KEPORT – Following a 7-year hiatus, the Suquamish Tribe is restarting its Agate Pass coho salmon net pen operation this spring.  The program was discontinued in 2003 because of budget and rearing constraints.

“It’s great to be able to reengage this program because it provides a Kitsap-based coho fishery opportunity for tribal members, with benefits for non-treaty fishers as well,” said Jay Zischke, the tribe’s marine…

OLYMPIA – The treaty tribes of western Washington are taking a look at the outcome of salmon recovery efforts over the past decade since Puget Sound chinook, Lake Ozette sockeye and Hood Canal summer chum were listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act.

The Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission’s Salmon and Steelhead Habitat Inventory and Assessment Program (SSHIAP) is preparing a State of Our Watersheds report…

ARLINGTON – About 1,800 acres of shellfish beds in Port Susan will be reopened to tribal harvest as of April 2, after years of work by the Stillaguamish Tribe.

“This is a great accomplishment,” said Shawn Yanity, fisheries manager for the Stillaguamish Tribe. “Last year, we had a First Salmon Ceremony for the first time in as long as anyone can remember. The opening of Port…

KAMILCHE – The Squaxin Island Tribe is appealing to Gov. Chris Gregoire the decision by the state Department of Ecology to reject a petition to protect Johns Creek. ”Ecology’s inaction does further harm to our treaty-based fisheries,” said Andy Whitener, natural resources director for the Tribe. “Salmon recovery should not have to bear a disproportionate share of the fallout from tough economic times.”

This is the…

OLYMPIA – Tribal leaders in western Washington are praising the Obama Administration today for a long-sought funding increase for tribal treaty rights-based natural resources management.

The president’s FY 2011 budget increases the Rights Protection account in the Bureau of Indian Affairs budget to $28.5 million, a 60 percent increase in funding levels over the past decade. The increase comes after a decade of stagnant funding and…

SHELTON – The Squaxin Island Tribe has filed a second petition with the state Department of Ecology (DOE) to stop all new water withdrawals, including permit-exempt wells, in the Johns Creek watershed near Shelton. The action was taken to protect several runs of salmon that spawn and rear in the creek.

“There isn’t enough water in Johns Creek to support salmon,” said Andy Whitener, natural resources…

MOUNT VERNON – Damage control elk hunts are a management tool that should be used only as a last resort, Point Elliott treaty Indian tribes say.

On Dec. 28, a damage control hunt in Skagit County was canceled after a handful of archery hunters breached the state’s Hunter’s Code of Conduct. As many as 18 animals were killed before the hunt was canceled. During a damage…

Adult and juvenile coho will once again swim in the upper reaches of Chalaat Creek on the Hoh Tribe’s reservation for the first time in decades thanks to a fish passage improvement completed by the Hoh Tribe this fall.

Chalaat Creek is a tributary to the lower Hoh River. The 5-mile long creek meanders through mature second growth timber and forested wetland on the tribe’s reservation…

LA CONNER — Swinomish Tribe Water Resources Department staffers have been recognized as “Protectors of Mother Earth” for making a simple change at the annual community clam bake.

Instead of using paper plates and disposable utensils, the department brought real plates and silverware to the event held last summer at Lone Tree beach and the Thousand Trails lodge.

The tribe’s newly formed Climate Change Education and…

ARLINGTON — The state Department of Transportation (DOT) and a crew of inmates are helping the Stillaguamish Tribe restore 40 acres of floodplain adjacent to Interstate 5.

The tribe acquired the parcel of land along Pilchuck Creek with plans to restore wetland habitat. The state offered to contribute to the project, because it needed to mitigate for 2 acres of wetlands that would be destroyed during…