The Quinault Nation, based in Taholah, Washington, released the following statement approving the President’s 2013 National Drug Control Strategy, released on April 24. The policy builds on the foundation laid down by the Administration’s previous three strategies and serves as the Nation’s blueprint for reducing drug use and its consequences. The collaborative and scientific-based approach involves 1) prevention through education; 2) expanded access to treatment for Americans struggling with addiction; 3) reform of the criminal justice system to break the cycle of drug use, crime and incarceration while protecting public safety; and 4) support for Americans in recovery by lifting the stigma associated with those suffering or in recovery from substance abuse disorders.
We enthusiastically applaud President Obama’s announcement today that his Administration will pursue a 21st Century Drug Policy to replace the ‘tough on crime’ policy with a new ‘smart on crime policy’,” said Fawn Sharp, President of the Quinault Indian Nation and the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians.
Far too long, the U.S. approach to drug control has been focused on a “war” that has long since been proved to be unwinnable, rather than an approach based on holistic healing and education as well as a logical approach that combines enforcement with opportunities for victims and potential victims of drug addiction to overcome and prevent addiction as the disease that it is, said Sharp.
“The failed approaches of the past have cost this country dearly. Every year, the price tag in lost productivity, healthcare and criminal justice has mounted to hundreds of billions of dollars. But the cost in lost lives and lost human potential has gone way beyond dollars and cents, diminishing the potential of hundreds of thousands of individuals, jeopardizing the health and safety of entire families and communities,” she said.
“Indian tribes have by no means been immune to this curse. Right here in the Northwest, and throughout the country, drugs have cost native people dearly, and we have been working hard to meet this challenge head on,” she said.
“This President’s vision is very welcome and way past due. We embrace it and we at Quinault will do all we can to support it,” she said.
This is a disease that can be cured, if we approach it properly. President Obama’s approach is a science-driven plan, backed by clear research and evidence. Progress is already being made under his leadership and guidance. The use of certain drugs is on the decline, as is drug-related imprisonment, said Sharp.
“We absolutely concur with the President’s holistic approach, which is based on attacking drug abuse as public health issue as well as a criminal issue. Tribes have already seen it to be true, that going to the source of the disease and working toward a cure makes far more sense than approaching it through enforcement alone,” she said.
The President’s policy is based on four primary objectives:1)Preventing drug use before it begins through education; 2)Expanding access to treatment for Americans struggling with addiction; 3)Reforming the country’s criminal justice system to break the cycle of drug use, crime and incarceration and 4)Supporting Americans in recovery and lifting the stigma associated with substance use disorders. These policies are based on definitive research that shows drug addiction is a disease of the brain.
“Drug abuse has no place in the lives of our tribal members, or any other American. For generations our Native American people have been healing from a number of challenges and diseases brought on through our interaction with non-tribal society. Drug and alcohol abuse have been among the worst of these challenges. But we are dealing with these challenges, and we are making progress. With the help of insightful policies such as this President’s new policy on drug abuse, combined with our own and with our reliance on the healthy and holistic traditional values of our ancestors, we will continue to make progress, and our people will continue to become all that they can be,” said Sharp.
Most notably, the President’s Budget includes a request for an increase of copy.5 billion over the FY 2012 level to fund drug treatment and prevention services in America – a 16 percent increase over FY 2012. As a result, the President’s Budget requests more for treatment and prevention—copy0.7 billion—than for Federally-funded domestic drug law enforcement and incarceration – $9.6 billion.
“This is what a 21st century approach to drug policy looks like,” said Sharp. “It will be critically important to assure that an adequate amount of this funding is appropriated to Native American programs.”
By Rob Capriccioso, Indian Country Today Media Network
If a politician’s commitment to Indian country can be measured by the amount of money he’s directed to it, then retiring Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana) has been among the most committed in recent memory.
According to the senator’s website, at least copy0 billion has been designated for Native American programs and tribes during his tenure as chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, a title he has held since 2001. But his contributions aren’t limited to cash. Baucus supported urban Indian health and anti-diabetes measures, and worked to get increased resources for the Indian Health Service. Ken Salazar, the recently departed Secretary of the Interior, has said Baucus was a key player in passing the Crow Water Settlement Act of 2010, which resolved a 30-plus-year dispute. He also played a role in other tribal water settlements, and in getting the Indian Health Care Improvement Act passed in 2010.
Now that Baucus and a handful of other Indian-friendly senators have announced their retirements, many Indians are thinking of ways to educate a new batch of Congressional leaders—a never-ending job, but one that takes on increased importance when those with institutionalized tribal knowledge and experience move on. “We’ve lost Senator Inouye, and Senators Akaka, Lautenberg, and Johnson announced their retirements. Now my old boss, Senator Baucus, is moving back to Bozeman [Montana],” says Tom Rogers, a lobbyist with Carlyle Consulting who worked as a congressional staffer for Baucus for 25 years before forming his own lobbying firm. “We are losing and have lost some mighty oak trees.”
Baucus, 71, announced on April 23 that he would leave Congress at the completion of his current term, which ends in December 2014. The news stunned many in Washington, including some members on his staff. He has been building a ranch in Bozeman, and he recently got married (for the third time), so many have speculated that he is ready to settle down and relax.
Baucus explained his decision in an op-ed published by The Great Falls Tribune. “It whispered to me among the elk resting in a meadow east of the Bridger Mountains,” he wrote. “I heard it as thousands of snow geese flew over the Rocky Mountain Front. The pull came up from my soul like the ducks that rose in clouds from the winter wheat fields of Teton County at dusk.”
He also said he is happier than he’s ever been, while vowing to focus on meaningful tax reform during his remaining months in the Senate—something that seems feasible, since leading Republicans and Democrats, as well President Barack Obama, all have said they want to make progress in that area.
Baucus told Indian Country Today Media Network he has been honored to work on behalf of tribes. “Serving the people of Montana, including our reservation communities, has been the greatest honor of my life,” he said. “You don’t become the longest-serving Senator in Montana history without a lot of help from a lot of people—and I owe much of my success to the tremendous support from folks in Indian country. Montana is so lucky to enjoy the rich culture and history our tribes bring to the state.
“I have worked hard over the years to represent all Montanans and giving a voice to Indian country is very important to me. Together we’ve accomplished a lot, from the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to the Cobell settlement to funding for infrastructure and education. But we still have a lot of work ahead of us to support good-paying jobs in Indian country. Over the next year and a half, I’ll be just as dedicated to working for our Montana reservation communities, including pushing my bill to fully fund water projects and making sure Indian country plays an important role in my Economic Development Summit.”
“My overall sense is that his retirement could give a shot in the arm to comprehensive tax code reform, including key tribal provisions,” says Paul Moorehead, an Indian affairs lawyer with Drinker Biddle who is a former Senate staffer. “His counterpart on the House side, Representative Camp, is term-limited… So what we have is two men who after 2014 will be gone from the helms of the House and Senate tax-writing committees, and a re-elected president who is interested in tax reform as a way to strengthen the economy.”
Indian country, especially Montana tribes, have learned that Baucus is largely respectful of tribal sovereign nations, and he aided Native America through financial programs he created and controlled as the Finance Committee chair, such as the Tribal Economic Development (TED) Bond program that launched in 2009 under the Obama administration’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The program has since been expanded by the Internal Revenue Service, and is believed to be aiding an increasing number of tribes by exempting their borrowing on many more projects than they were able to before the law passed. Using TED bonds, tribes can finance almost anything that state governments are able to finance through tax-exempt bonds.
Rogers was disappointed some Democrats said they are glad to see Baucus retire, because he is not progressive on issues like gun control. “They have to remember the state he comes from. And Indian issues don’t need to be politicized, so the fact that he could work with Republicans on our issues often benefitted Indian country.” On that point, Chris Stearns, an Indian affairs lawyer with Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker who was previously a House staffer adds, “Like past Indian country champions in the Senate from North and South Dakota, he showed that you don’t have to be a senator from a liberal or so-called progressive state to get things done for Native Americans. You just have to have courage, strong convictions, and the support of Indian people.”
There’s no doubt his departure will leave a hole for tribes in the Senate, says Stearns, but he adds that it is not as dire a picture as some worriers might paint. “Leaders always emerge, but more importantly, we need to remember that Indian country’s champions are already there,” Stearns says. “Leaders like Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, Jon Tester and Al Franken have already proven themselves.”
Sen. Tester, who will become the senior senator from Montana once Baucus departs, says he is sad to see his colleague and mentor go, but has vowed to continue his advocacy for Indian country. Andrea Helling, a spokeswoman for Tester, says Sen. Tester and his staff “will continue to work closely with Montana reservations on economic development projects and the quality of life issues that support economic development, like the permanent reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, the SAVE the Native Women Act, the HEARTH Act, and the Tribal Law and Order Act.”
Despite that promise, Stearns says Indian country needs to continue to foster its relationship with him and other members of Congress. “One of the key points to remember when you look back at the storied careers of Senators like Dan Inouye, Byron Dorgan, Tom Daschle or Max Baucus is that it is just as important for them to win elections so they could enjoy the lengthy careers that really paid off for Indian tribes and Indian people. Indian country will have no trouble rebounding, but Indian country can never afford to take its foot off the pedal when it comes to exercising the power of the Native vote, so we can keep our champions in office.”
Rogers agrees that Native Americans need to get increasingly involved with U.S. elections. “It’s critically important for Indian country to realize that its power emanates from voting,” he says.
Rogers is one of the few who sees a silver-lining in Baucus’s announcement, pointing out that he will soon be able to advocate for tribes from outside the Senate, whether through lobbying or a non-profit program.
Others are less sanguine. “Max has given decades of service and he deserves to spend time enjoying life instead of leading the life of a senator, which is hectic and stressful… so from Max’s perspective, this is a good thing,” says George Waters, President of George Waters Consulting Service. “However, from Montana’s perspective and the perspective of Montana’s tribes, and tribes across the country, this is definitely not a good thing. Max has tremendous power and has used it to benefit his constituents, including the tribes of his state… To lose someone with that power, seniority, staff and history will hurt, there is no other way to put it. However, the tribes are resilient and we’ve had great advocates from Montana in the past like Lee Metcalf, Mike Mansfield and Pat Williams. When they left the Congress, the void, at the time, seemed insurmountable, but they have been replaced by highly regarded members. Life will go on.”
Some are speculating that former Democratic Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer will run for the seat Baucus is vacating. The popular governor has said he strongly supports tribal sovereignty, and he has a record of supporting tribal bison and cultural issues. Still, Rogers would like to see more concrete tribal economic development and anti-poverty ideas emerge from Schweitzer if he does become a senatorial candidate.
But for now, the focus is on Baucus, and Rogers, who has known him since 1978, says he is happy for the retiring senator. “I consider him my friend, and he is very much at peace—that is a good thing to see and to want for a friend. I am smiling for what comes next for him.”
The Quinault Indian Nation and the Quinault Canoe Society will proudly host the Paddle to Quinault 2013 during the dates of August 1st-6th, 2013.
Back in 1989, Emmit Oliver, a Quinault Tribal elder organized the “Paddle to Seattle” as a part of Washington State Centennial Ceremony revitalizing a tradition that was lost for many years, and that is canoeing. We now know this as the Canoe Journey. The Canoe Journey has become symbol of cultural revitalization on a national level; we can expect anywhere from 90 US tribes, Canadian First Nations, and New Zealand to join the celebration.
The Canoe Journey creates opportunities for tribal members to re-learn, strengthen and reinforce their canoe traditions. There are many cultural values that are learned from the canoeing some include: pride, cultural knowledge, learning how to paddle, respect, and sense of achievement.
ATTENTION: canoe families Saturday May 4th will be surf training at Point Grenville!
12:00pm the Bring your canoe, our May-ee will be available as well. Lunch will be provided
Dan Bates / The Herald Eastbound Marysville traffic, coming off I-5 from both northbound and southbound ramps, jams up at the Fourth Street train crossing April 9.
MARYSVILLE — When it comes to traffic backups from more coal trains, Marysville is Snohomish County’s ground zero.
Of 33 street crossings on BNSF Railway’s north-south line in the county, 16 — nearly half — are in Marysville.
Many of them already are congested.
Even now, at Fourth Street downtown, trains cause drivers to wait through the equivalent of three or four red lights, according to one traffic study.
Adding trains would make it that much harder for people who live in the city to get in and out, would delay access to businesses and cause serious problems for fire, ambulance and police service, Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring said.
The proposed $650 million Gateway Pacific terminal would serve as a place to send coal, grain, potash and scrap wood for biofuels to Asia. Trains would bring coal from Montana and Wyoming across Washington state to Seattle and north to Bellingham. Supporters point to the jobs that would be generated by the new business.
The terminal also is expected to generate up to 18 more train trips through Snohomish County per day, nine full and nine empty.
This would roughly double the number of trains that currently travel between Everett and Bellingham each day.
Other cities that could be affected by delays from more trains are Edmonds and Stanwood. In Mukilteo and in Everett, the tracks run through underpasses or tunnels at major arterials.
Marysville is in a unique position because the city is long and skinny north and south. The tracks run its entire length, right between Marysville’s two busiest north-south routes, I-5 and State Avenue.
In the case of State, at some crossings, the tracks are right next to the arterial. And State Avenue and I-5 are only about a half-mile apart through much of the city.
How much money will be needed for bridges, underpasses and rail improvements — and who would pay — is a long way from being determined.
Railroads are obligated by federal law to pay only a maximum of 5 percent of the cost of new bridges or tunnels deemed necessary to offset delays from added train traffic, according to Courtney Wallace, a spokeswoman for BNSF Railway in Seattle. The railroad owns the tracks from Seattle to the Canadian border.
“We would work with city officials to identify funding and work with them to see where the funding could come from, whether it’s federal dollars, state dollars or local dollars,” she said.
Wallace said she didn’t know if the company proposing the plan, SSA Marine of Seattle, would pitch in to cover any of the costs. Craig Cole, a spokesman for SSA Marine, declined to comment on the topic.
Even if money is available for road fixes, Marysville’s choices are limited.
Because of the closeness of the tracks to State Avenue and I-5, building overpasses is not even an option, city public works director Kevin Nielsen said.
Officials with Marysville and the state Department of Transportation — to name just a couple of agencies that submitted letters during last fall’s comment period on the plan — asked that potential improvements and costs be addressed in upcoming environmental studies.
From September through January, about 14,000 people registered comments in hearings and in writing with the three agencies reviewing the plan — the state Department of Ecology, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Whatcom County.
It’s too early to tell exactly what subjects the studies will include, said Larry Altose, a spokesman for the ecology department. It will likely be at least a few months before the topics for study are determined and a year before the first draft of the study is done, Altose said.
This would be followed by another comment period and the final study, which would likely take at least another year.
Many environmental groups, local governments and individuals have come out against the plan. Their concerns, in addition to traffic at crossings, include pollution from coal dust and climate change.
One of the rail crossings is at 271st Street NW in the heart of Stanwood. Mayor Dianne White, however, doesn’t believe the extra trains would cause major problems.
“I don’t see it messing it up that much. They don’t stop, they keep going,” she said.
She added, however, that “I really feel for Marysville. It could completely block the whole city.”
Other crossings in the Silvana area and north of Stanwood could face some rush-hour delays but traffic is lighter there than in Marysville.
On the positive side, the plan is projected to create 4,400 temporary, construction related jobs and 1,200 long-term positions, according to SSA Marine.
“If they don’t build that Cherry Point terminal, (the trains) are going to keep going into Canada like they are now and we don’t get 2,000 jobs,” White said.
Rep. Rick Larsen, whose district includes Marysville as well as Bellingham where the project is planned, came under fire in his re-election campaign last year for backing the coal terminal. At the time, he called it a difficult decision, but said he supported the terminal because of the thousands of unemployed people who live in Whatcom County.
He said in a statement on Friday that “potentially negative outcomes” should be determined in the environmental review.
“If the (study) identifies traffic impacts, the project sponsor would and should be responsible for paying for improvements to mitigate those problems,” he said.
In Edmonds, the city has only two crossings, but one of them sits at the entrance to the ferry dock at the foot of Main Street. The other, at Dayton Street, controls access to much of the waterfront, including the Port of Edmonds marina.
State transportation officials, in written comments on the Gateway Pacific plan last fall, said two of 25 sailings per day were recently eliminated from the Edmonds-Kingston run because waits for trains were causing the boats to run behind schedule.
A plan proposed long ago, but shelved by a lack of funding, called for building a new ferry terminal at the south end of Edmonds where a bridge could be built over the tracks to carry ferry traffic.
The transportation department, in its letter, asked that this plan be re-examined in the environmental study, as well as the possibility of a bridge or tunnel at the Main Street crossing, and restricting train traffic during busy travel periods.
More than twice as many trains run per day on weekdays in south county than from Everett north — 49 compared to 19. Very few of the roads north of Everett, however, have bridges or underpasses at the train tracks.
Of the trains running in both directions between Everett and Seattle, about 35 are freight trains, BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas said. Amtrak Cascades and Empire Builder trains add another six every day, while Sounder commuter trains add another eight on weekdays. Mudslides have canceled an increasing number of these trains in recent years.
Adding 18 trains per day would bring the Monday-Friday total to 67.
About 15 freight trains run per day between Everett and Bellingham, Melonas said. Amtrak Cascades trains add four more for a total of 19 each day.
Adding 18 to this total would bring the total to 37.
Currently, up to four trains per day already carry coal on tracks between Seattle and Canada, Melonas said. Several terminals in British Columbia already ship coal, according to the Coal Association of Canada.
Trains are restricted to 30 mph in Marysville for safety reasons, meaning the barriers are down for six to eight minutes — the equivalent of three or four stoplight cycles — for the longer trains, according to the Gibson study.
The study was done for a group of business owners and residents in Whatcom County, said Tom Ehrlichman, an attorney for Salish Law of Bellingham, the group’s law firm at the time.
In downtown Marysville, the crossing at Fourth Street is less than a quarter-mile from I-5 — too close for an overpass, which would take up four blocks, Nielsen said.
Engineers have looked at tunneling under the tracks, but the dip would have to be steep because of the proximity to the freeway. Also, high ground water at that location would make the underpass susceptible to flooding, he said.
At 88th Street NE, the tracks are just a few feet from State Avenue.
“We could go over it, but you would end up way over on the other side of State Avenue in a neighborhood somewhere, and you’d have to have loop-back ramps over people’s houses to get back to State,” Nielsen said.
Because the tracks at 88th and 116th Street NE are so close to I-5, sometimes, when a long train goes through, traffic backs up onto the freeway, according to the Gibson study.
In fact, the extra trains could negate the benefits of the city’s $2 million widening of 116th completed a few years ago, the study says.
The study shows the street having carried 20,000 automobiles per day in 2011. For 88th Street NE and Fourth Street, the numbers are 30,000 each. Of this 80,000 total, about 7,000 of those were in the evening rush hour.
Because of the problems with building overpasses, city officials feel the best solution is to build an off-ramp from northbound I-5 directly to Highway 529 and the new Ebey Slough Bridge. This ramp would carry northbound drivers over the tracks as they exit the freeway, dropping them directly into the city and keeping them from having to sit at crossings at Fourth, 88th or 116th.
This project would cost about $1.8 million, said state Sen. Nick Harper, D-Everett.
So far in this year’s session of the Legislature, no money has been included for the ramp. Nehring said the project could potentially be included in a package to be sent to voters.
Fair organizers hope to draw larger crowds with a “community event” that has “something for everybody.”
By Noah Haglund, The Herald
MONROE — Snohomish County’s springtime mini-fair will sport more than just a new name when it opens this coming weekend.
Live bands, beer gardens and better carnival rides figure among the expanded offerings at the Evergreen State Spring Festival on Saturday and Sunday.
There’s some earthy star power, too, with an appearance by Northwest gardening maestro Ciscoe Morris.
“We had a discussion after last year about how to make it a lot more of a community event so there’s something for everybody,” fair manager Hal Gausman said. “… We talked about how to make it more fun, more exciting.”
Snohomish County’s spring fair debuted in 2010. It was formerly called the Recreation and Sportsmen Expo. Organizers hope attendance this year will top the approximately 9,000 from 2012.
Organizers in the county parks department hope they’ve resolved one of the biggest gripes from last year, when patrons were unable to taste entries from a barbecue cook-off even as they were teased by mouth-watering aromas.
That owed to a contract issue with fairgrounds concessionaires, Gausman said. It won’t be a problem this time around.
The Pacific Northwest Barbecue Association has sanctioned the contest. It’s dubbed the Washington State Spring BBQ Championship and is expected to attract more than 20 competing teams.
Meanwhile, root beer and microbrews will be offered at beer gardens. Live musical acts span genres of classic rock, country, Latin rock fusion and indie rock.
Returning this year will be vendor booths showcasing the outdoors and related products. Everett Steelhead and Salmon Club is hosting a youth casting pond to be stocked with 1,000 trout. Les Schwab Tire Centers is sponsoring the event, which is for first-time anglers ages 12 and under.
While festival admission is free, rides and games cost money. Parking is $5 per vehicle.
The schedule includes:
Festival hours are from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
A ceremony for the 50th anniversary of Snohomish County Parks is scheduled from 11 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the Evergreen Events Center.
Ciscoe Morris is scheduled to take the Events Center stage from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday.
The carnival starts Friday, remaining open from 4 to 10 p.m. Saturday carnival hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday hours 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Butler Amusements of Fairfield, Calif., is providing the rides.
For more info on the Spring Festival or to purchase advance ride bracelets, call 360-805-6700 or go to www.evergreenfair.org.
The annual Evergreen State Fair is scheduled Aug. 22 through Sept. 2.
By Stephanie Woodard, Indian Country Today Media Network
The decision of U.S. Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) not to run in 2014 means that the state’s Native vote could be very important next year. Just as tribal members pulled Senator Jon Tester (D-Montana) across the finish line in his neck-and-neck 2012 race, they may decide the upcoming contest, says Blackfeet tribal member Tom Rodgers, of Carlyle Consulting and voting-rights group Four Directions. That, in turn, will help determine which party controls the U.S. Senate. “If the 2014 senatorial race is anything like 2012, there may be a two-to-three-point difference between the candidates, and the Native vote can easily make the decision,” Rodgers says.
Native influence will be even greater if an ongoing lawsuit (Mark Wandering Medicine v. Linda McCulloch, now before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals) to require satellite election offices on Montana reservations succeeds, according to Rodgers. “With satellite registration and voting, Indian turnout will skyrocket—and the only way to get political power is to affect political outcomes.” (Related story: NCAI, DOJ Weigh in on Behalf of Native Voting-Rights Plaintiffs)
Both major parties see the potential of the Native vote. The Montana GOP is talking to the Republican National Committee about funding a staff position to do outreach in tribal communities, according to state party executive director Bowen Greenwood. “When a race is close, every vote counts,” says Greenwood, who argues that Native beliefs in tradition and caring for the land and their desire for economic development match Republican ideals.
The Montana Democratic Party has long had voter-registration, get-out-the-vote and voter-protection efforts in Native communities, spokesperson Chris Saeger says. “Increasing participation in American Indian communities will always be a top priority for us. We are confident that we’ll hold Senator Baucus’s seat, because we have a deep bench [of candidates] and a strong record in statewide elections.” (Related story: Montana Democrats Rebuff Native Voting-Rights Lawsuit)
Baucus will be missed in Indian country. “We are very sad to lose Senator Baucus’s leadership. Federal policy is often imposed on tribes, and we rely on our representatives in Washington to advocate for us,” says Gordon Belcourt, Blackfeet, executive director of the Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council. “And since both major parties want to reach out to tribes in the race to replace Senator Baucus, they should both support the on-reservation satellite voting offices we’re requesting via the lawsuit.”
Four Directions legal director Greg Lembrich, of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, says his organization wants both parties to embrace the Indian vote. On that front, Belcourt offers some advice to would-be senators, and to the parties as a whole: When they arrive on reservations, they will face pointed questions about their platforms and policies and will need to produce well-thought-out action plans to deal with issues like decades of high unemployment—in the 50 to 80 percent range for the tribes his group represents—and the effect of sequestration on programs that are already severely underfunded, such as the Indian Health Service. “It’s not a question of Democrats v. Republicans for Native people; it’s how the candidates address the issues.” (Related story: Montana Taxpayer Questions High Cost of Battling Against Native Voting Rights)
Belcourt says Baucus was “very receptive” to meeting with tribal leaders, so in the upcoming race for his seat, a record of personal involvement is going to count a lot with the tribes.
Lembrich notes that in 2014 Indian country will also be pivotal in South Dakota, where Senator Tim Johnson, a Democrat, has announced his retirement, and in Alaska, where Democratic Senator Mark Begich faces a tough race. “With no presidential race to distract anyone, we’ll see media saturation and lots of feet on the ground registering voters and getting them to the polls.”
Hanging over all this, he adds, is the U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming Voting Rights Act decision (Shelby County v. Holder), and a Native voting-rights suit in South Dakota (Chris Brooks v. Jason Gant). “We have some real drama ahead surrounding voting equality for tribal members.”
Canadian grower has bought up 1,500 acres along the Snohomish River to grow the tart berry.
By Noah Haglund, The Herald
SNOHOMISH — The largest cranberry crop in Washington could be sprouting from the Snohomish River Valley a few seasons from now if a Canadian berry-grower’s plans take root.
Golden Eagle Farms for more than a year has been buying up farmland, hundreds of acres at a time, in the floodplain south of Lowell-Snohomish River Road.
The company wants to turn most its newly acquired terrain into cranberry bogs, with a few hundred acres set aside for growing blueberries.
While blueberries have long been grown here, cranberries would be something new. Moreover, Golden Eagle’s plans would put Snohomish County at the forefront of the industry statewide.
“We’re excited about it,” said John Negrin, who oversees the renewable energy division of Golden Eagle Farms’ parent company. “This is going to be a fascinating project.”
The words “exciting” and “fascinating” came up a lot Wednesday after Negrin gave a presentation to stakeholders in Snohomish County’s Sustainable Lands Strategy. The initiative to boost farming and fish habitat in local river valleys includes farmers, environmentalists and tribal leaders, as well as members of state and local government.
Many of them liked what they heard about remaking a patch of the valley into productive berry fields, potentially bringing dozens of full-time jobs and tens of millions of dollars in investment.
“It increases land in production, using the land for the highest and best use,” said Linda Neunzig, Snohomish County’s agriculture coordinator.
Before planting, Golden Eagle Farms must convince federal, state and county authorities that it can clear regulatory hurdles.
The company can expect to spend up to a year obtaining required federal and state permits related to water quality and wetlands, said Sheila Hosner from the Governor’s Office of Regulatory Assistance.
“We’re working step by step and working with all the appropriate agencies,” Negrin said.
So far, Golden Eagle Farms has acquired about 1,500 acres in the floodplain between Everett and Snohomish. It paid more than $3.3 million a year ago for the largest piece, 900 acres that has been used for growing poplar trees. Other parcels in the area, which is known as Marshland, have been used previously for growing peas, sweet corn and broccoli, or for livestock pasture.
The areas’s abundance of water and peaty soil — drawbacks for other crops — might benefit cranberry production.
“There’s a huge investment out there in the diking and drainage systems that needs to be utilized,” said John Misich, whose family has been farming in the area since the late 1800s.
Golden Eagle Farms’ proposal would eventually put more than 1,000 acres into cranberry cultivation. The plans include more than 30 bogs of 40 acres each, Negrin said.
To put that into perspective, all current Washington cranberry farms combined total about 1,800 acres, mostly in Pacific and Grays Harbor counties.
“It would be a large farm by any stretch of the imagination,” said Kim Patten, a Washington State University Extension professor based in Long Beach. The Pacific County community is known for cranberries.
Washington’s existing cranberry farms are small and, for the most part, have been in the same family for generations, Patten said. The largest is probably about 100 acres.
Washington’s overall cranberry crop is far smaller than states such as Wisconsin, Massachusetts and New Jersey. Regionally, British Columbia’s production exceeds Washington’s many times over.
“The bulk of the industry in the Pacific Northwest is in Canada,” Patten said.
Growing cranberries is a tricky business. For starters, it takes a lot of money and know-how to get started.
The cost of establishing cranberry bogs runs up to $60,000 per acre, Negrin said. That means investment in the Snohomish County proposal could easily exceed $50 million.
Once up and running, the Snohomish Valley operations would employ an estimated 35 full-time workers, Negrin said. About 100 workers would be needed come harvest time, in September and October. Those figures do not include construction jobs.
Cranberry bogs generally need three to five years to start yielding a commercial crop.
“This is not your average farm production,” Patten said. “There is a lot of very specialized nuance here. You have to know what you’re doing. The learning curve is very steep, so I make it my job to talk people out of the business.”
That said, Golden Eagle Farms is coming to the game with lots of experience — and capital.
It already has extensive, well-established blueberry and cranberry farms in British Columbia. It’s a member of the Ocean Spray cooperative.
The landscape around its farms in the Pitt Meadows area east of Vancouver, B.C., looks remarkably similar to the Snohomish Valley, with view homes overlooking the low-lying agricultural area.
Golden Eagle Farms isn’t likely to have any trouble securing financial backing. It’s part of the Aquilini Investment Group, a multibillion-dollar Vancouver, B.C., conglomerate.
The company was founded more than 50 years ago by Italian immigrant Luigi Aquilini, who now runs the company with his three sons.
Currently, the group’s vast interests include hotels, restaurants and renewable energy projects. It also owns the Vancouver Canucks NHL team, vineyards and resorts.
Pulling off the Snohomish County project won’t come without challenges.
Cranberry production requires flooding the bogs at harvest. More water is needed for irrigation, to ward off frost damage. That means extra regulatory scrutiny, particularly for any fertilizers or pesticides that might wind up in the runoff.
There are economic unknowns, as well.
At current prices, independent cranberry growers struggled to break even, Patten said. If the berry market softens further, many could be operating at a loss.
“Right now, there’s an oversupply of cranberries on the market,” he said. “There’s been a huge planting in Quebec.”
Still, if the project comes to fruition, it could give Snohomish County a real economic boost, Patten said.
Obstacles aside, the prospect of a deep-pocketed agriculture investor who’s willing to bring a new crop to the Snohomish Valley has local farmers buzzing.
“I think everybody should be excited,” said Brian Bookey of Arlington, a member of the Snohomish County Agricultural Advisory Board. “These are folks who have their act together. I hope everybody gives them a fair shake.”
WASHINGTON, April 25, 2013 – USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service announced today additional funding for the second year of the National Water Quality Initiative.
NRCS will make available nearly $35 million in financial assistance to farmers and ranchers in 164 priority watersheds this year to implement suites of conservation practices intended to improve water quality.
“These are voluntary efforts focused in small watersheds where the implementation of conservation systems can yield results for locally important waters,” said NRCS Acting Chief Jason Weller. “When farmers and ranchers work to improve water quality, they also help provide the nation with clean waterways, safe drinking water and healthy habitat for fish and wildlife.”
During the first year of the initiative in 2012, NRCS provided $34 million in financial assistance to farmers and ranchers in 154 small watersheds, ranging from 10,000 to 40,000 acres in size. This initiative builds on efforts that NRCS already has underway in areas such as the Mississippi River Basin, the Gulf of Mexico, the Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes.
The agency worked closely with partners, including state water quality agencies, to refine the eligible priority watersheds this year. These partners assisted in selecting one to 12 priority watersheds in every state where on-farm conservation investments will deliver the greatest water quality improvement benefits. These watershed projects will each address one or more of the following water quality concerns: excess nitrogen, phosphorous, sediment or pathogens.
Eligible producers will receive assistance under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program for installing conservation systems that may include practices such as nutrient management, cover crops, conservation cropping systems, filter strips, terraces, and in some cases, edge-of-field water quality monitoring.
Through this water quality initiative, NRCS is also piloting its new Water Quality Index for Agricultural Runoff. The tool will help landowners determine how alternative conservation systems they are considering will impact water quality improvement. Additionally, state water quality agencies and other partners will do in-stream and watershed-level monitoring to track water quality improvements in many of the project watersheds.
“The quality of our nation’s water affects so much. Across the country farmers, ranchers and foresters are actively and voluntarily using conservation systems to improve water quality,” said Weller.
NRCS accepts applications for financial assistance on a continuous basis throughout the year. Check with your local NRCS office to see if you are located in a selected watershed.
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service helps America’s farmers and ranchers conserve the Nation’s soil, water, air and other natural resources. All programs are voluntary and offer science-based solutions that benefit both the landowner and the environment.
SEATTLE — The federal government has agreed to accept a petition that asked to have captive killer whale Lolita included in the endangered species listing for Puget Sound orcas.
Lolita was captured from that whale population in 1970 and is now at the Miami Seaquarium.
Her fellow orcas spend most of their time in Western Washington and British Columbia waters. Lolita is a member of the L pod, or family.
The National Marine Fisheries Service has listed these southern resident orcas as endangered since 2005. The wild population currently numbers 84.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which is working with other animal rights groups to have Lolita freed from captivity, filed this petition.
The decision announced Wednesday will add Lolita to a current review of the status of Puget Sound orcas as an endangered species.
Tonight, designer Patricia Michaels of Taos Pueblo will face off against the other two finalists in part two of the season finale of Project Runway. It’s a moment that has many fashion fans and Native style aficionados on the edge of their seats.
Although Michaels may have seemed the exotic outsider in this Project Runway class, those familiar with her work knew she’d be a force to be reckoned with, and can hardly be surprised she’s made it this far. In fact, on one notable occasion, many people who don’t follow fashion got a glimpse of her talent and were bowled over. It happened at Santa Fe Indian Market, 2011: Michaels paraded a group of models through the streets wearing her fashions and toting parasols. Many who witnessed the display considered it the highlight of the week.
As Cynthia Whitney-Ward reported the “Parasols on the Plaza” happening on her blog Chasing Santa Fe, “who would expect white-wigged maidens holding playful parasols — dressed in glorious designer frocks — to sashay out of La Fonda on the Plaza and wend their way through Indian Market? Well, Native American designer PATRICIA MICHAELS of Taos Pueblo, loves to delight and surprise … The Indian Market crowd was enchanted.”
