Category: News

Changes in ocean put shellfish business in jeopardy

Penn Cove Shellfish workers on Wednesday harvest mussels, clams and oysters. Photo: Dan Bates, The Herald
Penn Cove Shellfish workers on Wednesday harvest mussels, clams and oysters. Photo: Dan Bates, The Herald

By Bill Sheets, Herald writer, http://www.heraldnet.com

EVERETT — Between 2005 and 2009, billions of oyster larvae began dying at hatcheries around the state before anyone knew what was going on or could do anything about it.The state’s $270 million shellfish industry, which employs about 3,200 people, is in danger.

One oyster farm, Goose Point Oysters in Willapa Bay, has begun raising oyster larvae in Hawaii because it can no longer grow them here.

The reason, scientists say, is ocean acidification.

“The problem’s not going away,” said Ian Jefferds, general manager and co-owner of Penn Cove Shellfish in Coupeville.

On top of pollution and loss of habitat, rising acidity in Washington waters is the latest hazard faced by marine life, including the lucrative shellfish and fishing industries.

Acidification of marine waters is caused primarily by the ocean’s absorption of carbon emissions, scientists say. Other human activities, such as agricultural runoff, contribute. The oceans are rapidly becoming more acidic after thousands of years of stability, scientists say.

The Northwest is particularly vulnerable to the problem because it receives naturally upwelling carbon-laden water from deep in the Pacific Ocean.

Terry Williams, commissioner of fisheries and natural resources for the Tulalip Tribes, was concerned enough about the phenomenon to be one of several people to approach former Gov. Chris Gregoire in 2011 to form a panel to study the problem.

The 28-member panel, called the Washington State Blue Ribbon Panel on Ocean Acidification, included scientists, representatives of environmental groups, tribes and the business community, and current and former government officials.

Reducing the effect of human activities is one place to start, the panel concluded. Carbon emissions represent a much broader and tougher challenge.

The problem of ocean acidification "is not going away," said Ian Jeffereds, general manager and co-owner of Penn Cove Shellfish.
The problem of ocean acidification “is not going away,” said Ian Jeffereds, general manager and co-owner of Penn Cove Shellfish.

Still, work has to begin now, experts say.

“Godzilla is still small. Let’s not wait until he’s big,” said Brad Warren, director of the Global Ocean Health Program, a Seattle-based group formed to address ocean acidification and its effect on fisheries.

Warren, a member of the state panel, spoke at an informational meeting on the topic in Everett last Thursday.

About 120 people attended. Panel members have been conducting the meetings around the state by request of local officials.

The committee made several recommendations, including reducing agricultural runoff into local waters; investigating water treatment methods to control the problem in targeted areas, and ultimately, finding ways to reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuels.

Rep. Norma Smith, R-Clinton, served on the state panel. She’s convinced ocean acidification is a legitimate threat and is concerned for Penn Cove shellfish.

Still, she would have liked more effort to involve the agricultural community before recommending that farm waste be reduced.

“You have to look at this holistically,” Smith said. “We need to recognize that we need both; we need aquaculture and we need agriculture.”

Smith said the panel’s call for stricter regulations on pollutants, while not yet specific, are getting ahead of the game.

“That’s backwards,” she said. “You build solid models, you create a solid scientific foundation, then you move forward with the regulatory practices that are warranted.”

Some people still look at ocean acidification with the same skeptical eye as they do at climate change, Warren said. While both conditions are caused by carbon emissions, they’re not the same thing, said Terrie Klinger, an associate professor in the school of marine and environmental affairs at the University of Washington, a member of the study panel who spoke at the Everett meeting.

Scientists are just scratching the surface about ocean acidification, but a few facts have been established, according to scientists on the panel.

About 30 percent of carbon emitted into the atmosphere from human activity is absorbed by the oceans, Klinger said.

High acidity reduces calcium carbonate levels in the water, preventing mollusks from properly forming their shells.

Acidification is known to affect pteropods — tiny, plankton-size snails — along with krill and some types of prawns that are staple foods for fish, whales and other sea life.

“These species are known to be sensitive to acidity and they’re a large part of local food webs,” said Shallin Busch, a research ecologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle. She’s also a member of the study panel.

The ocean’s surface pH level — which measures the acidity or alkalinity of an environment — was about 8.1 for millennia, as far back as carbon dating tells us, Klinger said. The lower the number, the greater the acidity.

Just since 1850 it’s fallen to 8.0, and at the current rate will hit 7.8 by 2094, she said.

When it comes to acidity in the water, one-tenth of a point is a big difference, Klinger said.

“It’s dropping like a rock,” she said.

In measurements taken at Tatoosh Island on the Washington coast in 2000, the level was 7.5, Klinger said.

There are some unknowns as well. Some species, such as the Suminoe oyster native to Asia, are comparatively immune to the effects of acidification, Busch said.

In inland marine waters such as those in Western Washington, it’s difficult to measure acidity with consistent accuracy because of the influx of river water and substances in runoff, experts say.

“We need more sophisticated instruments,” Klinger said.

Penn Cove Shellfish grows mussels near Coupeville and at another site on the Hood Canal.

“We’ve seen some incidents in our Quilcene Bay site and at Penn Cove that we don’t have an explanation for,” Jefferds said.

Specifically, some of the mussels have been having trouble clinging to the mesh socks on which they’re grown. The company has enlisted NOAA to study the problem.

Tulalip tribal fishermen have been noticing a decline in fish and shellfish populations for more than a decade, Williams said.

It’s hard to tell, though, how much of the decline is caused by pollution and loss of habitat and how much it might be because of ocean acidification.

That’s why the tribes plan to hire scientists to do detailed studies of local waterways to try to learn more, Williams said.

One thing everyone seems to agree on is that getting started working on solutions is important.

“This is the first state in the country to launch a comprehensive attack on this problem,” Warren said.

Learn more

Washington State Blue Ribbon Panel on Ocean Acidification: http://tinyurl.com/78vejjk

NOAA Ocean Acidification Program: www.oceanacidification.noaa.gov

Two Cherokee tribes seeking state recognition

By Chelyen Davis, http://news.fredericksburg.com

RICHMOND—On Friday, the Senate Rules Committee approved resolutions to grant state recognition to two different bands of Cherokee Indians in Virginia.

But no one on the committee, including the resolutions’ sponsors, could really explain how the two bands are different and distinct. No one spoke up to avow that the tribes met all the stringent criteria that used to be required for state recognition.

No one knew those things, in part, because there is no longer a Virginia Council on Indians to vet  tribes’ applications for state recognition. That’s why the two Cherokee tribes are going through the General Assembly for recognition.
A resolution from Sen. Steve Newman, R–Lynchburg,  grants state recognition to the United Cherokee Indian Tribe of

Virginia, known more commonly—according to his resolution—as the Buffalo Ridge Band of Cherokee.
Now based around Amherst, that tribe traces their roots back to Northumberland County on the Northern Neck. A House version of Newman’s bill was also approved by a committee on Thursday.

The other resolution comes from Sens. Jill Vogel, R–Winchester, and Kenny Alexander, D–Norfolk. It would grant state recognition to the Appalachian Cherokee Nation of Virginia—a tribe long based in the mountains of western and Southwest Virginia.

While the resolutions provide an outline of each tribe’s claims to state recognition, neither resolution could contain all the background documentation the council used to require. And both resolutions are careful to state that the “Commonwealth, by this resolution, does not address the question of whether the tribe has been continuously in existence since 1776,” which once was one of the many requirements for state recognition through the council.
The council had been responsible for vetting other tribes’ recognition efforts since 1983, when the General Assembly granted state recognition to eight tribes—a status that can offer tribes access to grants or standing to protest when, for example, their burial grounds are threatened.
The state then assigned to those tribes, through the Virginia Council on Indians, the task of vetting other tribes that wanted state recognition. Since then, just two tribes have won recognition through the council—the last in 1989.
Three years ago, aided by the star power of singer Wayne Newton, the General Assembly granted state recognition to the Stafford-based Patawomeck Indian Tribe as well as two others. All three tribes had applied to the council for recognition, only to be turned down for not meeting the strict criteria.
Tribes had to prove that their tribe existed in Virginia at the time Europeans made contact; that it has existed in some form ever since; and that it is a distinct group, among other requirements.
Such proof can be difficult for a tribe to gather, in part because racist state policies regarding Indians in the early 20th century led some to hide their heritage. For years, Indians could not identify themselves as such on vital records, like birth certificates—the state required them to declare themselves white or “colored.”
The Patawomecks had applied to the council for state recognition and been denied. Frustrated at what they felt was stonewalling, they turned to their  delegate, House Speaker Bill Howell, R–Stafford, who filed a bill in 2010 to grant them state recognition.
In General Assembly hearings that year, the already-recognized tribes protested, saying a rigorous vetting process for state recognition of tribes was necessary.
But lawmakers were frustrated by the council’s reluctance to accept new tribes, and passed the resolutions anyway.
At the time, lawmakers warned the council that it needed to revamp its vetting process for new tribes.
Instead, the VCI essentially went defunct. Minutes from meetings after that year show that over and over, no business was done because there weren’t enough tribe representatives there.
Finally, the state disbanded the council entirely.
“They weren’t a functioning commission, so we eliminated them,” said Sen. Steve Newman, R–Lynchburg, who has proposed one of the Cherokee resolutions.
Newman said the council was too tied to preserving the status quo, protecting the tribes it liked and refusing to consider others.
“They would be dismissive of the people who would come before them,” he said.
But the council’s dissolution leaves Virginia with nobody in charge of determining how tribes can qualify for state recognition.
Some senators on the Senate Rules committee expressed   concern with how the two Cherokee bands are different. Newman promised to get that question resolved before the resolution—now combining both Cherokee groups—gets to the full Senate next week.
Newman said he is satisfied with the Buffalo Ridge Cherokees’ claim. “I saw a lot of documentation” going back to the 1500s, he said.
But Newman also said that granting state recognition simply through legislative action is “not the best way to do it.”
He said the state needs to develop a policy and a set of rules for recognition.
If he and Vogel and Alexander can’t sort out the differences between the two Cherokee groups seeking recognition, their resolution may turn into a requirement for a more standardized policy to be developed over the next year.
“These things are so emotional. These people are very passionate about their history,” Newman said. “But no legislator has the time to delve into this.”

 

Allocation is not Conservation

Billy Frank
Billy Frank

“Being Frank” By Billy Frank, Jr., Chairman, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

OLYMPIA – Allocation is being confused with conservation as the states of Oregon and Washington move to restrict non-Indian commercial gillnet fisheries on the lower Columbia River.

The states’ plan to move gillnetters off the main stem and prioritize sport fishing by reallocating  their wild chinook salmon harvest impacts to anglers. Of course the states can allocate their share of the salmon resource however they like, but true conservation doesn’t happen just by reallocating salmon harvest between commercial and sport fisheries.

The decline of salmon across our region has nothing to do with how we catch them, whether with a net or rod and reel. Salmon are in trouble because of lost and damaged habitat. The key to recovery is to restore and protect that habitat, combined with conservative harvest and careful use of hatcheries.

All types of fishing – including mark-selective sport fisheries targeting fin-clipped hatchery salmon – kill non-targeted  fish . Harvest is managed on the basis of fishery impacts from all fishing methods, both sport and commercial. Reallocating these impacts from commercial to sport fisheries does nothing to rebuild the resource.

Allocation is not conservation. Conservation must come first. We need to focus on restoring salmon populations to abundance – mostly by restoring and protecting their habitat – instead of fighting battles over who gets to catch how many fish. Imagine if all of that time, energy and money was spent on true salmon conservation instead.

Whether sport or commercial, most fishermen are conservationists at heart. Neither group is more conservation-minded than the other, and neither wants to catch the last salmon.

The debate between sport and commercial fisheries allocation on the lower Columbia now appears to be headed to the courts, and that’s too bad, because this fight distracts us from the real work at hand – restoring salmon populations to abundant levels. In the end, these allocation battles are self-defeating because they undermine the broad-based cooperation that we need to recover salmon.

After decades of hard work, cooperative salmon restoration efforts in the Columbia basin have started to make a difference. Spring and fall chinook, sockeye and coho populations are growing. That kind of success doesn’t happen on its own. It comes from a shared willingness of many people to work together with common interest toward a shared goal of conserving, protecting and restoring salmon populations on the Columbia and throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Note: A more comprehensive history of the Coastal Conservation Association is available at: http://go.nwifc.org/history  

 

USDA Proposes Standards to Provide Healthy Food Options in Schools

Release No. 0019.13
Contact:
Office of Communications (202) 720-4623

  New “Smart Snacks in School” proposal to ensure vending machines, snack bars include healthy choices

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1, 2013 – USDA today announced the public comment period has opened on proposed new standards to ensure that children have access to healthy food options in school.

“Parents and teachers work hard to instill healthy eating habits in our kids, and these efforts should be supported when kids walk through the schoolhouse door,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “Good nutrition lays the groundwork for good health and academic success. Providing healthy options throughout school cafeterias, vending machines, and snack bars will complement the gains made with the new, healthy standards for school breakfast and lunch so the healthy choice is the easy choice for our kids.”

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 requires USDA to establish nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools — beyond the federally-supported school meals programs. The “Smart Snacks in School” proposed rule, to be published soon in the Federal Register, is the first step in the process to create national standards. The new proposed standards draw on recommendations from the Institute of Medicine, existing voluntary standards already implemented by thousands of schools around the country, and healthy food and beverage offerings already available in the marketplace.

Highlights of USDA’s proposal include:

  • More of the foods we should encourage. Promoting availability of healthy snack foods with whole grains, low fat dairy, fruits, vegetables or protein foods as their main ingredients.
  • Less of the foods we should avoid. Ensuring that snack food items are lower in fat, sugar, and sodium and provide more of the nutrients kids need.
  • Targeted standards. Allowing variation by age group for factors such as beverage portion size and caffeine content.
  • Flexibility for important traditions. Preserving the ability for parents to send in bagged lunches of their choosing or treats for activities such as birthday parties, holidays, and other celebrations; and allowing schools to continue traditions like occasional fundraisers and bake sales.
  • Reasonable limitations on when and where the standards apply. Ensuring that standards only affect foods that are sold on school campus during the school day. Foods sold at an afterschool sporting event or other activity will not be subject to these requirements.
  • Flexibility for state and local communities. Allowing significant local and regional autonomy by only establishing minimum requirements for schools. States and schools that have stronger standards than what is being proposed will be able to maintain their own policies.
  • Significant transition period for schools and industry. The standards will not go into effect until at least one full school year after public comment is considered and an implementing rule is published to ensure that schools and vendors have adequate time to adapt.

The public is encouraged to review the proposal and to provide comments and information for consideration by USDA. The text of the proposed rule is available at http://www.fns.usda.gov/cga/020113-snacks.pdf . Once the rule is published in the Federal Register, which is expected next week, the public will be able to provide feedback through http://www.regulations.gov/. USDA will seek public comment on the proposal for 60 days.

Earlier this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a report that analyzed state policies for food and beverages served outside the school lunch line which noted that 39 states already have a state law, regulation or policy in place related to the sale or availability of snack foods and beverages in schools. In many cases, local level (district and school) policies and practices exceeded state requirements or recommendations. USDA’s proposal would establish a national baseline of these standards, with the overall goal of improving the health and nutrition of our kids.

These proposed standards are part of a bi-partisan package of changes passed by Congress in 2010 designed to ensure that students have healthy options in school. Other parts of that package include updated nutrition standards for federally-subsidized school meals that provide children more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains; additional funding for schools to support improved meals; and guidance on stronger local wellness policies.

Collectively these policies will help combat child hunger and obesity and improve the health and nutrition of the nation’s children; a top priority for the Obama Administration. The proposed rule announced today is an important component of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative to combat the challenge of childhood obesity.

USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service administers America’s nutrition assistance programs including the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs, the Summer Food Service Program, and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Together these programs make up the federal nutrition safety net.

For more information on the proposed rule, visit: http://www.fns.usda.gov/cga/020113-qas.pdf

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USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (866) 632-9992 (Toll-free Customer Service), (800) 877-8339 (Local or Federal relay), (866) 377-8642 (Relay voice users).

Bison bill draws support from ranchers, opposition from tribes

Posted: Feb 1, 2013 10:20 AM by Marnee Banks – MTN News

HELENA – The Montana Senate Fish and Game committee is considering a comprehensive bison management bill.

Senator John Brenden’s (R-Scobey) Senate Bill 143 would establish a year round bison hunting season and prohibit any translocation of the species. He says he is bringing his bill in response to farmers and ranchers.

Bill Hoppe is an outfitter and rancher in Gardiner who says the bison come out of Yellowstone National Park and cause havoc on private land.

“Bison are very destructive, Hoppe testified. “While on our land they destroy trees, shrubbery, landscaping, then tear down huge amounts of fence.”

American Indian tribes testified against the bill, saying the bison is a spiritual animal and if the Legislature passes the bill it could face litigation.

Other opponents to the bill are calling it “radical” and say the bison should not be managed as a pest but instead as wildlife.

Greater Yellowstone Coalition Executive Director Mike Clark said there are three main reasons he opposes the bill.

“First it will completely disrupt the relationship between the federal government, the state and the tribe. Secondly, it will polarize people throughout this country over how the bison will be slaughtered. Thirdly, it will prevent the movement of healthy bison to the tribes,” Clark said.

The Senate Fish and Game committee will vote on the bill at a later date.

Source:

http://www.kxlf.com/news/bison-bill-draws-support-from-ranchers-opposition-from-tribes/

Calling all Dads to get involved in Watch D.O.G.S.

Please join us in the “2013 Watch D.O.G. Orientation, Recognition and Desert Meeting” February 6th Wednesday, 6 to 6:30pm Totem Library

Overview

WATCH D.O.G.S.® (Dads Of Great S tudents) is an innovative program of the National Center for Fathering focusing on preventing violence in our nation’s schools by using the positive influence of fathers and father-figures. WATCH D.O.G.S.® was founded by Jim Moore and joined with the National Center for Fathering in 2006. It serves to inspire and equip men to be the involved fathers, grandfathers and father-figures their students need. For more information, visit the website at www.fathers.com/watchdogs

Who are WatchDOGS?

WatchDOGS are fathers, grandfathers, uncles, and other father-figures who volunteer for at least one day each year at an official WATCH D.O.G.S.® school. During the day, WatchDOGS may read and work on flash cards with students, play at recess, eat lunch with students, watch the school entrances and hallways, assist with traffic flow, mentor students, and any other assigned activities where they actively engage with not only their own students, but other students as well. Their mere presence and assistance is appreciated every day!

Program Recognition

The WATCH D.O.G.S.® program has been recognized by the United States Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and has been involved in the U.S. Department of Education’s P.F.I.E. (Partnership For Family Involvement In Education). The program has been recognized on the floor of Congress as a program that “can be a great tool in our efforts to prevent school violence and the improve student performance because it can increase parental initiative and involvement in their children’s education.  (Congressional Record, February 7, 2000 page S392)

What Totem WatchDOGS Are Saying?

•   90% thought their experiences in the school was rewarding.

•   90% thought the students were excited to see them in the building.

•   Selected comments

o “I participated in one-to-one reading in first grade and liked being with the kids at recess”

o “Seeing my child at school and getting to know her friends.”

o “I gained a new appreciation of what teachers do every day.”

 

Get Involved and be a WatchDOG today!

•    Talk to one of the WatchDOGS at the Dad/Deserts Event. You can also contact Timothy Hall 657-6231 or timothy_hall@msvl.k12.wa.us, Daniel_Natividad@msvl.k12.wa.us

•   Commit to  one day or more at Totem Middle School during the school year

•   Complete the Registration form & Background Check for the district

Bring your calendar and Line Up and Sign Up for your day.

https://sites.google.com/a/msvl.k12.wa.us/totem-middle-school-watchdog/

New Mukilteo ferry terminal needs $38M but work moves on

Photo: Genna Martin / The HeraldThe 3 p.m. Mukilteo ferry heads toward Whidbey Island on Wednesday. A project is in the works to build a new Mukilteo ferry terminal just east of the current dock.
Photo: Genna Martin / The Herald
The 3 p.m. Mukilteo ferry heads toward Whidbey Island on Wednesday. A project is in the works to build a new Mukilteo ferry terminal just east of the current dock.

By Jerry Cornfield, Herald Writer, http://www.heraldnet.com

OLYMPIA — Two hurdles to building a new ferry terminal in Mukilteo should be cleared this spring, but state leaders must deal with a looming lack of money to build it.

After years of efforts, there is a $38 million hole in the budget for a new terminal at the former Air Force tank farm, east of the existing terminal. And there are signs it could grow larger.

Ground won’t be broken until 2015, at the earliest, giving ferry officials time to pull together funds from state and federal sources to cover the $140 million tab.

“I’m confident. This has been too long in coming,” said Mukilteo Mayor Joe Marine. “Everybody knows this project has to be done.”

Rep. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, serves on the House Transportation Committee, which is drafting a new transportation budget. The state has made its commitment clear by paying several million dollars for environmental work thus far, he said.

“My goal is to make sure we keep the project on track, because it’s a critical improvement that needs to be done,” said Liias, a former Mukilteo councilman. “We need all the money identified before we start.”

The Mukilteo ferry terminal is among the busiest in the state’s marine highway system. It has not had significant improvements for almost 30 years and frequent users know well the congestion and conflicts between vehicles and pedestrians with the current layout.

Last May, the state chose as its preferred site at the old fuel depot. Of three alternatives, it is the closest to the transit center and Sound Transit commuter rail station. The other options were to renovate the ferry dock at its current location or build at the far east end of the tank farm.

As proposed, the state will erect four new toll booths and a new building and entryway for walk-on passengers.

The final environmental impact statement on the project is expected to be released in April. Then the Air Force can transfer its land to the Port of Everett, which will then give a slice to the state for the ferry terminal.

Agreements need to be reached with tribes regarding protection of cultural resources and treaty rights for fishing. The goal is to wrap those up this year, ferry officials said.

The terminal project’s estimated $140 million price tag includes a reserve.

Lawmakers and former Gov. Chris Gregoire only socked away $102 million in the current state transportation budget for preliminary engineering and construction through 2019.

The $38 million hole could grow to $58 million because Washington State Ferries wants to use some of those construction dollars now, knowing that the big checks for the Mukilteo terminal won’t need to be written for a couple of years.

David Moseley, assistant secretary of transportation in charge of ferries, said he’s optimistic that federal money can be secured and, maybe, extra state dollars too if a new transportation funding package wins voter approval in the next couple of years.

“I don’t think we’ll have it solved in 2013,” he said

Beaded Indian vest donated to Goodwill is a treasure

Published January 30, 2013 at 8:25 PM
By Lynda V. Mapes
Seattle Times staff reporter

A Native American vest donated to Goodwill was passed on by sharp-eyed staff to Seattle’s Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, where it is now in the museum’s permanent collection.

You just never know what you might find at your local Goodwill store: something old, something new — and sometimes, treasures worthy of a museum collection.

So it was with a beaded American Indian vest dropped off at the Dearborn Goodwill at South Lane Street in Seattle. Sharp-eyed staff thought it might be something special, and an independent appraiser estimated its value for Goodwill at $5,000.

Now the early 20th-century Plains Indian-style beaded vest has just been accepted by Seattle’s Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture for its permanent collection.

“It is just gorgeous and we are thrilled to have it,” said Julie Stein, director of the museum.

Goodwill donated the vest to the museum so that it could benefit the entire community, said Katherine Boury, communications manager for Seattle Goodwill.

Usually, items are sold by Goodwill through its stores, or to other users with the proceeds used to run its free job-training and education programs. The nonprofit will take just about anything, for which it will find a recycler or buyer, Boury said. But sometimes, only a museum will do.

The vest was dropped off in a trunk back in 2006, and Goodwill has been working all that time to find out what it was, and what the best disposition for the item would be, Boury said. The Burke, with its Native American collection, made sense, Boury said.

The front of the vest is delicately beaded with Italian glass beads sewn onto hide. It is lined with cotton, and has a buckle cinch decorating its black velvet back. Seams give it a perfect drape and its colors, including a rosy pink, are rare, said Justin McCarthy, Burke ethnologist. Beads accenting the shoulders have a white core covered with red glass, giving them a special glow.

The vest, probably of Flathead, Gros Ventre, Kalispell or Fort Belknap origin, is an adult man’s garment that might have been made to sell, or been reserved for use on special occasions, said Katie Bunn-Marcuse, director of the Bill Holm center at the Burke.

Think you might be sitting on something special that you would like identified? The museum’s annual artifact day is open to the public from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Feb. 9. Items of all types, from fossils to carvings, will be evaluated for free by Burke staff. Come early, the line of curious collectors often forms all the way down the sidewalk.

Lynda V. Mapes: 206-464-2736 or lmapes@seattletimes.com

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020251057_vestdonatedxml.html?cmpid=2628

 

Spokane commissioners oppose tribal project

Originally published Wednesday, January 30, 2013 at 11:58 AM

By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS
Associated Press

Spokane County commissioners, freed from an agreement that previously prevented them from commenting, have passed a resolution opposing the Spokane Tribe’s plan to build a big casino complex at Airway Heights, near Fairchild Air Force Base.

 SPOKANE, Wash. —

Spokane County commissioners, freed from an agreement that previously prevented them from commenting, have passed a resolution opposing the Spokane Tribe’s plan to build a big casino complex at Airway Heights, near Fairchild Air Force Base.

The commissioners on Tuesday afternoon voted unanimously to oppose the project in large part because they fear it could imperil the future of the base, which is Spokane County’s largest employer.

“We are literally being asked to gamble the 5,000 current jobs provided by Fairchild on a project that may provide significantly fewer than that,” Commissioner Todd Mielke said in a news release. “If we guess wrong, it will take decades for this community to recover.”

Air Force base officials have not taken a position on the casino, which would be about a mile from the base.

Leaders of the Spokane Tribe didn’t immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

The Spokane Tribe is seeking rare federal approval to build the casino in the city of Airway Heights, miles from the boundaries of its reservation. A decision is expected in the next 45 days.

The project is opposed by the Kalispel Tribe, which already has a large and successful casino in Airway Heights.

In 2010, the city of Airway Heights reached an agreement with Spokane County commissioners in which the commissioners would remain silent on the proposed casino in exchange for payments to the county of $120,000 a year from casino revenues to deal with impacts. But the two county commissioners who supported that deal have since left, and the new commissioners threatened to sue if the agreement was not torn up.

The city of Airway Heights released the county from the agreement last week, and county commissioners wasted little time in voicing their opposition. The commissioners’ position will be sent to the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the state of Washington, which all must approve any proposal for off-reservation gambling by the Spokane Tribe.

Casino supporters say the project will provide revenues to lift many members of the Spokane Tribe out of poverty, and provide some 1,200 jobs in the region.

But opponents, including many Spokane area political and business leaders, worry the proposed casino is too close to the base and may prompt the Air Force to restrict operations or even close the base in the future because of encroachment issues.

Airway Heights continues to support the casino project.

 

Source:

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020246091_apwaspokanetribalproject1stldwritethru.html

Tribal Nations Set to Gain Authority to Make Disaster Declarations Directly to U.S. President

Stafford Act passes Senate on 62 – 36 vote – Headed to President Obama’s Desk for Signature

 National Congress of American Indians (NCAI)
Embassy of Tribal Nations
1516 P Street NW, Washington, DC 20005
Phone: (202) 466-7767

 Jan 29, 2013

Washington, DC – Tribal nations will soon have the same ability provided to states to make disaster relief declarations and requests for assistance directly to the President of the United States. In a 62-36 vote on Monday night, the U.S. Senate passed H.R. 152, the Hurricane Sandy Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill, which includes amendments to allow tribal governments to make direct requests for emergency assistance to the President under the Stafford Act. Under current law, tribes must seek assistance through a state governor’s office, often causing critical delays in emergency response on tribal lands.  The legislation, which also includes $50 billion in Hurricane Sandy relief funding, passed 241-180 in the House of Representatives two weeks ago and now goes to President Obama’s desk to be signed into law.

 “Some tribal nations in the U.S., many in remote areas, are larger than some states and every tribal nation has unique disaster response and recovery requests. The final passage of this bill marks a historic moment in tribal emergency preparedness and response. Our nations, devastated too often by natural disasters with disproportionate impacts, will be more capable to respond immediately to major disasters, and the bipartisan support for this legislation should not go unnoticed,” said Jefferson Keel, President of NCAI. Keel is also the Lt. Governor of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma. 

 NCAI further acknowledges that the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) made the tribal amendments to the Stafford Act its sole legislative priority under Administrator Craig Fugate’s direction. The need for this critical policy change has been called for repeatedly in FEMA tribal consultations and meetings with tribal leaders during NCAI conventions. 

 “State and tribal governments will now be able to access disaster assistance as needed to aid the people, local communities, and regions in recovering quickly from catastrophic situations. NCAI looks forward to the signature of this landmark legislation by President Obama. NCAI is prepared to work with FEMA to ensure its implementation contains fair and inclusive eligibility criteria and will benefit the maximum number of tribal communities,” concluded Robert Holden, NCAI’s Deputy Director and longtime coordinator of emergency management policy and response efforts at NCAI.