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Have a happy and safe Fourth

It’s been a beautiful summer and with Independence Day right around the corner, I want to encourage everyone to make safety your first priority. With the Sleepy Hollow Wildfire devastating our neighbors in Eastern Washington and the series of fires intentionally set along I-5 June 30^th, as well as the home that burned on 27^th Avenue recently, the potential for fire is at the forefront of my mind.

Boom City has become a beloved part of the Tulalip landscape over the last four decades. Ask an elder and you’ll hear about its humble beginnings when a handful of shacks were constructed every year to sell firecrackers, then torn down after to Fourth. Now this iconic summer village is transported one stand at a time from yards across the reservation to Quil Ceda Village. Boom City is an entrepreneurial incubator featuring over a hundred small businesses, each with their own character and panache.

How many of you received your first training in business working at a fireworks stand? You learned to bargain, to understand the value of goods and to make sure you got a return on your investment. While fireworks have played an important role in creating business savvy in our community, they’re also a potential source heartache. Every year the hospital emergency room sees countless injuries related to fireworks, and the fire department works countless hours trying to keep our homes and lands safe. Unfortunately, they’re not always successful, which is why I’m asking you, our citizens, to take control of your safety and be extra careful this year.

Tulalip, like the entire State, is experiencing the effects of our drought. Our salmon hatchery is struggling to supply enough water to keep smolts alive and healthy. Our utilities department has instituted watering schedules to conserve water. Everywhere you look you see dry grass and wilted greenery. The Reservation is currently observing a burn ban. Add our current heat wave and not only is it fireworks season, it’s fire season.

There are many ways to safely enjoy fireworks. One of my favorites is a professional fireworks display. The Seafair Summer Fourth on the shores of Lake Union is a favorite, Renton, Kirkland, Bainbridge Island and Bellevue are also hosting shows. If you want to stay a little closer to home the City of Arlington holds a fireworks show as part of their Frontier Days celebration. Everett hosts a downtown parade, festivities and the ‘Thunder on the Bay’ fireworks show on Grand Avenue park at 10:20 p.m., and for those of us with family in Darrington, you can look forward to family activities, a parade and fireworks at dusk.

If you can’t give up your tradition of lighting fireworks, consider lighting them the same place you buy them. Boom City features an expanded lighting area this year. To make sure things stay safe, there are two staffers on duty and a water truck to extinguish any fires before they can expand. The other advantage to lighting fireworks at Boom City is that you don’t have to deal with the mess. Boom City employs a clean-up crew every year to take out the trash.

If you’re lighting at home, please be careful, use common sense and be safe. Some of the worst offenders for starting fires are unpredictable fireworks like jumping jacks. One of the popular buys this year, is a 500gram cake called ‘Feed the Beast’ in tribute to Marshawn Lynch. Fireworks like this are safer for a number of reasons, first, you get 24 shots by lighting a single fuse, which means there’s less chance of personal injury. Second, the display is high in the air, and the spark is gone by the time it reaches the ground.

If you are lighting fireworks at home, prep the area. Make sure that you’re lighting on bare earth or pavement, not a dry grass field. Have a charged water hose ready. You might feel silly, but wear safety glasses to protect your eyes. Never allow children to light fireworks unsupervised and remember, fireworks and alcohol don’t mix.

Last, remember that fireworks aren’t the only source of fire. Barbecues and campfires, lit cigarettes and even sparks from welding can start fire. To quote my good friend Smokey the Bear, only you can prevent wildfires. I want to wish everyone a happy and safe Fourth of July full of family, friends and great times.

Mel Sheldon

Tulalip Tribes Chairman

Department of the Interior Announces Final Federal Recognition Process to Acknowledge Indian Tribes

Date: June 29, 2015
Contacts: Jessica Kershaw (DOI), Interior_Press@ios.doi.gov
Nedra Darling (ASIA), 202-219-4152

Initiative Reforms a Process Long Criticized as “Broken,” Increases Transparency in Important Review of Tribal Recognition Status

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today released a final rule to reform the regulatory process by which the Department of the Interior officially recognizes Indian tribes. The updated rule promotes a more transparent, timely and consistent process that is flexible enough to account for the unique histories of tribal communities, while maintaining the rigor and integrity of the criteria that have been in place for nearly 40 years.

“Since the beginning of President Obama’s Administration, the Department has worked with tribal and government leaders on improving the federal acknowledgment process, which has been criticized as inconsistent, slow and expensive,” Secretary Jewell said. “This Administration takes very seriously its important trust and treaty responsibilities to Native Americans and Alaska Natives. This updated process for important tribal recognition makes good on a promise to clarify, expedite and honor a meaningful process for federal acknowledgement to our First Americans.”

“This updated rule is the product of extraordinary input from tribal leaders, states, local governments and the public,” said Assistant Secretary Washburn. “We have a responsibility to recognize those tribes that have maintained their identity and self-governance despite previous federal policies expressly aimed at destroying tribes. This new process remains rigorous, but it promotes timely decision-making through expedited processes and increases transparency by posting all publically available petition materials online so that stakeholders are well-informed at each stage of the process. Many of these improvements came from public comments by stakeholders and we are grateful for their guidance.”

To maintain the substantive rigor and integrity of the current regulatory process (described in Part 83, Title 25 – Code of Federal Regulations), the final rule carries forward the current standard of proof and seven mandatory criteria that petitioners must meet to substantiate their claim to tribal identification, community and political authority. To promote fairness and consistent implementation, the new process provides that prior decisions, which found evidence or methodology sufficient to satisfy a particular criterion for a previous petitioner, are sufficient to satisfy that criterion for a present petitioner. The final rule further promotes consistent application by establishing a uniform evaluation period of more than a century, from 1900 to the present, to satisfy the seven mandatory criteria.

Key features of the final rule promote transparency by:

Increasing public access to petition documents for Federal Acknowledgment;
Expanding distribution of notices of petitions to include local governments; and
Increasing due process by providing for an administrative judge to conduct a comprehensive hearing and issue a recommended decision for proposed negative findings.

In a separate action, Assistant Secretary Washburn issued a policy statement explaining that the Department intends to rely on the newly reformed Part 83 process as the sole administrative avenue for acknowledgment as a tribe as long as the new rule is in effect and being implemented.

To build public trust in the Federal Acknowledgement process, the Department has been working to reform the Part 83 process since the beginning of the Obama Administration. At that time in 2009, Interior initiated its own review. In 2012, the Department identified guiding principles of the reform effort. In recognition of the high level of interest, the Department used a transparent rulemaking approach and significant outreach effort. Before beginning the formal rulemaking initiative, Interior issued a discussion draft in 2013 to facilitate public input on how to improve the process.

Through the discussion draft and ensuing tribal consultations and public meetings, the Department obtained substantial feedback. In total, more than 2,800 commenters provided input on the discussion draft. The Department issued a proposed rule in May of 2014 and extended the public comment period on that proposal in response to requests from tribes, state and local governments, members of Congress and the public. In total, more than 330 unique comments were submitted on the proposed rule. The final rule reflects substantial changes to the discussion draft and the proposed rule in response to public comments.

Federal acknowledgment establishes the U.S. Government as the trustee for Tribal lands and resources and makes Tribal members and governments eligible for federal budget assistance and program services. Since 1978, of the 566 federally recognized tribes, 17 have been recognized through the Part 83 process under Title 25 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Procedures for Establishing that an American Indian Group Exists as an Indian Tribe. The Department has denied acknowledgment to 34 other petitioning groups.

Though far more tribes have been recognized through Executive or Congressional action, the Part 83 process is an important mechanism because it allows deliberative consideration of petitions by a staff of federal experts in anthropology, genealogy and history and ultimately allows for a decision by the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs. When petitioning groups that meet the criteria are officially “acknowledged” as Indian tribes, the U.S. Government accepts trusteeship of Tribal lands and natural resources. Tribal governments and members then become eligible to receive federal health, education, housing and other program and technical assistance.

The final rule and other information is online here.

Hooked: Swinomish Fish Co. Supplying Salmon for Haggen Supermarkets

Bridget Besaw / Swinomish Tribe ArchiveMike Cladoosby and Kevin Day Sr. are Swinomish fishermen. The Swinomish Fish Company, a tribe-owned business that buys their catch, has an agreement to supply fish to Haggen, a supermarket chain. — Bridget Besaw / Swinomish Tribe Archive
Mike Cladoosby and Kevin Day Sr. are Swinomish fishermen. The Swinomish Fish Company, a tribe-owned business that buys their catch, has an agreement to supply fish to Haggen, a supermarket chain.

Richard Walker, Indian Country Today

Swinomish Fish Company, owned by the Swinomish Tribe, is supplying Baker Lake spring chinook salmon to the largest independent grocery retailer in the Pacific Northwest.

Haggen Food & Pharmacy has 164 stores in Washington and Oregon, as well as California, Arizona and Nevada. Haggen’s seafood buyer, Amber Thunder Eagle, spent the winter meeting local fish companies and making arrangements for a spring catch to be delivered to Haggen’s seafood cases.

It’s as much a story about habitat restoration and resource management as it is economic development. For thousands of years, Swinomish ancestors living in villages along the Skagit and Baker rivers harvested salmon to meet the people’s dietary, ceremonial and trade needs: chinook from April to June; sockeye from June to August, pinks during odd-numbered years from July to September, and chum from September to November. The ancestors used weirs and traps, nets, spears, and hook-and-line to take salmon and other fish.

The 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott made land in this region available for non-Native settlement. The ancestors did not give up their people’s right to harvest salmon on the Skagit and Baker rivers. But in the post-treaty years, new industries – logging, mining, farming — took their toll on the rivers and the salmon. Dams built in the 1920s and 1950s to generate electricity, impeded salmon migration.“Rail lines and logging roads … increased sedimentation in the gravel beds used for spawning,” the Historical Research Associates report states. “In some instances, road embankments spilled directly into stream channels through landslides … Timber harvest methods, such as clearcutting, similarly proved damaging to fish habitat [by] increasing turbidity and sedimentation from erosion …”

In the 1890s, salmon runs were estimated at 20,000, by the time the first dam was built, that was down to 15,000. By 1985, only 99 spring chinook returned to spawn, according to the Historical Research Associates report.

But the health of the run rebounded, thanks to years of habitat restoration and resource management efforts, and conveyance systems that help salmon get to ancestral spawning grounds upstream of Lower and Upper Baker dams. In 2012, a record-high return was recorded with more than 48,000 fish returning to spawn, according to the Swinomish Tribe. The forecast for this year’s spring chinook run was 35,000; the summer sockeye run projection is 46,268, according to the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife.

“We’re grateful for the restoration of the Baker Lake run,” Swinomish Fish Company vice president Everette Anderson said in an announcement of the Haggen contract. “The community who made this possible are steadfast in the preservation of this run, which will benefit the people of Washington for generations.”

According to the Swinomish Tribe, the Swinomish Fish Companyis the largest Native American-owned seafood wholesaler, retailer and custom processing plant in the United States. Its brand, NativeCatch, is all-natural, wild, and sustainably harvested, and distributed around the world.

Bellingham Council: Change Indian St. to Billy Frank Jr. St.

Bellingham City Council favors changing Indian Street to Billy Frank Jr. Street. | PHILIP A. DWYER The Bellingham Herald

BY SAMANTHA WOHLFEIL, The Bellingham Herald

BELLINGHAM – Indian Street will likely be renamed Billy Frank Jr. Street, after the Bellingham City Council asked staff to make the change.

Council member Terry Bornemann requested the change, which was supported by the full council at its Monday, June 15, meeting.

Council member Roxanne Murphy, a member of the Nooksack Indian Tribe, said she supported changing the name of the street as much as she supported honoring Billy Frank Jr., whose activism in the 1960s and ’70s led to a major strengthening of tribal fishing rights under the Boldt court ruling. The decision recognized Washington tribes’ rights to half the fish harvests under their 1850s-era treaties.

“It comes with a bit of heartache that we have a street named Indian Street, because that means so many different things to so many different people,” Murphy said during an afternoon council meeting June 15. “So many people identify with it in Indian Country, and others detest it. This is just as much to me about getting rid of the name Indian as it is about honoring Billy Frank.”

Frank, a member of the Nisqually Indian Tribe, was arrested dozens of times during the “Fish Wars,” when he and other Native Americans asserted their treaty rights and refused to obtain state licenses to fish. He died May 5, 2014.

Indian Street has had its name since at least the beginning of the 20th century. It was chosen as part of an alphabetical sequence of New Whatcom street names because it starts with an “I,” although how much deliberation went into the name no one can say, according to Jeff Jewell, historian and photo curator at Whatcom Museum.

Bellingham Fire Department’s Rob Wilson is in charge of an addressing committee that oversees such name changes. The committee is made up of representatives from the police department, fire, dispatch centers, and the planning, public works and permitting departments.

The committee was generally supportive of the name change, Wilson told the council, but did have a few concerns: 147 addresses — 110 apartments, 33 houses and four businesses — would be affected by the name change, and any of those people could appeal to the hearing examiner if they disagree with the proposed change.

Whatcom Educational Credit Union owns two buildings on Indian Street, but neither is open to the public, so the change wouldn’t affect the credit union much, Marketing Manager Kessa Volland wrote in an email.

“Our buildings on Indian are all behind-the-scenes departments and storage at this point,” she wrote. “I have to say I’m relieved we won’t have to change brochures/location listings on any of our materials.”

The change also would carry costs to change the street signs, and to have staff prepare and send letters to every address affected. A rough estimate put the bill at $20,000 to $30,000, Wilson said.

Another of the committee’s concerns had to do with the naming structure for that part of town.

“Indian Street today does fit a historical naming theme that is alphabetical,” Wilson said. “The change would disrupt that theme.”

The street-name sequence has not been completely alphabetical since the early 1900s. It starts with Old Town’s Army Street, which was never built; followed by Bay Street; then Canoe, which was changed to Commercial Street in 1904; and then Dock Street, which was changed to Cornwall Avenue in 1923, Jewell wrote in an email.

“Railroad Avenue was a train right-of-way predating the street grid, so it doesn’t figure in,” he wrote. “Elk Street, which was the ‘E,’ was changed to State Street in 1926 so (it) doesn’t work. After that it’s smooth alphabetical sailing: Forest, Garden, High, Indian, Jersey, Key, Liberty …”

Wilson said staff members would probably start sending notices to residents within about two weeks.

Reach Samantha Wohlfeil at 360-715-2274 or samantha.wohlfeil@bellinghamherald.com. Read the Politics Blog at bellinghamherald.com/politics-blog and follow her on Twitter at @BhamPolitics.

Read more here: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/local/article25373938.html#storylink=cpy

Inslee asks that Kennewick Man be returned to tribes

By the Associated Press

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Gov. Jay Inslee has sent a letter requesting that the remains of “Kennewick Man” be returned to Native American tribes.

Inslee’s letter was sent Tuesday to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Kennewick Man was discovered in 1996 in the water along the Columbia River in Kennewick.

Radiocarbon dating revealed the bones were about 8,500 years old. DNA analysis now shows a genetic link to modern Native Americans.

Inslee is asking that the remains be given to the appropriate tribes as soon as possible.

He says tribes in Washington have waited nineteen years for the remains to be reburied.

Inslee asked the corps to provide a timeline for the return of Kennewick Man and offered assistance from the state Department of Archaeology & Historic Preservation.

How to save wild salmon with a fork and knife

Copper River salmon from Alaska (Mike Siegel/The Seattle Times)

If we demand wild salmon on our plates, we are demanding healthy habitat where wild salmon can thrive in perpetuity.

By Mark Titus and Tom Douglas, Seattle Times

IT’S time to save wild salmon — by eating them.

This seems counterintuitive. Why would we kill wild salmon if we are hoping to save them? The fact is, salmon are big business and consumers wield tremendous power through their purchasing decisions. When you buy and eat wild salmon, you are investing your dollars in our nation’s sustainable wild-salmon fisheries.

On June 4, U.S. District Court Judge H. Russel Holland released a ruling in a lawsuit filed by the Pebble Partnership against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Pebble has plans to build North America’s largest open-pit copper mine in the headwaters of Bristol Bay in Alaska — home to North America’s largest remaining wild-salmon runs. The EPA’s involvement in Bristol Bay came at the request of tribes, commercial fishermen, sportsmen and business owners, but the court ruling earlier this month temporarily keeps efforts to protect Bristol Bay through the Clean Water Act on hold.

So what can be done in the meantime to protect this world-class resource?

First, educate your family and friends about wild salmon.

This spring, in partnership with commercial and sport fishermen, Alaska Native residents, chefs and conservationists, we completed a national tour of “The Breach,” a documentary film about the history and future of our last great wild-salmon runs. As a filmmaker and former Alaska salmon fishing guide, and a chef who serves wild salmon, we are both motivated by wild salmon economically. But it’s more than that.

We, like most people living in this part of the world, revere salmon as the iconic keystone species they are. They’re not simply a product to be pumped out of a factory — they are the very lifeblood for 137 different creatures when they return to our rivers and streams with the ocean’s nutrients inside them. They are an irreplaceable part of our Northwest landscape — they’re even inside the trees. And yet their future here remains uncertain.

As “King of Fish” author David R. Montgomery says in the documentary film, “We haven’t done a particularly good job of protecting the resource when it comes to wild salmon.” That’s true.

Historically, European and American settlers overfished wild salmon until their numbers crashed. Worse, salmon spawning rivers were destroyed when they were dammed, polluted and scoured by rapacious logging and mining practices. Hatcheries and open-net-pen fish farms designed to mitigate this damage have in the long run actually caused more.

Thankfully, there are some healthy runs of wild salmon left — and great strides under way — such as the removal of the two Elwha River dams, which provide real hope for seeing wild salmon return. But of all the fully sustainable wild-salmon runs remaining in North America, none are as strong or as vital as the runs in Bristol Bay in Alaska.

Unfortunately, instead of listening to science and the opinions of 65 percent of Alaskans, the Pebble Limited Partnership decided to sue the EPA and delay the protection process that millions of Americans have asked for.

When we purchase wild salmon, we’re purchasing a food source that is the same as it’s been for millennia — fed by the krill and currents of the open ocean. It’s nutritious and sustainable — and in Bristol Bay alone, provides 14,000 jobs on the West Coast, to the tune of $1.5 billion to the American economy. That simply can’t be said about other non-wild salmon options in the marketplace.

The choices we make with our forks and our dollars will affect what remains for future generations. If we demand wild salmon on our plates, we are demanding healthy habitat where wild salmon can thrive in perpetuity. And wild Bristol Bay sockeye can be purchased year-round, flash frozen or canned, with the same nutrients, quality and flavor as the day it was pulled out of the water — for a price affordable to most.

At the end of “The Breach,” Montgomery finishes his statement about human interaction with wild salmon by telling us, “If we don’t get Alaska right, we may have a clean sweep of getting it wrong.”

So what can else can we do?

Telling the Obama administration how we feel about wild salmon in Bristol Bay is the next best thing. But fundamentally, if we revere wild salmon — as 90 percent of us say we do here in the Pacific Northwest — we need to pick up our fork and insist they remain, by eating them.

A writer and director, Mark Titus recently directed “The Breach,” an award-winning documentary about wild Pacific salmon. Tom Douglas, a chef and owner of a diverse group of Seattle restaurants, co-produced “The Breach.”

Northwest’s first citizens develop tribal tourism

Kwani Williams, who is Tulalip and Lummi, leads a tour at the Tulalip... (Alan Berner/The Seattle Times) — Kwani Williams, who is Tulalip and Lummi, leads a tour at the Tulalip… (Alan Berner/The Seattle Times)

By Brian J. Cantwell, Seattle Times

Where else could I get an authentic Indian fry-bread taco, geoduck chowder and a Northwest native dogwood to plant in the yard, all in one stop?

This was a May visit to a garden sale and open house at the Kitsap Peninsula’s newly restored Heronswood Garden, now a property of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe.

There I learned about cedar weaving and got a look at a copy of the Point Elliott Treaty of 1855, the watershed document that ceded Puget Sound-area lands to white settlers and changed native lives forever.

On another day trip, friends and I enjoyed a Skagit County hike at Kiket Island State Park — aka Kukutali Preserve (bit.ly/1ILiT2n) — where we lolled on driftwood while overlooking a panorama of rippling waters, rocky islets and the Deception Pass Bridge’s soaring arch. It’s the nation’s first state park jointly owned and managed with a native tribe, the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, which still harvests shellfish from its tidelands.

Each experience illustrated how Northwest tribes are raising their profile — economically, culturally and recreationally — in ways that anyone can sample on a weekend road trip. It’s not just casinos anymore.

Branching out

Tribes that have raked in millions from casinos in the past two decades are looking to diversify investments and broaden their message. Even by owning a garden.

“The tribe’s development officer wanted to consider things beyond fireworks, cigarettes and cheap liquor,” says Dan Hinkley, Heronswood Garden’s co-founder, now the garden’s director for the Port Gamble S’Klallam community.

Through its 1990s heyday, Heronswood became world-famous among what you might call the “plantie” set — the botanical counterpoint to foodies. Garden devotees called themselves “Heronistas.”

Tucked among woods off the road to Point No Point, near Kingston in Kitsap County, Heronswood featured exotic plants that Hinkley collected on safaris all over the planet.

In 2000, W. Atlee Burpee & Co., of the famed seed catalog, bought Heronswood. Within a year, Burpee filed for Chapter 11. In 2006 they shut the garden, which languished until the tribe purchased the neglected 15-acre site at auction, for seven figures, in 2012.

The acquisition made sense for the tribe, whose reservation borders the garden. To Tribal Chairman Jeromy Sullivan — a geoduck diver in his day job — Heronswood’s preservation goes hand in garden glove with his tribe’s interest in preserving waterways, shellfish and forests.

The garden’s stature in the botanical world has made its rescue a noble undertaking, and that hasn’t hurt the tribe’s public image.

“The notoriety this has brought around the community has helped the tribe a great deal — everyone has really come together,” Sullivan says. “We have relied on gaming and, like other tribes, we really need to branch out.”

With planned improvements, the garden can be a venue for weddings and events, he says.

Art in the garden will reflect tribal culture, Hinkley says. In March, they dedicated a totem pole at the garden entrance. Carved by tribal member Brian Perry, whose Indian name is Hopi-Cheelth, one side features the garden’s animal symbols, a heron and a frog.

During the recent garden sale, tribal members sold food and helped direct traffic. Tribal member Lloyd Fulton, wearing his U.S. Navy veteran hat from Korea, offered for sale his traditional carvings, such as a halibut-themed bowl of red cedar. His take on owning the garden?

“I think it’s wonderful, it puts people to work, and they have good crowds coming out when they open it like this,” he says.

Telling tribal stories

Washington’s Makah and Yakama tribes have long been known for outstanding museums. Now, casino revenue is helping more tribes tell their stories:

• The Tulalip Tribes’ (Snohomish, Snoqualmie and Skykomish) 23,000-square-foot Hibulb Cultural Center, near Marysville, opened in 2011 and last year welcomed more than 10,000 visitors — many of them school children on field trips from around the region. They learned about the comforts of communal longhouses and salmon feasts, and the miseries of government-boarding schools that once separated tribal children from their families and culture (hibulbculturalcenter.org).

• Near Shelton, Mason County, the Squaxin Island Tribe museum’s Hall of the Seven Inlets depicts watersheds of South Puget Sound with tribal legends, photographs, art and history (squaxinislandmuseum.org).

• Near Poulsbo, Kitsap County, the Suquamish, Chief Seattle’s people, in 2012 replaced an old museum with a modern, $6-million stained-wood building designed by Mithun Architects and showcasing exhibits themed by Seattle’s Storyline Studio (suquamishmuseum.org). Among treasures: a carved canoe used in the 1989 Paddle to Seattle, the first of a modern-day series of culture-affirming intertribal canoe journeys around the Salish Sea.

Canoes carry culture

With newfound tribal wealth supporting them, canoe journeys became an annual event involving hundreds of paddlers from tribal nations across the region, catapulting native culture into the spotlight each summer.

So-called “canoe families” — paddlers, their kin and support crew — travel for up to three weeks to a host tribe’s community. They visit indigenous nations along the way to share languages, songs, dances and traditional foods. Once all canoes arrive at their destination, a joyous weeklong public celebration ensues.

It’s come to mean an investment of at least $1 million by the host nation. When the Swinomish hosted in 2011, they built a plaza with three pavilions shaped like traditional woven-cedar hats, creating a distinctive landmark on La Conner’s waterfront.

In 2015, for the first year since 1993, no tribe stepped forward to host a canoe journey; in 2016, the Nisquallys will host. But tribes have a full slate of canoe races through the summer (see swinomish.org/calendar.aspx). And the Swinomish, Samish, Puyallup, Chehalis and Nisqually canoe families earlier this month gave on-water demonstrations — including wave-bucking rides for brave kids and white-knuckled soccer moms — along with storytelling, drumming and more at Deception Pass and Millersylvania state parks. It was part of Washington State Parks’ annual Folk & Traditional Arts in the Parks program.

“The goal of the program is connecting Washingtonians to their diverse natural and cultural heritage,” says coordinator Debbie Fant.

Partners in message

Tribes are partnering with other entities, as well, on projects that convey culture:

• Washington tribes donated much of the $6 million that supplemented $3 million from the state Legislature to build a longhouse-style center that opened in March at the University of Washington.

The Intellectual House (with a Lushootsheed name that is phonetically pronounced “wah-sheb-altuh”) serves as a cultural link for Native American students and will host research symposia and other events (bit.ly/1c7VUQa).

• Construction is under way this summer in southern Pierce County to develop Nisqually State Park, a joint effort of the state and the Nisqually Tribe, at the birthplace of Chief Leschi and the site of an 1856 massacre of an Indian village. The park plan includes a “People’s Center” to interpret the conflict and reconciliation between Indians and settlers (parks.wa.gov/336/Nisqually).

• Once the Alaskan Way Viaduct comes down, Coast Salish-style artwork will be a centerpiece of Seattle’s new waterfront. The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture in March awarded a $250,000 commission to Puyallup tribal member Shaun Peterson (Indian name: Qwalsius) for a major installation.

Culture on the hoof

Almost anywhere tribes invest, their culture gets a showcase.

Good example: The Muckleshoot Tribe celebrated its March acquisition of Auburn’s Emerald Downs racetrackby hosting last weekend’s Battle of the Horse Nations, traditional Indian relay races that brought “horse tribes” from across the West to compete for three days in a colorful spectacle of traditional garb and wild gallops.

Track president Phil Ziegler says Auburn will likely be an annual stop for the relay races, described as “America’s first extreme sport.”

Even shopping can be a cultural experience, of a sort. Go looking for camo gear at Cabela’s, in the Tulalips’ Quil Ceda Village (quilcedavillage.com), and native sculpture greets you inside the door. Need a designer suit? Toddle up the road to the region’s toniest outlet mall, Seattle Premium Outlets, also on tribal land. Hungry? Stop next door at Panera Bread, opened in December, for an Asiago Cheese Focaccia.

Not only are Northwest tribes reaching beyond casinos, some are diversifying beyond fry bread. But few are forgetting their roots.

Tribes’ hotels show off their art

A growing number of tribally owned hotels showcase tribal art in lobbies and lounges. Not all are connected to casinos:

• The Suquamish Tribe’s Clearwater Casino Resort in May opened a new $30 million, 98-room hotel wing, added to an existing 85-room hotel that draws some guests who come simply for the view of soaring eagles over Kitsap County’s glistening Agate Passage — and a notable collection of tribal carvings, glass sculpture, weavings and paintings; clearwater-casino.com.

• At the Tulalip Resort Hotel, next to the tribes’ big Vegas-like casino near Marysville, the lobby’s three massive carved-cedar “story poles” — representing storytelling, game-playing and welcome — set the tone; tulalip-resortcasino.com/Resort.

• At Ocean Shores, Grays Harbor County, the Quinault Tribe in February converted the oceanfront Ramada Inn to the Quinault Sweet Grass Hotel, which has no gambling. The Ramada’s previous owner was the Swinomish Tribe; sweetgrasshotel.com.

• A carved hummingbird design at the reception desk is a cultural symbol of hospitality at the Stillaguamish Tribe’s $27 million Angel of the Winds Casino Hotel, which opened near Arlington, Snohomish County, at the end of 2014; angelofthewinds.com/hotel.

Tulalip Tribes and Quil Ceda Village Defend Right to Tax Tribal Economic Development

Source: Tulalip Tribes Public Affairs

Tulalip, WA–June 12, 2015–The Tulalip Tribes and its political subdivision, the Consolidated Borough of Quil Ceda Village, filed suit today in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington asking the Court to permanently enjoin the State of Washington and Snohomish County from imposing and enforcing sales and use, business and occupation, and personal property tax on economic activities within the boundaries of the Quil Ceda Village, to the extent of similar taxes imposed by Tulalip.

”With its own resources, the Tulalip Tribes transformed over 2,000 acres of vacant land into Quil Ceda Village, one of the premier shopping and entertainment destinations in Western Washington,” said Mel Sheldon, chairman of the Tulalip Tribes. “Today, Quil Ceda Village has over 150 businesses, creating more than 6,000 jobs, attracting up to 60,000 visitors a day, and contributing hundreds of millions of dollars to the North Snohomish County economy.”

Information from the Washington Department of Revenue reveals that Quil Ceda Village generates approximately $40 million in tax revenues each year, but none of these taxes go to Tulalip or the Village. Instead, the state and county collect one hundred percent of the taxes, with the vast majority going to Olympia. “This is a grave injustice,” continued Sheldon. “Like any government, Tulalip must generate tax revenues to fund the infrastructure and local government services it provides, which benefit not just Village businesses and patrons, but everyone in Snohomish County.”

“As a matter of federal law,” said Sheldon “Tulalip is entitled to collect its own Tribal taxes on business activities in Quil Ceda Village and Tulalip will defend its right to function as a sovereign government.” Tulalip cannot do this as long as the state and county continue to impose and enforce their taxes because businesses and customers in the Village would be subject to dual taxation. The United States has long recognized that tribal taxing authority is an important aspect of tribal sovereignty and self-governance.

For well over a decade the Tulalip Tribes has requested to work together with both state and county officials to reach a fair resolution on this issue, but these requests have been ignored. “It is critical for the continued growth of the Village that we take action now,” said Chairman Sheldon.

About the Tulalip Tribes and the Consolidated Borough of Quil Ceda Village

The Tulalip Tribes is a federally-recognized Indian tribal government, and the Consolidated Borough of Quil Ceda Village is a political subdivision of the Tulalip Tribes, located entirely on federal land held in trust by the United States for the benefit of the Tulalip Tribes. Quil Ceda Village is located on the Tulalip Indian Reservation and consists of approximately 2100 acres. It is adjacent to the western boundary of Interstate 5 and is approximately 40 minutes north of Seattle, Washington.

Quinault Nation Applauds U.S. Court of Appeals Decision

Big Lagoon Rancheria v. State of California A significant victory for Indian Country

Source: Water4fish.net

TAHOLAH, WA (6/10/15) — A unanimous decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals issued Thursday, June 4, in favor of the Big Lagoon Rancheria in a dispute regarding the State of California’s failure to negotiate in good faith was a landmark case for tribes throughout the country, including the Quinault Nation, according to Quinault President Fawn Sharp.

The decision, made en banc by the Ninth Circuit Court ruling in Big Lagoon Rancheria v. State of California marks a significant victory for Indian Country and settles the uncertainty created by a now-vacated decision by the court in January 2014. Thursday’s decision holds that challenges to the trust status of lands and the federal recognition of an Indian tribe can only be brought pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act (APA)*.

In other words, a party cannot attack collaterally a BIA trust decision outside the framework of the APA. In this particular case, the State of California “failed to file the appropriate APA action and because such an APA challenge would be time-barred,” the Ninth Circuit held that the State could not prevail on its claims. The decision is an affirmation of a U.S. District Court’s decision that the state had failed to negotiate in good faith and ruled that the tribe can conduct gaming under the Indian Gaming Resources Act (IGRA), subject only to the Secretary of the Interior’s approval of the tribe’s gaming compact.

“This holding is a major victory for all of Indian Country and for American justice,” said President Sharp. “Among other things, it will protect the final decisions of the Bureau of Indian Affairs from collateral attacks in litigation after the expiration of administrative and legal remedies. It clarifies that the status of tribal trust property is an issue separate from the obligation of states to negotiate in good faith under IGRA. The decision sets a positive precedent for other federal courts and will help protect and preserve the legal status of tribal trust lands throughout the country.

The case began as a bad-faith suit filed against the State of California. Relying on Carcieri v. Salazar, the state argued that the BIA lacked the authority to take land into trust on behalf of the tribe because the tribe was not under federal jurisdiction in 1934. In that case, the state claimed the tribe was not entitled to good faith negotiations under IGRA because the parcel in question was not properly taken into trust by the BIA. In January 2014, a divided three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit held that the tribe was not “under federal jurisdiction in 1934” and that its trust property was therefore not “Indian lands” for purposes of IGRA. This ruling had been a serious blow to the tribe and to Indian Country because it opened the door to collateral Carcieri attacks on BIA fee-to-trust decisions years after the expiration of administrative and legal remedies. In June 2014, the Ninth Circuit granted a rehearing en banc (full court hearing).

That hearing’s decision, Thursday’s unanimous reversal holds that challenges to the trust status of lands and the federal recognition of an Indian tribe can only be brought pursuant to the APA.

“In other words, a BIA trust decision cannot be attacked collaterally outside the framework of the APA,” said President Sharp.

“This truly is a case in which justice prevails. The case ruled that the tribe can conduct gaming under IGRA, subject only to the Secretary of the Interior’s approval of tribal/state compacts and not a barrage of collateral actions,” she said.

*The Administrative Procedure Act (APA), Pub.L. 79–404, 60 Stat. 237, enacted June 11, 1946, is the United States federal statute that governs the way in which administrative agencies of the federal government of the United States may propose and establish regulations.

The Clean Energy Governor And The Columbia River Oil Refinery

An aerial view of the Columbia River.AMELIA TEMPLETON — An aerial view of the Columbia River.
AMELIA TEMPLETON

By CONRAD WILSON & TONY SCHICK, KUOW.org

A new oil refinery is the last thing you might expect Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s administration to be courting. After all, Inslee has developed a national reputation as a champion of curbing the use of fossil fuels.

And yet, Inslee’s administration has worked for months to facilitate such a project along the Columbia River. A Texas-based energy company wants to site a combined crude oil and biofuel refinery in Longview, Washington. The company’s goal is to capitalize on low carbon fuel standards championed by West Coast political leaders, including Inslee.

The refinery is a project Inslee could have the final say in approving.

Inslee is a politician on a tightrope: He’s cultivating the reputation of a national leader on climate change policy. And he’s also the head of a government that is working with businessmen whose project calls for three trainloads of North Dakota crude oil to be hauled into his state each week by way of the Columbia River Gorge.

Riverside Energy’s plans for the 45,000 barrels-per-day refinery first surfaced publicly in April.

Since then, Inslee has said publicly that he knows next to nothing about the project.

“Have not heard much about it other than what you have reported in the media,” Inslee told reporters when asked about it at a May 28 news conference.

Emails obtained through a public records request by OPB and EarthFix tell a different story when it comes to Inslee’s administration. They document how Inslee’s cabinet and staff have been in discussions with Riverside Energy CEO Lou Soumas for nearly a year.

Inslee’s advisers have scheduled meetings with Soumas, asked him to give presentations to staff in various state agencies and invited him to comment on potential clean fuels legislation. In an email to Soumas last summer, an Inslee staffer offered to take action to support the advanced fuels industry.

In February, Soumas wrote to the Port of Longview that the Governor’s office had asked for updates on the project and when it could be announced, according to an email obtained by Columbia Riverkeeper and shared with news organizations.

“They are anxious to tie us in with their just issued draft Clean Fuels Standard process and other activities important to the (state’s) energy and commerce plans,” Soumas wrote. “I’m meeting with several of Inslee’s direct reports on Wednesday in Olympia and they hope for a positive update on concrete progress on the project.”

A week later, Brian Bonlender, the state’s director of commerce, and Matt Steurwalt, Inslee’s executive director of policy, held a meeting with Soumas in Steurwalt’s office, documents show.

Hours after the meeting, Bonlender connected Soumas with staff at the nonprofit Climate Solutions and a state lawmaker’s office.

When asked about the emails during an appearance on The Seattle Channel earlier this week, Inslee said he expects his staff to have such discussions.

“So I think I’d probably categorize these as: we’re trying to figure out what they have in mind,” Inslee said. “This does not presage any agreement whatsoever or opposition whatsoever because you have to know what you’re doing.”

Environmental groups, including the Columbia Riverkeeper and the Seattle-based think tank Sightline Institute, say such discussions should be happening in public view to ensure an honest process.

“It’s very concerning, it’s very worrisome that this kind of communication, this kind of lobbying would be happening with the governor’s office outside the view of the public, on an issue of this magnitude,” Sightline Policy Director Eric de Place said. “We’re talking about a very environmentally risky project in a key part of the region.”

Energy projects on the scale of Riverside’s proposal must undergo a review by the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council. It’s designed to assess whether projects comply with state statute.

Jim Luce, an attorney who chaired the council between 2001 and 2011, said he always cautioned the governor not to comment on proposed projects.

“When I was EFSEC chair, working with the governor’s staff, I encouraged — in fact, the staff encouraged — the governor to say nothing regarding a potential application because the public might conclude that there had been a predetermination or a predisposition toward a specific outcome on a project, which the governor would then have to finally decide,” Luce said.

But, he said, staff in the governor’s administration must toe a fine line. They advise on and promote the governor’s energy policies, yet the governor ultimately must make an independent decision on projects that might benefit those policies.

The refinery outlined in Soumas’ pitches to the Port of Longview and state officials aligns with Inslee’s push for cleaner fuels. With California, Oregon and British Columbia having passed low carbon fuels regulations, Soumas has said he sees Washington’s adoption of those rules as a matter of time.

Soumas has pitched his project to economic leaders in Longview as “the U.S. largest advanced renewable fuels facility” having “the lowest carbon footprint of any U.S. refinery” and capable of meeting the state’s proposed low carbon fuel standards.

Two thirds of the facility’s production would handle crude oil shipped by train from the Bakken shale of North Dakota. The other third would handle used cooking, seed and vegetable oils.

The refinery would rely on new technologies to create a mix of low carbon jet fuel, gasoline and other petroleum products for use in Portland and Southwest Washington.

Soumas has also estimated the refinery would generate 400 construction jobs and $8 million in tax revenue.

Inslee’s office told the Longview Daily News it sees opportunity in the project.

Keith Phillips, Inslee’s special assistant on climate and energy, said Riverside’s proposal is intriguing.

“The idea that they’re bringing biofuels and green jet fuels and cleaner gasoline — that’s all intriguing, and we’re very interested in it,” Phillips said. “But we haven’t made any explicit link to the clean fuels standards in part because we are working respectfully with the Legislature on ‘can we reach agreement on how to move forward.’”

Phillips said he and other staff have intentionally limited Inslee’s involvement in such discussions.

“We have been very careful with him and he has insisted on that,” he said. “He knows there have been clean refineries proposed. But has not met with the proponents, and has not been briefed by staff on the details. He’s waiting to see whether he has to perform a former legal role on the project.

de Place of the Sightline Institute said the track record of Northwest biofuel ventures is “one of failure.”

Two projects initially built as biofuel refineries in the Pacific Northwest now handle fossil fuels. Facilities in Clatskanie, Oregon, and in Hoquiam, Washington, failed as biofuel projects and now handle crude oil.

“The prospects of adding a third such site in the same region strikes me as one that’s really just a stalking horse for the conventional oil industry,” de Place said. “And as such I don’t really see why the governor’s office would be participating in the way they are alleged to be participating.”

KUOW/EarthFix reporter Ashley Ahearn and Northwest News Network reporter Austin Jenkins contributed to this report.