Cross posted at NW Treaty Tribes We’ve seen some incredible salmon habitat restoration projects the past few years, but there’s a big difference between restoring habitat and protecting it. We must remember that restoration without protection does not lead us to recovery. The Elwha River on the Olympic Peninsula continues to heal itself after the […]
Indian Country Today breaks down the top 10 threats to salmon from NWIFC’s State of Our Watersheds report, including: Estuaries are losing functional habitat because of population increases in lower portions of watersheds. Rapidly increasing permit-exempt wells threaten water for fish. Degraded nearshore habitat is unable to support forage fish. Timber harvest has removed vast […]
Will Stelle, the regional administrator of NOAA Fisheries, gives a thorough explanation on the federal perspective of salmon recovery and Treaty Rights at Risk. Stelle spoke during the 2013 Salmon Recovery Conference two weeks ago in Vacouver, WA. You can also watch his talk here.
The Seattle Times’ article on Treaty Rights at Risk and the decline of salmon habitat in western Washington sparked a massive online response. By Monday afternoon there were 157 comments posted on the article, mostly negative. Most comments focused on tribal sovereignty, the meaning of the Boldt decision or tribal economics. But some focused on […]
Via Olympic Peninsula Environmental News. From the blog: If you have never heard Mr. Frank speak, or if you do not have a good understanding of what drives the Tribes demands for their treaty rights, this is a must listen recording. In it, he clarifies the history behind the struggle for treaty rights and legal […]
Last week Millie Judge (author of the Judge report) spoke at the South Sound Science Symposium. Her talk outlined four reasons (lack of funding, legal protections, political support and monitoring) we’re not making progress on salmon recovery). Watch highlights from her talk below.
In a letter to the editor of the Seattle Times, Mount Vernon resident David Yamashita attacks tribal fisheries management without mentioning how fisheries managemnent has changed since Puget Sound chinook and several other species were listed under the federal Endangered Species Act more than 10 years ago. Today all salmon fisheries in western Washington are […]
An Associated Press story about the Treaty Rights at Risk initiative was carried by many news outlets this morning, including the Seattle PI. From the story by Phuong Le: Now, those tribes say their treaty rights with the U.S. are at risk because the region is losing habitat that salmon need to survive. They say […]
Last summer Billy Frank Jr., chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, wrote an opinion piece about the Treaty Rights at Risk Initiative. He explained that the tribes are fighting to save salmon and their treaty rights: Salmon recovery is failing in Western Washington. It’s failing because the federal and state governments are allowing habitat […]
