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 planned safety…

ARLINGTON — Based on its efforts to rid Port Susan of abandoned crab pots and fishing nets, the Stillaguamish Tribe was invited to participate in the West Coast Governors’ Agreement on Ocean Health: Marine Debris Action Team.

Jennifer Sevigny, one of the tribe’s biologists, drafted the Washington state component for land-based marine debris.

“We are trying to develop a strategy for dealing with marine debris that will be…

ARLINGTON — Something in the water could be slowing salmon reproduction rates.

Wastewater containing pharmaceuticals and other products that mimic estrogen can interfere with the endocrine system of fish, potentially resulting in males displaying both male and female characteristics, which inhibits breeding.

The Stillaguamish Tribe has partnered with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Water Science Center in Tacoma and the city of Arlington to look at contaminants in the wastewater that winds…

A combination of Lummi Nation projects not only will repair past destruction of more than 2,000 acres of salmon and wildlife habitat, but also will help build homes for tribal members.

The Lummi Natural Resources Department is reconnecting tidal channels and restoring wetlands to provide essential rearing habitat for juvenile salmon along Smuggler’s Slough. In a separate but related project, Lummi is creating the first tribal wetland…

The Sol Duc River on the northwestern Olympic Peninsula runs at its lowest and warmest when summer chinook return to its waters every year. Despite being in one of the world’s greatest temperate rain forests, near-drought conditions often occur in late summer before the fall rains begin in earnest.

“These fish are survivors,” said Roger Lien, fish biologist for the Quileute Tribe. After four to five years…

SEDRO-WOOLLEY — The Upper Skagit Tribe is using an unusual mechanized tree-planting device to plant more than 50,000 trees in the Hansen Creek floodplain.

The tribe is working with WildLands and S & K Environmental Restoration, a division of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, which developed the rotary stinger to plant trees more efficiently than traditional methods.

View a demonstration of the rotary stinger below.

The tree planting is part…

Oysters are taking a tumble in the tides of Sequim Bay in a bid by the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe to produce a higher quality product for consumers.

“We’re using the tide to manipulate the oysters,” said Chris Whitehead, the tribe’s shellfish biologist.

Oyster tumbling involves stuffing young oysters into mesh bags, attaching a buoy and securing the bags to a single horizontal stainless steel rod held in place…

The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe has begun preparing the lower Elwha River’s floodplain for the influx of sediment expected to come down the river after the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams are deconstructed starting in 2011.

“This work in the floodplain will help restore natural…

Near the quiet Dungeness River delta, an excavator constructs several jumbled piles of logs in a side channel of the Dungeness River. Several kingfishers swoop around and squawk in the trees above, not sure what all commotion is about. The slender logs with rootwads attached will play an important role in how salmon will use the area to rest and feed, as well as hide from…

WESTPORT–In the past, the Quinault Indian Nation had only occasional glimpses into the health of the vast ocean that is their traditional fishing area, stretching about 50 miles from Grays Harbor north to Destruction Island.

But this summer, thanks to a computer-directed underwater research glider that looks like a motorcycle-sized torpedo with wings, QIN was able to gather four weeks of comprehensive data throughout their fishing area.

The…