Local News Archives - Page 73 of 92

Nettle Tea Time

Elise Krohn, Northwest Indian College herbalist and educator

Nettles are one of our favorite plants because they are so nutritious and so delicious. Late spring is the perfect time to harvest nettles and dry them for tea. Later in the summer fibrous stems can be made into strong cordage.

Description: Stinging nettle (scientific name Urtica) is a perennial herb with opposite deep green leaves with serrated edges and tiny greenish flowers. Stems are square like mint. Nettle grows 3-7 feet tall. The stalk and underside of leaves are covered with stinging hairs that rise from a gland containing formic acid. Nettle is common in streambeds and disturbed areas with rich wet soil from the coast into the mountains. Do not gather nettles in agricultural or industrial areas because they may absorb inorganic nitrites and heavy metals.

Nettle contains: Formic acid in fresh plant, galacturonic acid, vitamin C, histamine, 5-hydroxytryptamine, choline and acetylcholine, vitamins A and D, iron, sodium, potassium, phosphorus, calcium, silica, trace minerals and a good amount of protein (more than beans!).

How to Harvest: Gloves or scissors are usually used to harvest nettles. Nettles are most potent when gathered in early spring before flowering, usually from March-May. To dry nettles, bundle them and hang them upside down in a dark dry place, or place them in a paper bag and rotate them every few days until dry. Strip the leaves off the stem and store away from sunlight. Stems are gathered for fiber when the plant is mature in summer to early fall.

Historic uses

Nettles have been revered worldwide throughout the ages for food, fiber and medicine. Many Northwest Coastal People traditionally ate nettles as a nutritious spring food. They were also used as a dye with shades ranging from yellow to deep green. The fiber makes strong cordage and was used for making strong fishing line and fishnets. Two thousand-year-old nettle clothing was found in China and still remains intact.

A fascinating use for nettles is urtication, or flogging oneself with this stinging plant. Both in the Pacific Northwest and in Europe, people have stung themselves to cure arthritic joints and to stay awake and alert during battle or hunting. Traditional knowledge is now validated by scientific research. Compounds including histamine, acetylcholine and formic acid are injected into tissue causing an awakening of cellular responses, lymph flow, nerve stimulation and capillary stimulation.

Food

Nettles are impressively high in chlorophyll, vitamins, minerals, protein and amino acids. They are often called a “superfood” and are one of the highest plant sources of digestible iron. This can be helpful for anemic conditions, menstruation, pregnancy and lactation. Gather nettles to eat fresh before they flower as old leaves contain cystoliths that may irritate the kidneys. This compound is destroyed when the plant is dried, so gathering nettles after flowering is fine to prepare dried herb tea or powder, although leaves are most potent before flowering. There are many ways to prepare nettles for food including:

Boil – boil nettles for 5-15 minutes. The water can then be drunk as a tea.
Can – follow general instructions for canning spinach.
Freeze – either steam or boil nettles until just cooked, rinse in cold water, let drain and place in freezer bags for later use.
Sauté – Sauté until they look fully cooked, usually about 5 minutes.
Steam – place nettles in a colander and steam for 5-10 minutes.

Cooked nettles can then be used in quiches, casseroles, meat pies, egg scrambles, etc. Dried nettles can also be added to soups and other foods in the same way dried herb and spices would be. They are a delicious addition to clam chowder

Wash nettles, cut finely with scissors and set aside. In a large soup pot, sauté onions and garlic in olive oil or 3-5 minutes. Add water, potatoes, corn and nettles, then bring to a boil. Simmer until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Blend all ingredients in a blender or a food processor (optional). Add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.

Nettle Pesto

Try tossing this with pasta, potatoes or cooked vegetables. It can also be spread on crackers or fresh vegetables as a snack.

1 small bag (about 6 cups) of young fresh nettles, rinsed
1 bunch basil, stems removed, washed and drained (about 2 cups leaves)
½ cup Parmesan or Romano cheese, grated
1/3 cup walnuts or pine nuts
1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil
I clove garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Boil nettles in water (blanch) for one minute to remove the sting. Drain well, let cool and roughly chop. Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Place the pesto in a clean jar and pour a little extra olive oil over the top. Cover with a lid. This will keep for 2-3 weeks in the refrigerator.

Green Sesame Salt

1 cup sesame seeds
¼ cup powdered nettles
2 teaspoons salt

Toast sesame seeds over medium heat in a dry pan. They will pop, brown, and when done, will have a toasted aroma and deep golden appearance. Grind with salt in a coffee grinder or blender. Add nettle powder (this can also be ground in a coffee grinder). Blend all ingredients and store in a glass jar in the refrigerator. This condiment can be sprinkled on rice, sautés or soups.

Medicine

Nettles can help bring the body back to a state of balance. If someone is feeling debilitated or generally worn down, nettles are a good remedy. They are tonic to the liver, blood and kidneys. Herbalists consider nettles a reliable diuretic that balances blood pH and filters waste from the body including uric acid. This can be especially useful for arthritis, gout, eczema and skin rashes. Nettles have a solid reputation as a haemostatic, or a remedy to stop bleeding. A strong decoction is traditionally used to treat wounds and hemorrhage. They can help build blood after menstruation, birth or other blood loss.

Many people say that nettles help to alleviate allergies. As a preventative for hay fever, drink 2 cups of nettle tea a day starting early in the spring and continuing into the allergy season. When nettles are fresh, tinctured or freeze-dried they have anti-histamine qualities that may be effective for acute allergic reactions. Nettles are both astringent and anti-inflammatory, which helps with the symptoms of allergies and many other complaints. Rosemary or horsetail with nettle are made into a tea and used as a hair rinse to make the hair glossy and stimulate growth.

Tea: Use 1 tablespoon of dried nettles per cup of boiled water. Steep 15 minutes to several hours. Drink 1-3 cups a day. You can make a large batch of tea and keep it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. It is fine to drink the tea hot or cold. Nettle blends well with mint.

Fiber

Nettle fiber is renowned for it’s durability and has been used for making fishnets, ropes, clothing, and even bed linens. Cut stems at the base and strip the leaves from the stem (wear thick gloves). If you are working with fresh nettles, split the stems in half, cutting length-wise with a sharp knife. Take a rolling pin or round stick to flatten the half-stems. You can even beat them with a stick or a flat rock to help separate the outer fiber from the inner woody stem. Carefully separate the outer fibers, trying to keep them long. Let these fibers dry in a basket or a paper bag. If you are working with dry nettle stems you can soak them to make them easier to work with. Continue as above by splitting the stems, flattening them and carefully removing the fiber. The fiber can then be braided or twisted and made into strong cordage.

Stanwood skate park gets new ramps

Mark Mulligan / The HeraldTerrance Patterson, 22, of Stanwood, skates off of the new ramps recently installed in the skatepark at Heritage Park in Stanwood on Tuesday afternoon. — Mark Mulligan / The Herald
Terrance Patterson, 22, of Stanwood, skates off of the new ramps recently installed in the skatepark at Heritage Park in Stanwood on Tuesday afternoon.

The Daily Herald

STANWOOD — The city’s skate park got a makeover this month, with the older wooden ramps replaced by modular-style steel ones.

“It’s a lot more interesting and a lot more fun,” said Nate Brown, 19, of Stanwood, who was one of several people testing out the new ramps this week.

“It flows really good,” said Terrance Patterson, 22, of Arlington.

The Vito Z Memorial Skate Park NW features a mix of these ramps around a two-step concrete platform and skate rail. The skate park is open from dusk to dawn and is located in Heritage Park at 9800 276th St.

The city paid $60,000 for the new ramps, which were installed by the American Ramp Co. over a couple of days earlier this month.

Christie Connors, director of the Community Resource Center, helped organize a meeting about the project in March with local skaters. She was one of the original park organizers in the late 1990s.

“These improvements are long overdue,” Connors said. “I’m glad the city stepped up to provide skaters and others with a safe and healthy place to play in town.”

The Vito Z Memorial Skate Park was opened in 2000 by a group of Stanwood students and adults. The park is named in honor of Vito Zingarelli, a 1-year-old, who drowned in 1993.

The park can be reserved for private parties through the city’s Streets and Parks Department.

Reservations

For more information about the park and reserving it for events go to the city’s website at www.ci.stanwood.wa.us or contact public works assistant Lisa Noonchester at 360-629-9781 or lisa.noonchester@ci.stanwood.wa.us.

Tribal students learn natural resource management skills

Gaspar Ramos, 16, watches the meter on the datasonde, a water quality measurement tool that gives information about factors such as temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen, while Jonah Black, 19, records the results on the Dickey River near LaPush. The two students receive high school science credit doing work through the North Olympic Skills Center Natural Resources program in cooperation with Quileute Natural Resources and the Quileute Tribal School.

Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

Gaspar Ramos, 16, strides confidently to the edge of the Quillayute River and drops a hydrolab datasonde that measures water quality parameters into the water. The Quileute tribal member has worked with the water quality equipment enough to look like he has been doing it for years.

Ramos might one day have a job just like it if the introduction by the Quileute Natural Resources and the North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center Natural Resources program creates an interest in pursuing education needed for natural resources work. The Skills Center offers project-based field science classes and work on real-world projects in local ecosystems. The Quileute Tribe provides the jobs for the two tribal students to shadow as well as do project work.

The ideal pathway is that the next step is an internship, that provides paid education awards through AmeriCorps, followed by college or a job,” said Dan Lieberman, the coordinating teacher for the Skills Center Natural Resources, headquartered in Port Angeles.

The students spend half a day a week, outside of regular class hours, working with the tribe and the Skills Center Natural Resources program. Ramos and Jonah Black work on water quality and job skills assignments with Nicole Rasmussen, water quality biologist for the Quileute Tribe. They also are introduced to other jobs and shadow other biologists in tribal natural resources.

We’ve always had a core mission to attract tribal students to working in natural resources jobs,” said Frank Geyer, assistant director of Natural Resources for the Quileute Tribe. “We’re happy to have the Skills Center Natural Resources program as another partner in our efforts of getting tribal students out to see what jobs are available here and how it applies to their treaty rights.”

The Skills Center Natural Resource program has been working in the Forks area for less than a year, but began in Port Angeles five years ago. It now serves all five school districts in Clallam County and provides students opportunities to obtain high school and sometimes college credit by working with a variety of natural resource organizations like tribes, Olympic National Park, Olympic National Marine Sanctuary and area timber companies.

For students like Ramos, the work provides an opportunity to design their own scientific questions and methods to answer them on the job. He has been measuring the salinity levels of various spots in the Quillayute River system and making predictions based on the results. “It’s interesting. When I was little, I would always see people on the river doing experiments, so I asked them what they were doing. They told me they didn’t like sitting in the office much and that their job allowed them to be outside a lot,” Ramos said. “That sounded like a good idea to me, too.”

Boom City is open

Visit Tulalip Boom City for your Fourth of July fireworks and fun. With 136 stand, Boom City has something to offer everyone, including food. Boom City is open daily through midnight on July 4th.

Directions:

I-5 North: Take exit 200, take a right at the light follow until you reach 27th and take a right.

I-5 South: Take exit 200, take a left at the light follow until you reach 27th and take a right.

Spike and the Impalers return to Tulalip

KZOK-FM personalities Spike O'Neill (above) and Bob Rivers lead the tongue-in-cheek cover band Spike and the Impalers. — KZOK-FM personalities Spike O’Neill (above) and Bob Rivers lead the tongue-in-cheek cover band Spike and the Impalers.

By Andy Rathbun, The Herald

Music is coming back to the Tulalip Amphitheatre, with the venue’s summer concert series kicking off with a return visit by Spike and the Impalers.

The group, which will play at 8 p.m. Friday, has been a staple in the venue’s summer lineup for years.

The group, led by 95.7 KJR morning show hosts Spike O’Neill and Bob Rivers, is basically a cover band, playing hits from AC/DC to ZZ Top.

Tickets are $38.50 to $54.50 at ticketmaster.com or 800-745-3000.

Fans of classic rock also may be headed to Woodinville’s Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery, where the Steve Miller Band will play a sold-out show at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Steve Miller, who turns 70 this year, has been a touchstone on classic rock radio for decades. His hits in the 1970s included “The Joker,” “Jet Airliner” and “Rock ‘N Me.”

All of those tracks are included on the singer’s “Greatest Hits 1974-78,” which remains a top seller to this day.

Tickets are sold out but can be found at a markup at stubhub.com.

A longer drive will give fans a chance to see some bigger shows, as the White River Amphitheatre in Auburn hosts a pair of shows.

The Last Summer on Earth tour will bring the Barenaked Ladies and Ben Folds Five to the amphitheatre at 7 p.m. Saturday. Both acts boast loyal followings and have found a home on adult contemporary radio.

The Barenaked Ladies’ geek-friendly take on alt-rock helped it score a string of hits around the turn of the century, including the hits “One Week” and “Brian Wilson.” The group released a new album, “Grinning Streak,” earlier this month.

Ben Folds Five, meanwhile, broke up in 2000, only to reform for a new album in 2012. Warmly embraced by fans, “The Sound of the Life of the Mind” found the group falling back into step with its piano-pounding sound.

Guster, the alt-pop band, will open the show.

Tickets are $46.50 to $86.20 at ticketmaster.com or 800-745-3000.

Then, the amphitheatre will draw a very different kind of crowd, as it hosts the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival at 1 p.m. Wednesday.

The annual hard rock festival will feature headliners Rob Zombie and Mastodon.

Rob Zombie acts as the elder statesman of the group. The campy singer — who also has directed horror flicks like “House of 1000 Corpses” — is touring behind his new album, “Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor,” which hit No. 7 on the charts.

Despite his bluster, Zombie is a mainstream act. Mastodon, meanwhile, boasts some indie cred. The metal act, a favorite of taste-making websites like Pitchfork.com, cracked the top 10 with its 2011 album, “The Hunter,” and may road test some new material during the concert.

Tickets are $42 to $101.55 at ticketmaster.com or 800-745-3000.

Finally, Bellevue’s own Queensryche will play the Moore Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

The Bellevue act, again featuring original vocalist Geoff Tate, is touring behind its new album, “Frequency Unknown.”

Tickets are $22.50 to $42.50 at stgpresents.org or 877-784-4849.

Steve Gobin: Retiring after a lifetime of service

Tulalip Quil Ceda Village General Manager Steve Gobin speaks at his last Quil Ceda Village Council Meeting. Steve is retiring July 1st, to enjoy life with his family and especially his grandchildren. Steve Gobin — Tulalip Quil Ceda Village General Manager Steve Gobin speaks at his last Quil Ceda Village Council Meeting. Steve is retiring July 1st, to enjoy life with his family and especially his grandchildren. Photo by Niki Cleary

Niki Cleary, TulalipNews

At 62, short, grey and balding, Steve Gobin is not an imposing figure. He is humble, quiet, enjoys fly fishing and is devoted to his family. But ask him to talk about his tribe, economic development, sustainability, health care or any number of subjects connected to the wellbeing and longevity of his tribe, spark his passion, and Steve goes from mild mannered grandpa to razor sharp advocate in an instant.

After more than two decades of service for his tribe, Steve, General Manager of Tulalip’s Quil Ceda Village, is retiring. His career included labor in fisheries and forestry, 20 years of healthcare experience, work lobbying for expanded CHS (Contract Health Services) programs and funds, a stint in Governmental Affairs and finally his last two jobs, Deputy General Manager and General Manager of Quil Ceda Village. During his lifetime, he’s seen vast changes on the reservation, and he’s been a catalyst for some of them.

“I was born and raised here,” said Steve. “I think the tribe has gone through a lot of different personalities, but the leadership vision for the tribe has stayed consistent through those years. There’s still that consistency in the board today and I think that’s what kept us moving forward step after step after step.”

The tribe’s current prosperity is relatively new. Steve reminisced about his childhood.

“When I was a boy, we cut shakes for $3.00 a day, and we were happy to have the $3.00,” he explained. “We lived on a few thousand dollars a year. We lived on commodities, hunting and fishing. The priorities were making the family whole and feeding everybody.

“A lot of times I didn’t start school in the fall, I had to work and take care of my family,” Steve recalled. “My dad used to fish in Alaska, he used to start in June and go to November, so I got out of school early and started late. But I didn’t know I was poor.”

In his youth, Steve said, unemployment was about 80%. Then in the 1990s Tulalip built a bingo hall.

“The tribe didn’t even have an office until around 1965, and I think we had two or three employees, my mom was one of the employees they hired,” he said. “People didn’t fit in on the outside. There was no place for them to make money, the whole reservation economy was non-existent.”

Although there is always room for growth, Steve is grateful and astonished at what has been accomplished during his lifetime.

“It may seem to a lot of people that we don’t get paid enough, but look at what the tribe has given us, just in the last 20 years. It amazes me,” Steve described a few of the programs now provided. “We’ve funded healthcare, pharmaceuticals, mental health and drug and alcohol programs to help us overcome 200 years of poverty. We have money to pay per-capita payments to our people.

“No one needs to be starving or without a job. This is not the world that I knew growing up. It’s hard for me to look at my kids, even though I wanted them to have what I didn’t, and know they didn’t have the opportunity to experience living on the beach for food and to stay alive. Some of the bonding we did as a family and as a reservation, that really made us strong and we need to find a way to bring that back to our community.”

While some see addiction and social disorder as the pitfalls of prosperity, Steve says those dangers always existed. But now we have a chance to shape our future.

“The killer drug in 1970 was Rainier Beer,” he said. “Today it’s meth and heroin. But the things that stem from addiction are the same; child abuse, not feeling safe in the home, they’re the same now as then, but now there are more of us and it costs more to deal with it.

“But, with economic development,” Steve continued, “I think we have an opportunity to change the past and create a new vision for the future. Where kids don’t have to be hurt and people don’t have to go through those things. We can bring back some of that community pride to the tribe.

“A lot of what we’ve put into the ground, past Board of Directors, John McCoy, I can see it’s a future here, a future for my kids and grandkids and their kids. We’re building a sustainable economy so that our children don’t have to deal with the economic issues that we had. We’re the second largest employer in Snohomish County now. It’s been rewarding to be here.”

Right now, Steve can’t quite envision what the tribe will look like in a hundred years or more. But, family and culture, he described, have to be part of the future.

“I grew up and raised my family with the assumption that the reservation would always be a cultural center for our people,” he said. “But the sheer growth and population over the next 50 to 100 years is going to take that natural resource away from us. We’re going to have to find another way to be culturally connected to our past without fishing, hunting and the things that are the core of who we are. It’s going to be a challenge for our future leaders to take what’s best of the past and bring it forward to make a place for our people.”

Asked what teaching he’d like to leave for future generations, Steve said, “Take pride in yourself, work for your tribe’s future and the rewards that you will get will be enriching and last forever.”

Steve’s last day is July 1^st. Like all of our leaders, I have no doubts that for the rest of his days, Steve will be looking out for the tribe and teaching future leaders what it means to be Tulalip. Happy retirement, Steve.

Art contest promotes diversity

Beckye Randall, North County Outlook

Artists of all ages are invited to submit original works of art that illustrate diversity in conjunction with the City of Marysville’s first annual Multicultural Festival, set for Sept. 28.

The Marysville Arts Coalition, in partnership with the Mayor’s Advisory Council on Diversity, is managing the art contest. Artists are encouraged to submit two-dimensional art that illustrates the council’s theme of “Diversity Works: Sharing Similarities, Celebrating Differences.” Winners will be chosen in several age-based categories, and the grand prize winner’s work will be displayed on the festival’s program cover. Deadline for submissions is August 2, 2013.

Members of the diversity council, which is chaired by Marvetta Toler, reflect the racial, ethnic and socio-economic diversity of the Marysville-Tulalip area, ranging from individual citizens to frontline employees who work with various ethnic individuals and families, along with practitioners in the fields of multicultural and gender equity. The council has prepared a two-year work plan, and the organization of a citywide multicultural festival has been in the works for several months.

The Marysville Arts Coalition was asked to participate in the festival planning, specifically for oversight and judging of the community arts contest. Members of MAC are also involved in helping to arrange the festival’s entertainment schedule.

Art contest entries must include the artist’s name, mailing address, phone and email address. Youth entries should also include the artist’s age, grade and school, and the parents’ names.

Contest prizes include a $25 gift card and ribbon for each division winner and a Grand Prize worth up to $300, selected from among the division winners and announced at the multicultural fair. All artwork will be on display during the one-day festival.

Only one entry per person can be accepted. Artwork and the accompanying artist information must be submitted to City Hall, 1049 State Ave., by 4 p.m. August 2.

For more information, visit marysvillewa.gov/diversity.

Proposed hydro-energy project has Index saying ‘no dam way’

Snohomish County PUD wants to install a small, inflatable dam at this bend on the south fork of the Skykomish River.Bellamy Pailthorp / KPLU News — Snohomish County PUD wants to install a small, inflatable dam at this bend on the south fork of the Skykomish River.
Bellamy Pailthorp / KPLU News

June 19, 2013

By Bellamy Pailthorp

At a time when Washington state has been making headlines for the largest dam removal project ever on the Elwah River, Snohomish County is proposing a new one.

The Snohomish County Public Utility District says the proposed dam’s modern low-impact design would help the county diversify its energy portfolio and meet the future power demands of a growing population.

But the location of the proposed dam—on a wild and scenic stretch of the Skykomish River near the small town of Index—has many locals banding together against the project.

Jeff Smith (center, in tan shirt) welcomed a public tour by FERC and the PUD at his property, which borders on the proposed dam site.Bellamy Pailthorp / KPLU News — Jeff Smith (center, in tan shirt) welcomed a public tour by FERC and the PUD at his property, which borders on the proposed dam site.
Bellamy Pailthorp / KPLU News

‘No dam way’

Driving east on Highway 2, evidence of the brewing controversy near Index is hard to miss. Printed signs and hand-painted placards line the roads, calling on the PUD not to dam the Skykomish.

“Did you see our address sign that says ‘no dam way?’” asks homeowner Jeff Smith with a laugh.

Smith is trying to maintain his sense of humor about it all. His riverfront property sits right on the edge of the proposed dam site.

For decades, Smith’s family has enjoyed communing with nature on the shore of the Skykomish as the river rushes by. To the west, the craggy peak of Mount Index looms, to south and east are peaks in the Wild Sky and Alpine Lakes Wilderness areas.

“A lot of people call this truly one of the most spectacular places in the country,” Smith said. “And of course, we believe it’s an inappropriate place to put an industrial project that puts a yoke on a wild and scenic river. And we think it should be allowed to stay free.”

Meeting a growing demand

A powerhouse would be built to the left of Sunset falls, shown here. PUD says they would not be de-watered, just diminished as with hydro at Snoqualmie or Niagra Falls.

The Skykomish is one of only four rivers in Washington that has earned the wild and scenic designation, which is meant to discourage development.

But the Snohomish PUD has obtained the preliminary permit to put in an inflatable dam on the river. The idea is the dam would take advantage of the water’s power as it flows toward two sets of dramatic waterfalls.

The utility recently toured the site with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as part of its first scoping meeting. The commission will determine what kinds of environmental studies will be required for the licensing process.

Snohomish PUD Assistant General Manager Kim Moore pointed across the river, explaining to FERC and the public exactly how the inflatable structure made of steel and rubber would work.

“This is a big inner tube, which has compressed air that allows us to lower or raise it to keep the river at a steady height. Right now, with this kind of flow, probably it would be all deflated,” Moore told the tour.

Moore said the dam would lie flat about a third of the year, not producing power at those times. And there would always be some water flowing over the dam; it would adjust with the strength of the river to keep water levels safe for endangered fish and minimize its environmental impacts.

The dam would provide power for about 10,000 homes—or about 1 percent of the utility’s demand—at a cost of up to $170 million.

The utility says it’s the lowest cost “renewable energy” project it has found. The utility is also actively pursuing additional wind power and exploring geothermal, tidal and large-scale solar installations. Bottom line, says Moore: the utility wants to wean off of dirty fossil fuels.

“So this prevents a natural gas plant or coal plant, you know, because we’re still growing,” he said. “The county’s growing, we’re adding people and there’s a need for additional energy.”

‘Simply inappropriate’

Those arguments haven’t stopped the opposition.

More than a hundred people squeezed into the Index Fire House for the evening scoping meeting. And of the nearly three dozen people commenting, only one man spoke in favor of the dam. The man said the dam could reduce flooding and improve roads in the area.

But the rest of the commenters did not agree. Along with local residents, representatives of groups including the Sierra Club and the League of Women Voters joined the chorus of dissenters. Also testifying was Tom O’Keefe, Pacific Northwest Stewardship Director with American Whitewater.

“I have tremendous respect for my colleagues here at the PUD. I have worked with these folks for over a decade, ” O’Keefe said. “But sometimes your friends make mistakes. And this project is simply inappropriate in our view.”

FERC is taking comments on the plan for the proposed Skykomish River dam proposal through July 19. The final decision on the license is expected to take about five years.

What should it look like?

Tribal officials need your help planning tribal parks

By Niki Cleary, TulalipNews

As the houses and debris were slowly cleared away, tribal members began returning to Mission Beach, one of few open, accessible beaches on the Tulalip reservation. Although the homes are gone, the bulkheads remain, leaving room for an exciting opportunity: A tribal park.

Grassy areas, handicap accessibility from the road to the beach, interpretive signs that play Lushootseed place names at the touch of a button and, of course, nice restrooms. These are just some of the ideas tossed around at the public meeting that Housing staff hosted to gather input from tribal members about what they’d like to see in a ‘Mission Beach Park.’

The meeting was a brainstorming session with no limits, and while a water slide (that twirls and loops and then dips underground before shooting you into the water) might not make it into the final plan, many of the ideas will

“This is a great opportunity for tribal members,” said Public Works Executive Director Gus Taylor. “There are so many tribal members who go down there right now.”

Mission Beach’s accessibility has also sparked the creation of a Parks Committee.

“The Parks Committee formed last month,” explained Patti Gobin who works on Special projects for Tulalip. She pointed out that the return of Mission Beach to tribal members is only the latest and most visible reason that parks planning is needed.

“In the past we never called them parks, they’ve just been gathering areas,” she said. “We’re growing so fast and we’re starting to have more open spaces for our people to gather and enjoy. We need some criteria for those areas to make sure they stay clean, safe and sustainable for our people. We’re going to create a parks ordinance that will set those criteria with sensitivity to our culture and traditional ways. In hundreds of years we, the tribe, will still be here. We want to make sure our open space and parks will be here for generations to come.”

The Parks Committee is still in its infancy. Right now it is composed of staff from the different tribal departments (Natural Resources, Community Development, Public Works, Administrative Services and Cultural Resources) that are currently managing the common spaces on the reservation.

Unfortunately, the Parks Committee isn’t just an optimistic endeavor to construct parks, it’s also a reaction to some of the negative activities that are taking place in the tribe’s recreational areas. Since the Mission Beach home removal, several people have reported groups of both tribal and non-tribal members under the influence and verbally abusive on the beach, graffiti has sprung up along the old bulkheads and some of the bulkhead has been burned away.

“We need to be proactive in monitoring and providing maintenance for these areas,” said Patti. Ultimately that means a Parks Department. “That will require budget to pay for staff, and we’ll have to decide, what will be the criteria for those jobs? Will it include park rangers?

“This isn’t just for Mission Beach,” Patti went on. “We have gathering areas at Totem Beach, Hermosa, Spee-Bi-Dah, Tulare, and off reservation too, at Lopez Island, Baby Island, and Hat Island. Those are just the areas I can think of off the top of my head. Eventually a parks department would also be responsible for the connectivity and maintenance of walking trails throughout the reservation.”

Patti and her team are hoping to have a first draft of the Parks Ordinance submitted for Board of Directors Review by January 2014, but, she said, Mission Beach won’t wait that long.

Because Mission Beach is designated as lease property, it currently falls under the authority of the Tulalip Housing Department, although once a parks department is created and staffed, Mission Beach will revert to parks. Housing is currently requesting input from tribal members about what they’d like to see in the future.

“Right now we’re unsure when the next meeting will be,” said Anita Taylor of Housing. “We’re presenting the ideas from our first meeting to the board, then we’ll have another community meeting, hopefully in July.”

In the meantime, a sign outlining general park rules will be going up at the parking lot and on the beach, and tribal staff will continue to maintain garbage cans with the expectation that if you pack it in, you pack it out. For other concerns or to submit your input to the park plan, contact Housing staff.

“If you have an emergency, of course call 911,” said Anita. “But if you have any other issues, want to report graffiti, find needles or paraphernalia on the beach, contact myself (360-716-4449, ataylor@tulaliptribes-nsn.gov), or Malory Simpson (360-716-4454, msimpson@tulaliptribes-nsn.gov) and we’ll arrange to have staff take care of it as soon as possible.”

The following images from Brian Way of WHPacific, illustrate some of the proposals for Mission Beach. These include pathways, viewpoints, restrooms, fire pits and a rinse station.

Nooksack tribal dispute heads to federal court

John Stark, The Bellingham Herald

After getting another rebuff in tribal court, Nooksack Indians facing loss of their tribal membership have filed a new lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

Seattle Attorney Gabriel Galanda filed the federal suit Monday, June 17, on behalf of Rudy St. Germain and Michelle Roberts, two tribal council members who are among the 306 who could be stripped of their tribal membership because the validity of their Nooksack lineage has been called into question.

The suit declares that the move to purge the 306 is based on “racial animus,” because all 306 are part-Filipino. That charge is hotly denied by Nooksack Tribal Chairman Bob Kelly and his supporters, who have noted that many other Nooksacks have Filipino ancestors but can demonstrate their Nooksack lineage in a way that meets the requirements of tribal law.

But as Galanda and his clients see it, Kelly and the other five members of the council are in the process of changing that law to keep them out.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs of the U.S. Department of the Interior is currently supervising a mail-in constitutional amendment election that could make it more difficult to qualify for Nooksack membership. Kelly and his five supporters on the council have asked voters to repeal a constitutional provision that makes tribal membership available to anyone who has at least one-fourth Indian blood, plus Nooksack ancestry “to any degree.”

That election is scheduled to conclude June 21.

Galanda’s lawsuit argues that repeal of that provision of the tribal constitution would make it more difficult for his clients and other challenged Nooksacks to re-enroll in the tribe if the current effort to strip them of membership succeeds.

That, the suit contends, denies the affected Nooksacks the right to equal protection under law and is therefore a violation of the Indian Civil Rights Act. Galanda wants the judge to order federal officials to halt the constitutional election.

All of the 306 facing loss of membership are descendants of the late Annie George. Tribal officials contend that George did not qualify as Nooksack under tribal law, because her name does not appear on a tribal census of 1942 or on the list of those who got an allotment of tribal lands. Galanda and his clients have submitted other records and letters from anthropologists indicating that Annie George was, in fact, a Nooksack.

Also on Monday, Nooksack Court Tribal Chief Judge Rachel Montoya repeated the legal arguments of her earlier rulings and refused to stop the constitutional election. She found that a majority of the tribal council was acting within its proper authority in launching the constitutional election to change the membership rules.

The 306 challenged Nooksacks face loss of housing and medical benefits, tribal hunting and fishing rights, tribal jobs and other benefits if they are pushed out of the 2,000-member tribe.

Read more here: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2013/06/17/3056967/nooksack-tribal-dispute-heads.html#storylink=cpy