Tulalip News

National Museum of the American Indian Healing After Tragedy

Rob Caprioccioso, Indian Country Today Media Network

The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), a Smithsonian Institution museum on the National Mall filled with Native artifacts and representations of contemporary Indian experiences, is coping with the aftermath of a tragic death there November 23.

The apparent suicide occurred while the museum was open with hundreds of visitors inside. Witnesses told local news outlets that an adult male jumped from a top floor of the building onto the main atrium of the space, where traditional Indian ceremonies are regularly held.

The museum was evacuated after his fall, and the museum re-opened the following day for regular business hours.

John Gibbons, a spokesman for the Smithsonian, told the Associated Press the man was visiting the facility with his family. “He was visiting with his family, but was alone at the time,” Gibbons said. His family was someplace else in the building.”

One concern that museum staffers are working to address—beyond the immediate safety and clean-up issues—is making sure the space won’t be emotionally affected into the future.

“We did have a smudging on Sunday and we will have a blessing on December 5 for all staff to attend,” said Leonda Levchuk, a spokeswoman for the museum. Smudging is a part of many traditional Native American ceremonies, in which tobacco and cedar and other herbs are used to purify and cleanse.

The museum, which opened in 2004 as part of the Smithsonian after decades of planning and fundraising, is a space that deals with Native religion and spirituality.

No staffers want Native Americans who regularly visit the space to feel that its energy has been negatively affected. Real estate agents have talked about similar concerns when trying to sell properties where tragedies, like suicide, have occurred.

Some who have coped with such circumstances have gone so far as to hire priests and other religious experts to exorcise spaces after suicide, as did singer Olivia Newton-John after a contractor died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at her house in August.

Beyond this emotional aspect, there is concern among some staffers that the suicide could potentially affect tourists desire to visit if they fear safety issues at the museum. The man would have had to climb over a four-foot wall and rail at the area he was seen by witnesses, according to news reports.

The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the incident.

Elwha exhibit at Burke explores reborn river

Oceanographer Daniel Hernandez strains to pull on the end of a seining net on the Elwha River in an effort to count the fish in a designated area.

An exhibit based on the Elwha book by Seattle Times’ Lynda Mapes and Steve Ringman opens Saturday at the Burke Museum.

By Keith Ervin, Seattle Times

Chinook salmon returned to the Elwha River this fall in numbers not seen in many decades.

Other creatures have followed the salmon in returning to the Olympic Peninsula valley after an 8-mile stretch of the river was reconnected to saltwater when the Elwha Dam was removed.

A Burke Museum exhibit that opens Saturday tells the story of a river, the people who have depended on it, the scientists who study it, and the changes wrought first by the construction of two dams and now by the biggest dam-removal project in U.S. history.

“Elwha: A River Reborn,” based on the book of the same name by Seattle Times reporter Lynda Mapes and photographer Steve Ringman, runs through March 9.

Mapes will speak, and members of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe will talk and perform at the opening of the exhibit, which combines photographs, artifacts from an ancient Klallam village, a million-year-old salmon fossil and hands-on activities.

Children can play the part of a scientist or a journalist in “Camp Elwha,” an interactive exhibit inside a tent.

At the heart of the exhibit is the river, where salmon, steelhead and lampreys lost 70 miles of spawning grounds when dams blocked their passage more than a century ago.

It is also the story of the regeneration that has taken place since the Elwha Dam was removed in 2011 and will continue after demolition of the upstream Glines Canyon Dam is completed next year.

Mapes and Ringman followed the story, first in the pages of this newspaper and then in their 2013 book copublished by Mountaineers Books and The Seattle Times.

“This is a profoundly hopeful story,” said Mapes, who is currently a fellow in the Knight Science Journalism program at MIT.

“It shows that in the right place and with the right conditions, you really do have a chance to start over. You can take a place that’s been used for industrial development, even for a very long time, and have nature come booming back. “

An iconic image for her was a water ouzel in a restored tributary delicately holding a coho salmon egg in its beak “as if it were a glass of fine cabernet.”

George Pess, a NOAA fisheries biologist and a source for Mapes’ reporting, said that as salmon have returned, otters, bears, lampreys and many other animals have come back.

“Everybody kind of got the signal, whether it’s smell or sight, everybody knew something was happening that hadn’t happened in a long time that was important to the ecosystem,” Pess said.

Restoring the salmon to something resembling their once-legendary glory will take years, Pess said.

Bringing back towering trees where lake silt has replaced the humus-rich soil of a long-gone forest, Mapes said, will take much longer.

Although that won’t happen quickly, she said, “One of the things that struck me is how ephemeral the works of man are and how incredibly resilient nature is.”

The exhibit was created by the Burke Museum in collaboration with The Seattle Times, Mountaineers Books and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe.

Mni water is life By: Matt Remle

By Matt Remle; Source: Last real Indians

In the beginning was Inyan and Inyan was surrounded in total darkness. Inyan began creation by draining its blood creating a massive disk around itself. Inyan called this disk Maka, the earth, which was half of the disk. The other half was Mni, water. Inyan continued to drain its blood creating Mahpiya, the sky, Anpetu Wi, the sun and daytime, Hanhepi Wi, the moon and nighttime. As Inyan continued to drain its blood life began on Maka with the grasses, plants, flowers, trees and so on.

The last of Inyan’s creation was Winyan and Wicasa, woman and man. Winyan, woman, was created first and created to be like Maka, the earth, to give and nourish life. Wicasa, man, was created to be like the universe to protect and provide nourishment. After creating Winyan and Wicasa, and creation was complete, Inyan became dry and brittle and broke and scattered all over Maka.

The base word of Mni, one of Inyan’s first creations, is ni. The word ni means “to be alive”. Water is life.

Great Pacific garbage patch

Located in the Northern Pacific Ocean lies the Great Pacific garbage patch, also referred to as the Pacific Trash Vortex, and it is a massive patch that is described as a highly concentrated mixture of plastics, chemical sludge and other debris that has become stuck in the currents of the Northern Pacific Gyre. The toxic stew comes from a mixture of trash and debris coming from the coasts of Asia and North America, as well as, debris from cargo ships crossing the Pacific. While the exact size of the garbage patch is hard to determine, estimates range from 5,800,000 sq miles to up to being twice the size of the United States.

The impacts from this toxic debris are especially harsh on marine life as debris from the patch is found in the stomachs of fish, birds, turtles and other aquatic life. The Great Pacific garbage patch also works to block sunlight from reaching algae and phytoplankton, of which the entire marine food web is based on.

The decline in phytoplankton is particularly worry some, in that not only do they help provide the base of the marine food web, but they are responsible for producing half of the world’s oxygen supply. It is estimated by researchers that since the Industrial revolution phytoplankton populations have decreased by 40%.

A similar vortex of trapped garbage debris has also been found in the Atlantic ocean.

Map by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Dead Zones

A dead zone occurs in the world’s oceans, mainly coast lines, and lakes when oxygen is depleted in those waters to the point that the marine life in those areas dies-off. Dead zones are caused by excessive human pollution. Dead zone’s are particularly prevalent on the Eastern coast of the United States, as well as, the coasts of Europe, China, Japan, New Zealand and South America.

The Gulf of Mexico, off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana, hosts the world’s largest dead zone with estimates ranging to being larger than the state of Connecticut.

Dead zones have also been found off the coast of Oregon, St. Lawrence River and Lake Erie.

Map of Aquatic Dead Zones

KXL Pipeline

If constructed, the Keystone XL pipeline would cross two major aquifers, the Ogallala and the Texas Carrizo-Wilcox. The Ogallala aquifer is the largest in the western North America region. The Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer provides drinking water to roughly twelve-million people in Easter Texas. Construction of the KXL pipeline threatens the possibility of water contamination in these regions due to possible leaks, ruptures, or other activity.

Tar Sands

Fresh water plays an essential role in the development of the oil sands process. In 2010, averages of 3.1 barrels of fresh water were needed to produce 1 barrel of oil sands. Over the course of a year the amount of fresh water used averages 170 million m3 per year2, which is roughly over 40% of the City of Toronto’s total fresh water consumption per year.

Fresh water used for Tar Sands operations comes mainly from the Athabasca River, home to the Dene and Cree First Nations. In addition to drying up fresh water sources tar sands mining causes massive amounts of toxins to be released in the water supply.

Syncrude Aurora Oil Sands Mine, near Fort McMurray, Canada. (SOURCE: goodcanadiankid.com)

Fracking

Like the tar sands production process, fracking uses huge quantities of fresh water. Highly pressurized water, mixed with chemicals, is injected into shale formations to break up and release oil and natural gases. Once used, the now contaminated water is left in massive open air pits.

In the small town of Barnhart, Texas the double impact of climate change and fracking has literally dried out the town’s water supply. In less than two years fracking companies used over 8 million gallons of fresh water leaving the town dry.

It is estimated that by year’s end another 30 small Texan towns will see their water wells go dry due to fracking.

Coal Exports

The proposed coal exports seek to bring coal from the Powder River basin via rail to the Pacific Northwest where it will be exported primarily to China. The trains will cross numerous rivers, creeks, streams, and lakes where the uncapped coal has the potential to spill and pollute. The largest of the export terminals is proposed for Cherry Point, WA sacred grounds to the Lummi Nation. If built, the massive export terminal would threaten not only sacred sites, but also threaten the entire ecosystem of sea life in the area.

Know water know life, No water no life

Above is but a snapshot of just a few of the ways in which Mni, life, is under assault and or threatened. On a global scale Mni has been under assault due to militarism, corporate activity, toxic waste facilities, nuclear power plants (tens of millions of gallons of nuclear waste has seeped into the ground water at the Hanford Nuclear Power Plant in WA State) and other forms of pollution. It is no cliché to say that water is life and the impacts from its desecration are real. It would seem that of all the issues we, as children on Maka, could agree on is that Mni, water, is sacred and its protection in essential.

We have moved into a time where we must remember who and what we are as children of Maka, as relatives to All Our Relations. The children of profit are stepping up their assault on all life and it is essential that we collectively stand together with our first mother and all our relatives to fulfill our responsibilities to give, nourish and protect all life.

Mitakuye oyasin Wakinyan Waanatan (Matt Remle)

White Earth Band votes to end ‘blood quantum’ for tribal membership

When Erma Vizenor was first elected to the office of secretary-treasurer at White Earth in the late 1990s, she promised she would work toward constitutional reform. Voters approved that reform last night. (Tom Robertson/MPR News file)

By Dan Gunderson, Minnesota Public Radio

MOORHEAD, Minn. — White Earth Band of Ojibwe tribal members have approved a new constitution that dramatically changes tribal government and expands membership in Minnesota’s largest Chippewa tribe.

The new constitution eliminates the blood quantum which requires a person to prove they have 25 percent Indian blood and changes to a system based on family lineage. But choosing a new constitution is only the first step in what will likely be a long and challenging process.

White Earth Nation Chairwoman Erma Vizenor has advocated for constitutional reform for 16 years, and said Tuesday that when 79 percent of voters approve a new constitution, as they just did with 3,492 votes cast, it’s a transformational moment.

“It feels great. It is gratifying to know that the people of White Earth have spoken and spoken strongly,” Vizenor said.

White Earth’s government will also expand. The new constitution replaces the five-member Reservation Business Council with independent executive, legislative and judicial branches.

The new separation of powers will help create economic stability on the northern Minnesota reservation, Vizenor said. “If we look at all the research on economic development in Indian Country, to diversify the economics of the reservation is dependent on an independent judicial system.”

But first, White Earth needs to resolve a conflict its new constitution sets up with the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe which is the governing body of six bands. The Red Lake Nation is independent of the MCT.

White Earth Constitutional Reform Manager Terry Janis says negotiations with the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe will take time.

“There’s some significant differences between the current MCT structure and this new proposed constitution and so they’re going to have to engage a process with MCT to figure out how they’re going to resolve those differences to allow White Earth to remain a part of MCT,” Janis said. If those differences can’t be resolved, White Earth would need to decide if it will withdraw from the MCT. The issue will be discussed at a Minnesota Chippewa Tribe meeting next month.

Vizenor said she’s confident an agreement can be reached because the numbers are on the White Earth band’s side: Its members make up more than half of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe.

Once membership in the MCT is resolved, White Earth will schedule an election for a president, members of the legislative council and a chief judge. Those new elected officials will then create the laws that define the new government roles based on the new constitution.

That might well be a process fraught with challenge according to James Mills, a consultant who helps tribes across the country with constitutional reform. He has not worked with White Earth, but said he’s helped about 50 tribes write or amend constitutions. In his experience, reform sometimes creates a power struggle.

“When someone writes a constitution that divides the powers between the three branches, if they’re not clear about who does what and when, the executive and legislative will often argue over whose authority it is and I’ve seen them just become stagnant as a result,” Mills said.

Vizenor said she knows the path forward is filled with challenges, but she says tribal members have given a mandate for change and she expects the transition to be successful.

How long that transition will take is unclear. Vizenor says she hopes new elections can be held within a year.

EDITOR’S NOTE: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe governs all of the Minnesota Chippewa bands. The Red Lake Nation is independent of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. The current version of this story is correct.

Marysville students out perform the nation’s priority schools

Members of the NEA and WEA present banners and library checks at Tulalip Quil Ceda Elementary.
*Andrew Gobin/Tulalip News*

NEA recognizes Marysville schools’ turnaround

Article and photos by Andrew Gobin/Tulalip News

Tulalip − American Education Week began Monday, November 18^th, with visits to Totem Middle School and Tulalip Quil Ceda Elementary school by the National Education Association (NEA) and Washington Education Association (WEA). Both campuses, earmarked as priority schools, exemplify a joint commitment of students and teachers to academic achievement. The incredible turn around embodies the intent of the School Improvement Grant (SIG grant) they received as schools in need. A change in national perspective led to the development of the grant which catalyzed the positive turn around at these schools.

“Because of previous legislation, schools that needed assistance were labeled failing,” said Kim Mead of the WEA, referring to No Child Left Behind, which decreased funding to schools that did not meet state and national standards. “We changed our perspective, failing schools came to be seen as priority schools.”

In the last five years, 97 Washington schools were considered failing and had their funding cut. With the new perspective of those schools as a priority, the US Department of Education created the SIG grant in 2010, providing three-year funding to schools on the national priority list. 28 schools were awarded grant funding of the 60 eligible schools in Washington state that applied.

The SIG grant is conditional funding, giving four plan options to bring schools up to standard. These options are closure and transfer students to high achieving schools, turnaround by reorganizing currents school curriculum and staff, transformation through a change in leadership and instruction, and restart which would convert public schools to charter schools, which were illegal in Washington state until 2012. Of the 28 Washington priority schools awarded grants, now specified as SIG schools, 1 school closed, 23 selected transformation, and 4 opted for the turnaround, including Totem, and Tulalip Quil Ceda.

Led by the teachers, these schools developed their staff and curriculum to change the professional practices in their schools. Through the SIG funding, Totem purchased laptops for each grade in order to assess individual understanding of course materials. They developed a home visit program so that teachers have the necessary skills to bring school needs into the home, while addressing home issues, not as a means lower standards or make accommodations, but to understand how to balance the school work with home life. The most prominent demonstration of home life coming to school is the morning assembly at Tulalip Quil Ceda, which incorporates traditional values into the school day. The NEA observed the assembly during their visit.

“I chose Washington to kick off American Education Week,” said Dennis Van Rockel, NEA president. “I hear so much about Washington, what you all are doing here, and I’m glad to be able to come and see it first hand.”

Programs in these SIG schools that see drastic positive improvement are leeching out into other schools throughout MarysvilleSchool District.

“This is important as we get ready to roll out the Common Core curriculum, which is the national standard equivalent,” said Tulalip Quil Ceda teacher, George Camper.

2013 marks the final year of the SIG grant funding, which means the priority schools were evaluated nationwide. Totem and Tulalip Quil Ceda not only outperformed all others in the state, they outperformed the nation’s priority schools. In recognition of their achievement, each of their libraries were given $500, and each school was given a banner acknowledging their accomplishment.

The nation is now looking to Washington as an example for the work Totem, and Tulalip Quil Ceda schools have done. They have set a standard for priority schools nationwide, which is described in a packet titled ‘Improving Student Achievement in High-Poverty Schools: Lessons from Washington State,’ that outlines how these schools successfully turned around from persistently low achieving to high achieving.

Team N Tense Speeding in to the 2014 Competition Season

By Kim Fleischmann

The start of a new season for Team N Tense, Coached by Kim Fleischmann skating for Marysville Skate Inn began in Puyallup, WA the weekend of November 15-17. Where the inline speed skaters ages 6-69 years of age raced their season opener. The skaters were ready to begin the season with practices starting in September training 3+ days a week. Team N Tense received placements in the following divisions.

Primary Boys Ben Juracich 1^st Place, Elementary Boys Ivan Spencer 6^th Place, Freshman Girls Nikita Fleischmann 5^th Place, Freshman Boys Nashone White Bear 1^st Place, Sophomore Women Rachel Killstrom 6^th Place, Sophomore Men Torin Davenport 2^nd Place, Senior Men Jerimiah Lotan 3^rd Place, Veteran Men Eric Fleischmann 3^rd Place, Esquire Men Fred Brevic 1^st Place. Elementary2 Boy Relay Ivan Spencer-Isaac Juracich 4^th Place, Sophomore 2 Man Relay Nashone White Bear- Torin Davenport 4^th place, Veteran 2 man relay Eric Fleischmann- Fred Brevic 2^nd Place.

Also competing in the meet was Juvenile Boy Isaac Juracich, Elementary Girls Abby Varn. Great job Team N Tense. The next competition will be held in Auburn, WA Jan 18-20.

Fryberg honored for service on School Board

Wendy Fryberg during her last Marysville School Board meeting as Director District 4.— image credit: Kirk Boxleitner — Wendy Fryberg during her last Marysville School Board meeting as Director District 4.
— image credit: Kirk Boxleitner

KIRK BOXLEITNER, Marysville Globe Reporter

MARYSVILLE — Wendy Fryberg began serving on the Marysville School District Board of Directors in 2010, after being appointed to the Director District 4 position in the wake of Michael Kundu’s resignation, and she retained that seat in 2011, after running unopposed, but when that term expired this year, she chose not to run for re-election.

As such, the Marysville School Board was joined by members of the Marysville School District, as well as the surrounding Marysville and Tulalip communities, in honoring Fryberg’s service to the school district during the Board’s regular session meeting on Monday, Nov. 18.

Marysville School Board President Chris Nation called a recess during the meeting to conduct a brief celebration in tribute to Fryberg, during which he and his fellow Board members were effusive in expressing their praise and appreciation to Fryberg, whose departure also leaves vacant the Board’s vice president position.

“Wendy brought instrumental leadership to this board,” said Nation, who also serves in the Director District 1 position. “I will always embrace that.”

“Wendy has been a heart behind the Board — a gentle, willing person with an iron heart to serve our children,” said Dr. Becky Berg, superintendent of the Marysville School District. “She will be missed.”

“I have always been impressed with how Wendy and the other Board members care about the children — all children,” said Pete Lundberg, who serves in the Director District 3 position. “Wendy is very thoughtful and a good decision-maker.”

Tom Albright, the Board’s Legislative Representative who serves in the Director District 5 position, credited Fryberg with helping the Marysville School District Board of Directors receive the title of Board of the Year from the Washington State School Directors Association in 2012.

“It has been an honor and a pleasure to work and sit beside Wendy for three years,” Albright said. “I appreciate her smile and her hard work on behalf of all students.”

The meeting’s attendees from the public included Mel Sheldon Jr., chair of the Tulalip Tribes, as well as Sheryl Fryberg and Norma Razote — the general manager and deputy manager of the Tribes, respectively — and each one had plaudits and insights of their own to share about Wendy Fryberg’s service on the Marysville School Board.

“Thank you, Wendy, for stepping up to the plate, addressing the challenges and serving on the School Board for every child,” Sheldon said. “You have made us all proud, along with our community. Your work will serve our next generation. We raise our hands up to you.”

“I am so proud of Wendy and her sheer determination,” Sheryl Fryberg said. “She has grown tremendously through her work on the School Board. From the budget to academics, she took it all to heart. We are very proud of her, and happy to have her come back to our family gatherings. I also lift my hands to Wendy, and to all of the School Board members, for the important work that they do.”

“Wendy has been a great support for me this past year,” Razote said. “She has evolved so much, and as the executive director in adult services for the Tulalip Tribes, I have counted on her so much. I’ve heard so many great things about her work on the School Board.”

Following some coffee and cake, Wendy Fryberg thanked everyone for their comments.

“This has been a great three years,” Fryberg said. “I have learned a lot. I want to thank Don Hatch Jr. for strongly encouraging me to follow in his footsteps and serve on the School Board. This is a really profound team that we have. It’s been a strong team. I appreciate what I’ve learned about the educational system as a Board director, and I’m thankful that my children and everyone’s children are well taken care of in the Marysville School District. I really appreciate this recognition.”

Quinault Nation Receives Grant for Pellet Manufacturing Plant

Source: Water 4 Fish

TAHOLAH, WA (11/24/13)– The Quinault Indian Nation (QIN) has received a $63,231 US Department of Agriculture Rural Business Opportunity Grant to conduct a feasibility study on the viability of a tribal pellet manufacturing plant on the tribe’s reservation, according to Fawn Sharp, QIN President.

The envisioned pellet mill is expected to consume logging slash blended with higher grade fiber and/or alternative bio-crop fiber such as Arundo Donax (Nile Fiber), to produce industrial quality pellets that eliminate the need for annual logging slash burns, according to Sharp. “We also anticipate creating new jobs as this Tribal Enterprise is developed. New jobs would include facility operations and maintenance, biomass harvesting, biomass sorting, mechanical equipment operators, truck drivers, and administrative support,” she said. “We anticipate as many as 36 new jobs from this project.”

Upon completion the study will bring the Quinault Indian Nation one step closer to a sustainable biomass for heat system that not only provides heat to essential tribal facilities but will also begin a new technology on the Reservation.

The Quinault Nation has been investigating the use of forest biomass material generated from QIN forest management practices as fuel for heating new or existing tribal facilities for years. The existing Tribal facilities being considered for retrofit in support of a biomass for heat facility include the Tribal Health Clinic, Department of Natural Resources, the Executive Office complex and the Administration complex.

To officially get this project off and running, QIN partnered with Columbia-Pacific Resource Conservation & Economic Development District (ColPac) to apply for grants from the USDA Rural Business Opportunity Grant Program and the US Forest Service Woody Biomass Utilization Grant Program. The successful grant application was done in support of a biomass feasibility study on the Quinault Reservation. The feasibility study, successfully completed in January of 2012, determined QIN generates more than sufficient biomass quantities to sustain a low pressure boiler system using wood chips or pellets (created from forest slash) as a green fuel source to produce low cost wood heat.

Due to the project’s focus on biomass as a sustainable renewable energy resource, a diverse team of partners and the potential for new Tribal jobs in support of biomass for heat technology, the project was designated as one of seven national USDA Great Regions Projects by USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack in 2010.

“Currently our project is in the final engineering and design phase for a QIN Biomass for Heat Facility,” said Sharp. “In support of this phase QIN applied for and was awarded a 2012 US Forest Service Woody Biomass Utilization Program Grant in the amount of $205,000,” she said.

Engineering and design of the QIN Biomass for Heat Facility is being accomplished by Richmond Engineering and includes the following tasks: Abbreviated Master Plant Site Selection, Schematic Design, Design Development, and Final Design/Bid Preparation. The QIN Biomass for Heat Facility is being engineered and designed as a low pressure hot water biomass heating facility.

The initial Biomass Feasibility Study concluded that 400 bone dry tons (BDT) per year of biomass fuel, in chip or pellet form, would be required to generate the sufficient amount of heat for QIN’s existing buildings. Timber harvests and forest management create 32,000 BDT of biomass-slash annually. The QIN reservation falls within the lush temperate rainforest and is highly productive making this biomass project highly viable as well as sustainable.

“Air quality, wildlife habitat, and forest resources will benefit from this project. Also QIN will save $78,000-$126,000 per year in utility bills from converting our current electric heat to wood heat. When constructed our Biomass for Heat Facility will help QIN become more energy independent. It will also help us become more self-reliant as we create local jobs,” she said.

“This is the type of project that creates jobs, on and off the reservation. It promotes energy independence and supports sustainability and sovereignty,” said Sharp . “It’s exactly what we’re looking for at Quinault,” she said.

Rising air pollution prompts region-wide burn bans

Source:Puget Sound Clean Air Agency

Pierce County: Stage 2

King & Snohomish counties: Stage 1

SEATTLE, Wash. – To protect public health from worsening air pollution, the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency is issuing a Stage 1 burn ban for King and Snohomish counties, effective at 2:00 p.m. November 24, 2013.

A Stage 2 burn ban remains in effect for Pierce County.

These bans remain in effect until further notice.

Last night fine particle pollution levels spiked in many areas throughout the Puget Sound region, especially in neighborhoods where wood-burning is common.

During a Stage 1 burn ban:

No burning is allowed in fireplaces or uncertified wood stoves. Residents should rely instead on their home’s other, cleaner source of heat (such as their furnace or electric baseboard heaters) for a few days until air quality improves, the public health risk diminishes and the ban is cancelled. The only exception is if a wood stove is a home’s only adequate source of heat.
No outdoor fires are allowed. This includes recreational fires such as bonfires, campfires and the use of fire pits and chimineas.
Burn ban violations are subject to a $1,000 penalty.

It is OK to use natural gas, propane, pellet and EPA-certified wood stoves or inserts during a Stage 1 burn ban.

During a Stage 2 burn ban:

No burning is allowed in ANY wood-burning fireplaces, wood stoves or fireplace inserts (certified or uncertified) or pellet stoves. Residents should rely instead on their home’s other, cleaner source of heat (such as their furnace or electric baseboard heaters) for a few days until air quality improves, the public health risk diminishes and the ban is cancelled. The only exception is if a wood stove is a home’s only adequate source of heat.
No outdoor fires are allowed. This includes recreational fires such as bonfires, campfires and the use of fire pits and chimineas.
Burn ban violations are subject to a $1,000 penalty.

It is OK to use natural gas and propane stoves or inserts during a Stage 2 burn ban.

The Washington State Department of Health recommends that people who are sensitive to air pollution limit time spent outdoors, especially when exercising. Air pollution can trigger asthma attacks, cause difficulty breathing, and make lung and heart problems worse. Air pollution is especially harmful to people with lung and heart problems, people with diabetes, children, and older adults (over age 65).

For more information:

Upcoming holiday events at Tulalip Cabela’s

Taste of Cabela’s, Saturday and Sunday, November 30th – December 1st, 11 AM

Taste of Cabela’s is the perfect chance to taste all of our holiday treats and unique foodie gifts for the holiday season. Stop by the Home and Cabin Department to taste a variety of dip, soups and our famous fudge. The Eagles Nest Deli will be sampling Elk, Boar and Bison meats and other goodies sure to peak your interest. Our Camping department will be sampling a wide variety of tasty marinades and spices along with other treats that Cabela’s has to offer.

Don’t miss this day of munching on delicious food and kicking off the holiday season in Cabela’s style.

Pictures with Santa, Saturday-Sunday, December 7-8 11:00am-6pm, by the Fishing Department

Santa and his elves will be visiting our store! Come for a chance to whisper your Christmas wish lists and to take a commemorative photograph of the occasion. We’ll send you home with a free Cabela’s keepsake frame and photograph with Santa.