Swinomish Tribe cleaning up contaminated area near the mouth of Padilla Bay
The Swinomish Tribe is cleaning up a former lime storage area by removing about 280 cubic yards of contaminated soil and 100 creosote wood pilings. The contaminated site is adjacent to the Swinomish...
View ArticleState to adjust fish consumption standards
State environmental regulators have proposed increasing the fish consumption rate used to determine water quality safety standards. The state’s current rate of 6.5 grams a day was set in the mid-1980s,...
View ArticleSwinomish Tribe clarifies Skagit County’s allegations about basin closure
Skagit County recently sent a letter to landowners and has held meetings blaming tribes and the salmon recovery effort for development closures in the Fisher, Carpenter and Nookachamps basins. In...
View ArticleHuffington Post covers inadequate fish consumption rate
The Huffington Post has a story about Washington state’s fish consumption rate, which is used to set water quality standards. The state is using an outdated rate that doesn’t reflect how much seafood...
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Swinomish Tribe keeps an eye on water rights issue
Years of agriculture, development and other human activity have led to declines in salmon runs throughout Puget Sound. One reason is that these activities lead to a reduction in the stream flows needed...
View ArticleEnvironmental groups support Swinomish in water rights dispute
Earthjustice and the Center for Environmental Law and Policy filed a friends of the court brief today with the Washington State Court of Appeals supporting the Swinomish Tribe’s effort to protect the...
View ArticleSwinomish receives funding for Kukutali Preserve
The U.S. Department of the Interior announced grant funding for tribal wildlife conservation projects, including the Swinomish Tribe’s management of Kukutali Preserve, also known as Kiket Island. From...
View ArticleTribes restore fish access to estuary near Swinomish Reservation
Fish access and tidal flow were restored in March to a high-priority pocket estuary near the Swinomish reservation. The Skagit River System Cooperative (SRSC) removed a portion of Similk Bay Road and a...
View ArticleEarthjustice defends Swinomish appeal in Skagit water rights dispute
Earthjustice posted a column that explains the Swinomish Tribe’s appeal of the state Department of Ecology’s actions in the Skagit River water rights dispute: Washington state’s Swinomish tribe faces a...
View ArticlePBS NewsHour features Swinomish Climate Change Initiative and Billy Frank Jr.
Tonight’s broadcast of PBS NewsHour is scheduled to feature the Swinomish Tribe’s Climate Change Initiative and an interview with NWIFC Chairman Billy Frank Jr: Rising water temperatures don’t bode...
View ArticleEarthFix runs story about effects of climate change on tribes
KCTS9 EarthFix will be running a segment about the effects of climate change on Northwest tribes starting next week. The story is available online now. “Without everything that’s alive, the treaties...
View ArticleState Supreme Court rules in Swinomish Tribe’s favor in water dispute
The Washington State Supreme Court ruled in the Swinomish Tribe’s favor on Oct. 3, in a challenge to the Skagit River instream flow rule amendments adopted in 2006 by the Washington Department of...
View ArticleICTM: How Tribes Are Addressing Climate Change
Indian Country Today Media Network posted a story about eight tribes, two from within Western Washington, that are ahead of the curve when it comes to adapting to climate change. The Swinomish Tribe...
View ArticleSwinomish Chairman Elected President of NCAI
Swinomish Tribe Chairman Brian Cladoosby was elected president of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) this week. His two-year term begins today. According to the Skagit Valley Herald: “I...
View ArticleTribes study chinook use of small coastal streams
The Tulalip Tribes and Skagit River System Cooperative (SRSC) recently completed a six-year study of juvenile chinook salmon use of small coastal streams in the Whidbey basin. “Small coastal streams...
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Swinomish Tribe measures changes to shellfish over decades on Kukutali Preserve
The never-realized plans to build a nuclear power plant on Kiket Island has a legacy that’s proven useful to the Swinomish Tribe. The 1969 power plant proposal attracted researchers to study the...
View ArticleVideo: Swinomish tribe harvests Fraser sockeye
Earlier this month, Swinomish tribal fishermen used a purse seine to harvest Fraser River sockeye in the San Juan Islands for ceremonial and subsistence use. Some of the fish was distributed for tribal...
View ArticleMonitoring shows Skagit delta restoration benefits chinook more than expected
A five-year monitoring effort has shown that the Fisher Slough restoration project has benefited juvenile chinook even more than predicted in the Skagit River Salmon Recovery Plan. The Nature...
View ArticleWalking on: Todd Wilbur of Swinomish
Swinomish tribal member Todd Wilbur, director of fish and game enforcement for the tribe and board member of the Skagit River System Cooperative, passed away Nov. 17. Wilbur also was chairman of...
View ArticleTribes partner with OSU to study clam contamination
Researchers from Oregon State University (OSU) are studying shellfish contamination on the Swinomish reservation and nearby Fidalgo Bay. Both the Swinomish Tribe and Samish Nation have partnered in the...
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