of here is a great start.”

From the Olympian:

By mid-March some 400 derelict pilings and 7,000 square-feet of abandoned docks and piers that represented the last reminders of a lower Budd Inlet shoreline once lined with lumber and plywood mills will be removed and shipped to the Roosevelt Landfill in Klickitat County.

It marks the latest step in a slow but steady transformation of West Bay Drive in Olympia from an industrial corridor to a collection of parks, office buildings and shoreline property undergoing hazardous waste cleanup and redevelopment.

The piling and dock removal project stretches across 1.2 miles of shoreline in lower Budd Inlet. It is spearheaded by the state Department of Natural Resources and also features four properties owned by the Port of Olympia, West Bay Reliable, the Delta Illahee Limited Partnership and the Squaxin Island Tribe.

The surveys began in 2007 with support from the Environmental Protection Agency, and are conducted weekly from late February to late May near the Sauk River. Their aim is to assess changes in amphibian populations, as well as water and habitat quality.

The 5.5-acre survey area is ranked as a Category I wetland, defined by the Department of Ecology as wetlands that are a unique or rare type, are more sensitive to disturbance, contain ecological attributes that are irreplaceable, or provide a high level of functions.

Links to annual reports from 2007-2011 are posted under “Related resources.”

Read more about the survey here.

Jewell, the former chief executive officer for outdoor gear giant REI, grew up in Washington state and knows the issues important to Indian tribes, Frank said. “She’s one of us, and we couldn’t be more pleased that she will be leading the Department of Interior for the next four years,” he said.

Frank said that Jewell brings a strong blend of business sense and a natural resources conservation ethic to the agency. “A healthy environment and a healthy economy can go hand-in-hand,” Frank said. “We can have both, and I think Sally Jewell will help make that happen.”

Frank praised Jewell’s knowledge of tribes and tribal issues, and respect for tribal sovereignty and treaty rights. “We are facing big challenges such as achieving salmon recovery, protecting water quality and adapting to climate change,” Frank said. “Our cultures, economies and treaty rights depend on a healthy environment and healthy natural resources.”

Because the Department of Interior also includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Jewell’s understanding and respect for tribal governments are critical to a good working relationship between the tribes and the agency, he said.

“I believe Sally is the right person, in the right place, at the right time,” Frank said. “We look forward to working with her, and thank President Obama for his wise choice.”

Lummi tribal fishermen harvest Fraser River sockeye during 2010′s record-breaking run.

Tribally caught fish sold at the Lummi Nation’s Schelangen Seafood Market is both locally sourced and sustainable, two of the most sought-after qualities for chefs, according to the National Restaurant Association.

Schelangen, in the Lummi language, means “way of life.”

“Harvesting has always been the cornerstone of our culture,” said Elden Hillaire, chairman of the Lummi Fisheries Commission. “All of our harvest targets healthy stocks while protecting weak wild runs. Fishing sustainably and being able to supply locally caught seafood is important to us.”

Locally sourced meat and seafood is the top trend in the National Restaurant Association’s What’s Hot 2013 survey. Ninth on the list is sustainable seafood. The What’s Hot list was compiled from a survey of professional chefs about the food, cuisines and culinary themes that will be popular on restaurant menus this year.

Tribes have been forced in recent years to limit fisheries because of widespread damage to salmon habitat. “Fortunately, because of careful management, we can still harvest without impacting weak wild runs,” Hillaire said. “In the long term, sustainable harvest and the restoration of salmon habitat are our goal.”

The Seafood Market is part of the Lummi Gateway Center, off Interstate 5 north of Bellingham. The center is intended to promote community prosperity through tribal enterprise. The nearly 10,000-square-foot shopping center also includes a cafe serving lunch daily and a gift shop featuring Lummi artwork.

In addition, the Lummi Gateway Center has space for seven small businesses to start up. These “incubator” spaces will provide an opportunity for tribal members to develop a new business in a prime storefront area. The building itself has been designed to use less energy on a daily basis than a traditionally constructed building, and earned a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver Certification.

For more information, visit lummigatewaycenter.com or contact Kari Neumeyer, information officer, NWIFC, 360-424-8226 or kneumeyer@nwifc.org.

“I think it is an excellent opportunity; she will definitely bring a fresh perspective,” said Fawn Sharp, president of the Quinault Indian Nation.

Jewell would take over the reins at the department at a sensitive time for tribes. Fundamental questions, such as the right relationship with Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs, and how to better manage land ownership in Indian Country all are on the burner.

“We are building a transformative agenda,” Sharp said. “ We think she will be a good listener.”

W. Ron Allen, chairman at the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and chairman of the Washington Indian Gaming Commission, said Jewell isn’t as known to tribes as former Gov. Christine Gregoire, who had been rumored for the job. “We have never engaged with her,” Allen said of Jewell.

Billy Frank Jr., chair of the NWIFC, was also interviewed on KUOW this morning (starting at about 2:00).

Dana Wilson, Lummi tribal fisherman, pauses in front of a sign for the movie, Back to the River. Wilson and his father are both in the documentary.

The premiere of the documentary, Back to the River, was held at the Seattle Aquarium Feb. 2. The movie details the story of the treaty rights struggle from the pre-Boldt era to tribal and state co-management. The movie includes the voices and personal accounts of tribal fishers, leaders and others active in the treaty fishing rights struggle. More photos of the event can be found here and you can watch the movie on Vimeo. To order a copy of the movie, e-mail: contact@salmondefense.org.

The states’ plan to move gillnetters off the main stem and prioritize sport fishing by reallocating their wild chinook salmon harvest impacts to anglers. Of course the states can allocate their share of the salmon resource however they like, but true conservation doesn’t happen just by reallocating salmon harvest between commercial and sport fisheries.

The decline of salmon across our region has nothing to do with how we catch them, whether with a net or rod and reel. Salmon are in trouble because of lost and damaged habitat. The key to recovery is to restore and protect that habitat, combined with conservative harvest and careful use of hatcheries.
All types of fishing – including mark-selective sport fisheries targeting fin-clipped hatchery salmon – kill non-targeted fish . Harvest is managed on the basis of fishery impacts from all fishing methods, both sport and commercial. Reallocating these impacts from commercial to sport fisheries does nothing to rebuild the resource.

Allocation is not conservation. Conservation must come first. We need to focus on restoring salmon populations to abundance – mostly by restoring and protecting their habitat – instead of fighting battles over who gets to catch how many fish. Imagine if all of that time, energy and money was spent on true salmon conservation instead.

Whether sport or commercial, most fishermen are conservationists at heart. Neither group is more conservation-minded than the other, and neither wants to catch the last salmon.

The debate between sport and commercial fisheries allocation on the lower Columbia now appears to be headed to the courts, and that’s too bad, because this fight distracts us from the real work at hand – restoring salmon populations to abundant levels. In the end, these allocation battles are self-defeating because they undermine the broad-based cooperation that we need to recover salmon.

After decades of hard work, cooperative salmon restoration efforts in the Columbia basin have started to make a difference. Spring and fall chinook, sockeye and coho populations are growing. That kind of success doesn’t happen on its own. It comes from a shared willingness of many people to work together with common interest toward a shared goal of conserving, protecting and restoring salmon populations on the Columbia and throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Billy Frank Jr. is the chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. Note: A more comprehensive history of the Coastal Conservation Association is available at: go.nwifc.org/history

For more information, contact: Tony Meyer or Emmett O’Connell, (360) 438-1181.