Tulalip News

Big Lots comes to Marysville Mall Nov. 8

Marysville Big Lots Store Manager Dan Hanlon shows off the store’s seasonal stock, ready to help shoppers get into the holiday spirit.— image credit: Kirk Boxleitner — Marysville Big Lots Store Manager Dan Hanlon shows off the store’s seasonal stock, ready to help shoppers get into the holiday spirit.
— image credit: Kirk Boxleitner

By Kirk Boxleitner, Marysville Globe Reporter

MARYSVILLE — Its official grand opening isn’t until 9 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 8, but the employees of the new Big Lots store at the corner of the Marysville Towne Center Mall have already gotten used to passersby taping on the glass to try and get a sneak peak.

Marysville Big Lots Store Manager Dan Hanlon explained that his roughly 60 employees have had 25 days to prepare for the ribbon-cutting, during which Big Lots District Manager Sheila Marquis will present a check for $1,500 to Totem Middle School.

“When I was working for Restoration Hardware and we opened an outlet in this area, I noticed that the folks from Marysville would buy more small shelf stock,” said Hanlon, who’s worked in retail “all my life” and lived in Snohomish County for the better part of a decade. “That’s when I knew that Marysville was looking for a good discount store. When I started working for Big Lots three years ago, they hired me to work here, but because of the construction on this facility, I worked at the Bellingham store instead for two years.”

Hanlon believes that Big Lots’ ever-changing selection of affordably priced goods is tailor-made for the shoppers of Marysville.

“We have a lot of people in Marysville who are blue-collar, hard-working and looking for great bargains,” Hanlon said. “We’re here for the community, and not just to offer them great deals. All of our workers are from the community. When we sent out the call for employees, we got 300 applications in three days.”

While Hanlon was promising first-day, first-through-the-door customers an assortment of giveaways, gift cards and other prizes, Greater Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Caldie Rogers was singing the praises of the new store.

“Big Lots is a big win for our downtown core and community,” Rogers said. “How big a win? Studies prove that shoppers favor a shoppers’ destination, offering multiple shopping venues, rather than traveling to a single store.”

Rogers has no doubts that the shoppers who are drawn to Big Lots will explore the rest of Marysville’s surrounding downtown core of merchants.

“Add to that the win of new jobs that they have brought with them, and then double that win recognizing that the increased sales tax revenue generated will help our city fund the expanding services and infrastructure needs for our growing community,” Rogers said. “Welcome to the neighborhood, Big Lots, and thank you for investing in our community.”

Election in county, state could bring significant changes

In races in the county and state, the outcomes could reshape government and raise larger issues.

Source: The Herald

Tuesday’s election features a series of races that could reshape politics locally.

And some races around the state that could have national implications.

In Snohomish County, three of the five seats on the County Council are in contention — and at least two new faces will join the council

Councilmen John Koster and Dave Gossett are being forced to give up their seats because of term limits.

Ken Klein, a Republican who is an Arlington city councilman, and Bill Blake, a Democrat who is an Arlington utilities supervisor, are competing for Koster’s seat representing District 1, which covers most of north Snohomish County.

In south Snohomish County, Republican Bob Reedy faces Democrat Terry Ryan for Gossett’s seat in District 4. Ryan is a former Mill Creek mayor and city councilman who works commercial real estate with Seattle firm Kidder Mathews. Reedy is a lifelong resident of south county who worked in customer service for Mill Creek-based Jaco Environmental, but said he recently took a job in marketing. The district includes Mill Creek, Mountlake Terrace, Brier and north Bothell, as well as unincorporated areas such as Alderwood Manor and Silver Firs.

In District 5, in southeast Snohomish County, incumbent Dave Somers is running against Chris Vallo of Lake Stevens, a real estate broker seeking his first term in public office. Vallo ran for county assessor and lost in 2011.

The district covers eastern Snohomish County, including Snohomish, Monroe, Maltby, Sultan, Gold Bar and Index.

Dozens of other candidates are running in races in cities around the county. In Lynnwood, Mayor Don Gough is being challenged by Nicola Smith, a dean at Edmonds Community College.

In Mukilteo, Mayor Joe Marine is going against City Councilwoman Jennifer Gregerson.

Stanwood and Monroe will both have new mayors. Stanwood Mayor Dianne White is stepping aside. Les Anderson, who served on Stanwood’s council from 1993 to 2001, and current Councilman Leonard Kelley hope to step into her job. Anderson is employed by Mill Creek’s public works department. Kelley is retired.

In Monroe, Mayor Robert Zimmerman also decided against seeking re-election. Ed Davis, who has served on the City Council for two years, and Geoffrey Thomas, a former city council member who served six years in 2009, are seeking Zimmerman’s job.

Davis works as a surface security inspector for the federal Transportation Security Administration. Thomas works as senior legislative analyst for the Snohomish County Council.

As of Friday afternoon, 65,740 ballots had been returned or about 15.7 percent of the 419,275 ballots mailed to voters countywide.

Around the state, in SeaTac, a campaign backed by labor unions seeks to raise the minimum wage to $15 for many workers. In Whatcom County, an unprecedented amount of outside money is influencing an election that may shape whether the area becomes home to the largest coal shipping terminal on the West Coast.

Statewide, voters will decide whether to label genetically modified foods in a campaign that has drawn hefty donations from food industry businesses.

Todd Donovan, a professor of political science at Western Washington University, said the unique thing about this year’s ballot, which voters must postmark by Tuesday, is that a random assortment of campaigns has drawn so much attention from outside the state as organizations seek to use this year’s vote as leverage.

“Both sides are looking at what happens in Washington. It’s going to make it harder or easier to advance their policy goals,” Donovan said.

In Seattle, incumbent Mike McGinn and opponent Ed Murray, a state senator, have waded into national discussions about the minimum wage, coal and gun control. Meanwhile, a state Senate race that could shape the balance of power in the chamber has become the most expensive legislative contest in state history.

Secretary of State Kim Wyman is forecasting a fairly average off-year voter turnout of 51 percent, well below the 81 percent last year when the presidential race and major issues like gay marriage and marijuana legalization were on the ballot.

Donovan said the issues this year have created an interesting dynamic. In Whatcom County, for example, voters in the county council race are weighing whether the proposed increase in coal trains through the region will add jobs, affect traffic and have any local environmental impacts.

But the coal industry and environmental groups that are funding the campaigns see something much bigger, Donovan said. To them, it’s a battle over issues such as climate change and business.

“They’re thinking globally, but here it’s much more about how it affects people locally,” Donovan said.

Meanwhile, labor groups have been pushing nationally this year for a $15 minimum wage, and the SeaTac initiative could provide those proponents a success story they can use as a foundation. The initiative to label genetically modified foods has become a $30 million campaign, with most of the money coming from food industry groups in opposition of the measure.

Happy First National Bison Day, a Rare Bipartisan Achievement

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

After being all but wiped out by European settlers in the 1800s, the American buffalo is finally getting its due recognition: November 2 marks the first official National Bison Day, established by a rare bipartisan Senate vote on October 30.

The effort to give the bison its day brought American Indians together with bison producers, conservationists, educational institutions, recreationists, zoological institutions, health organizations and businesses, notes the Wildlife Conservation Society. They formed a consortium, the Vote Bison Coalition, that worked to pass the resolution introduced on September 24 by U.S. Senators Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota) and Michael Enzi (R-Wyoming).

“National Bison Day is an opportunity to celebrate the bison as a living symbol of the United States,” Johnson said in a statement at the time. “Bison not only play a central role in Native American culture, they are increasingly important in South Dakota and across the nation as bison ranching and interest in this great mammal have grown.”

While various conservation and tribal groups have celebrated a National Bison Day informally int he past, this is its first time with an official federal designation. The day will fall on the first Saturday of November from now on.

The resolution is framed around the value of bison to tribes for spiritual and material sustenance, as well as giving a nod to modern-day capitalism with an allusion to the animal’s “significant economic value for private producers and rural communities,” and to its environmental importance by mentioning that it can play a “role in improving the types of grasses found in landscapes to the benefit of grasslands.” In fact there is something for everyone, even sports teams, as the animal’s symbolic use as a mascot also factors in.

The sad history of the buffalo in the wake of European colonization has been well documented. When European settlers wanted the land, they drove off the Indigenous Peoples’ main source of food, the bison. In the process they massacred millions of the majestic animals during the Plains Indian Wars, driving them almost to extinction.

Over the past few years, bison have slowly been reintroduced to their original lands, including the Fort Peck and Fort Belknap Indian reservations.

Bison Return to Fort Peck: A Special Day, 200 Years in the Making

Below, the resolution in full.

Senate Resolution Designating November 2, 2013, as “National Bison Day”

Whereas bison are considered a historical symbol of the United States;

Whereas bison were integrally linked with the economic and spiritual lives of many Indian tribes through trade and sacred ceremonies;

Whereas there are more than 60 Indian tribes participating in the Intertribal Buffalo Council;

Whereas numerous members of Indian tribes are involved in bison restoration on tribal land;

Whereas members of Indian tribes have a combined herd on more than 1,000,000 acres of tribal land;

Whereas the Intertribal Buffalo Council is a tribal organization incorporated pursuant to section 17 of the Act of June 18, 1934 (commonly known as ‘‘Indian Reorganization Act’’) (25 U.S.C. 477);

Whereas bison can play an important role in improving the types of grasses found in landscapes to the benefit of grasslands;

Whereas a bison has been depicted on the official seal of the Department of the Interior since 1912;

Whereas bison hold significant economic value for private producers and rural communities;

Whereas, as of 2007, the United States had 4,499 bison producers creating jobs and providing a sustainable and healthy meat source contributing to the food security of the United States;

Whereas a bison is portrayed on 2 State flags;

Whereas the bison has been adopted by 3 States as the official mammal or animal of those States;

Whereas the buffalo nickel played an important role in modernizing the currency of the United States;

Whereas several sports teams have the bison as a mascot, which highlights the iconic significance of bison in the United States;

Whereas on December 8, 1905, William Hornaday, Theodore Roosevelt, and others formed the American Bison Society in response to the near extinction of bison in the United States;

Whereas on October 11, 1907, the American Bison Society sent 15 bison to the first big game refuge in the United States, which was known as the ‘‘Wichita Reserve Bison Refuge’’;

Whereas in 2005, the American Bison Society was reestablished, bringing together bison ranchers, managers from Indian tribes, Federal and State agencies, conservation organizations, and natural and social scientists from the United States, Canada, and Mexico to create a vision for the North American bison in the 21st century;

Whereas there are bison herds in National Wildlife Refuges and National Parks;

Whereas there are bison in State-managed herds across 11 States;

Whereas there is a growing effort to celebrate and officially recognize the historical, cultural, and economic significance of the North American bison to the heritage of the United States; and

Whereas members of Indian tribes, bison producers, conservationists, sportsmen, educators, and other public and private partners have participated in the first annual National Bison Day on November 1, 2012, and are committed to continuing this tradition annually on the first Saturday of November: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate—

(1) designates November 2, 2013, the first Saturday of November, as National Bison Day; and

(2) encourages the people of the United States to observe the day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

Sen. Heitkamp Discusses Her Plans to Help Native American Children

By Rob Capriccioso, Indian Country Today Media Network

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) says she owes a lot to Indian country, believing that the American Indian vote during her close race for a Senate seat last fall put her over the top for the win. She’s now returning the favor, telling Indian Country Today Media Network in an interview about her plans to pass legislation that would create a Commission on Native American Children.

Of all the many issues you face in the Senate, why did you decide to introduce a plan to find solutions to problems facing Native youth as your first bill?

I’m not new to this issue. When I look across the horizon and ask who needs a little more help, and where do we have some problems, it’s obviously in Indian country. They are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system; they are overrepresented in the foster care system. Thirty seven percent live in poverty, many live in substandard housing and have substandard educational opportunities. It’s not for lack of trying by the tribal governments and the schools, but right now, with sequestration, we have roofs that are not getting fixed in North Dakota. Who else is going to step up and provide that voice for these children who for so many years have struggled? The time has come. I can’t keep asking people to do something about it when I am in a position to take responsibility.

If your legislation passes and the commission is established, how will you measure its success?

I will measure its success by whether it is collaborated and not just the typical knee-jerk response. Many of my colleagues in the Senate don’t understand the additional challenges here, and I think this commission will give us the opportunity to do some broader education and get more people on board for long-term solutions. [I want to see] ideas that are culturally sensitive, but also that can produce results long term. I hope the commission will set us on a trajectory to provide a plan for improvement of the conditions for Native American kids.

Why a commission as opposed to some other form of addressing the issue?

I think a commission because, if you talk to Indian educators or Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement, everybody comes at it from their own perspectives. When I was attorney general, I did a big facilitation on juvenile justice, and basically, because of the people we invited, they were simply talking about detention centers. Well, that wasn’t the solution to kids getting in trouble on the reservation, in my opinion. So we need to bring in people from a multi-disciplinary approach who are committed to a process that will set us on a path for change. If I walk out of this office, whenever that is, and I have not done something that improves the conditions for Native American children in my state and in this country, I will not feel successful as a United State senator.

The commission ends after three years—why that timeframe?

Because we can’t waste another generation.

The cost of the commission is $2 million—is cost going to be a sticking point in the current congressional budgetary climate?

We are trying to find solutions, and I think there are going to be so many people excited about this, I think you will see so many people [in Congress] stepping up. It’s not new money, it will be a reallocation, and I hoping that will get a lot of buy in. Two million is a lot of money, but we just spent copy68 million a day shutting down government. Where are our priorities?

Where will the money be reallocated from?

The Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, and Interior. It’s basically asking them all to pony up a small amount to fund the commission.

Will tribes receive any money?

The $2 million is just for the costs of the commission. It’s not going to act as an appropriator. It is going to show the things we can do working collaboratively in a government-to-government relationship.

Who will sit on the commission? Any tribal citizens?

It will be appointees of the president, the Senate majority Leader, the minority leader in the Senate, and the majority and minority speakers in the House. Whoever they want. We expect that tribal citizens will be invited to serve on both the commission and its advisory committee. I prefer that the appointees be from Indian country.

How is your relationship with tribes evolving?

I think most tribal leaders would say I had a fairly good relationship with them before I entered the Senate. I think I’ve always approached tribal governments as sovereign governments with sovereign people. We have to be respectful of the government-to-government relationship. And I understand treaty rights, and look at them from a lens of contractual responsibilities. I think my relationship has only gotten stronger with tribes in the last year.

Did the Indian vote help you win your race?

It would be hard to say no, wouldn’t it? It was a huge factor in my campaign.

Native children are obviously a huge priority for you, what other Indian country issues will you be taking the lead on?

One of the issues I have been involved with is looking at the IRS intrusion into sovereign tribal assistance to tribal people. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) and I have the lead bill there, trying to roll back IRS excess. Indian housing is also a huge issue for me. I’m on the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and intend to be a very active member of that committee. I want to see that the Bureau of Indian Affairs is not seen as the forgotten stepchild of the Department of the Interior. I want its needs to be front and center.

Lastly, you have introduced the bill to establish the commission with Sen. Lisa Murkowski—a Republican. How important is bipartisanship in Congress on Indian issues?

Especially on this issue, it’s absolutely critical. In the end, if we are going to follow up with reallocation of resources; if we’re going to respond with resources, we need to build as broad a base as possible and get as much buy in as we possibly can to implement the recommendations of the commission.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Being Frank: Boeing, Let’s Talk

By Billy Frank, Jr., Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

OLYMPIA – It was the mid-1980s, and Roy dairy farmer Jim Wilcox was worried.

As an owner of Wilcox Family Farms, one of the largest dairy producers in western Washington at the time, he was concerned how his business would be affected by the activities of a new group called the Nisqually River Task Force. I was part of that task force of tribal, state, federal and local governments, businesses and others charged with developing a management plan for the Nisqually River watershed. The aim of the plan was balanced stewardship of the watershed’s economic, natural and cultural resources.

Fearing that possible environmental regulations in such a plan could put his family farm on the Nisqually River out of business, Wilcox quickly joined the task force to protect his interests. But before that, he teamed up with other large landowners in the watershed – including Weyerhaeuser – to try and shoot down any plan that might be developed.

But those fears melted one day when the task force was touring the watershed and our bus broke down. Waiting for help, Jim and I started talking. I told him that we wanted him to stay in business, but that we needed to protect salmon as well, and that if we worked together, we could come up with a solution.

He agreed to try. Today, Wilcox Family Farms is still in business and the Nisqually River watershed is one of the healthiest in the state. It’s a model of how a watershed can be managed for the benefit of everyone.

About that same time, a war was raging in the woods of Washington. Timber companies, environmental groups, tribes, state and federal agencies, and others were battling each other in court over the effects of timber harvests on fish and wildlife. I asked Stu Bledsoe, executive director of the Washington Forest Protection Association, a forest products industry trade group, to see if his members would be willing to join a cooperative effort to develop a solution for everyone involved.

He agreed to try. After many months of negotiations by all of the parties involved, the result was the Timber/Fish/Wildlife Agreement – now called the Forests and Fish Law – which put an end to the war in the woods with a cooperative science-based management approach that ensures a healthy timber industry while also protecting fish and wildlife.

We find ourselves in a similar situation today with the state’s extremely low fish consumption rate that is used to regulate pollution in our waters. The lower the rate, the higher the level of pollutants allowed.

Washington has one of the highest populations of seafood consumers, but uses one of the lowest fish consumption rates in the country to control water pollution. State government is quick to admit that the current rate of 6.5 grams of seafood per day – about one 8-ounce serving a month – does not protect most Washington citizens from toxins in our waters that can cause illness or death.

That fact is especially true for Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, as well as recreational fishermen and others who eat more seafood than most. For us tribes, fish and shellfish have always been basis of our cultures. Our treaty-reserved harvest rights depend on those resources being safe to eat.

Oregon recently increased its fish consumption rate to 175 grams per day, the most protective rate in the U.S. We think everyone in Washington deserves at least that level of protection.

Sadly, the effort to adopt a more accurate fish consumption rate has become one of the biggest public policy battles in the country, pitting human health against the economy. Some industry leaders such as Boeing are digging in their heels to delay or kill rule-making on a more accurate rate because they say it will increase their cost of doing business.

To find a solution, Gov. Jay Inslee has put together an informal advisory group of tribes, local governments, businesses, environmental organizations and others to help resolve the issue. That group met for the first time recently, and although Boeing was invited, the company chose not to participate.

That’s too bad, because I would have told them that we don’t want Boeing to leave the state or go out of business. We want them to keep making planes here in western Washington, but at the same time we have to protect the health of everyone who lives here by adopting a more realistic fish consumption rate. I also would have told them about Jim Wilcox and Stu Bledsoe and the many great things that can be accomplished when we sit down together to solve a shared problem.

Puget Sound orcas circle ferry carrying artifacts

About a half-dozen orca whales swim and splash close to a small research vessel following the group near Bainbridge Island in the Puget Sound Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2013, as seen some miles away from Seattle. The whales were among about 20 or more, believed to be from the resident J and K pods, seen traveling through the passage Tuesday afternoon. Photo: Elaine Thompson, AP

SEATTLE (AP) — A large pod of orcas swam around a Washington state ferry in an impressive display as it happened to be carrying tribal artifacts to a new museum at the ancestral home of Chief Seattle, and some people think it was more than a coincidence.

Killer whales have been thrilling whale watchers this week in Puget Sound, according to the Orca Network, which tracks sightings.

But they were especially exciting Tuesday when nearly three-dozen orcas surrounded the ferry from Seattle as it approached the terminal on Bainbridge Island. On board were officials from The Burke Museum in Seattle who were moving ancient artifacts to the Suquamish Museum.

The artifacts were dug up nearly 60 years ago from the site of the Old Man House, the winter village for the Suquamish tribe and home of Chief Sealth, also known as Chief Seattle. The Burke, a natural history museum on the University of Washington campus, is known for Northwest Coast and Alaska Native art.

Also on board the state ferry was Suquamish Tribal Chairman Leonard Forsman who happened to be returning from an unrelated event. As the ferry slowed near the terminal, it was surrounded by the orcas, Forsman said Wednesday.

“They were pretty happily splashing around, flipping their tails in the water,” he said. “We believe they were welcoming the artifacts home as they made their way back from Seattle, back to the reservation.”

The killer whales have been in Puget Sound feeding on a large run of chum salmon, he said.

“We believe the orcas took a little break from their fishing to swim by the ferry, to basically put a blessing on what we were on that day,” he said.

Forsman believes there’s a spiritual tie between the tribe and the orcas. “They are fishermen like we are,” he said.

It was an auspicious arrival for about 500 artifacts that The Burke Museum had held for nearly 60 years, Suquamish Museum Director Janet Smoak said.

They include tools, decorative items and bits of bone and rock that date back 2,000 years.

The Old Man House — the largest known longhouse on the Salish Sea — was located at Suquamish on the shore of Agate Passage, about 13 miles northwest of Seattle. Chief Sealth, for whom Seattle is named, is buried there.

The longhouse was burned down by the U.S. government in the late 1800s. The artifacts were collected by a University of Washington archaeological investigation in the 1950s, according to the Burke museum.

In 2012, the tribe completed its new museum, which includes a climate controlled environment. The artifacts will be displayed to illustrate Suquamish culture in an exhibit called Ancient Shores Changing Tides.

Everyone was talking about the orcas at the Tuesday museum blessing ceremony and feast, Smoak said.

“Everyone was really excited and moved by the event,” she said.

The orcas, identified from their markings as members of the J and K pods, were seen this week along several routes between the Seattle area and the west side of Puget Sound, according to Howard Garrett of the Orca Network at Freeland.

He thought their intersection with the ferry carrying tribal artifacts was uncanny.

“I can’t rule out somehow they could pick up on the mental energy that there is something special there. Or it could be a coincidence,” he said. “I don’t know.”

Stream restoration in the Port Susan watershed

Before the culvert was restored. — After the culvert was restored. Photo by Brett Shattuck

Natural Resources department seeks out important streams that are in need of restoration.

By Monica Brown, Tulalip News Writer

TULALIP, Wa. -In an effort to boost salmon populations and abide by treaty rights, the state of Washington has been court ordered to fix problem culverts, which prevent salmon from accessing integral streams. Tulalip’s Natural Resources department has been helping the State’s effort by repairing one culvert per year for the last few years. Greenwood creek in the Warm Beach community, the most recent culvert repaired by Natural Resources, was found to be an important stream for juvenile salmon and acts as a nursery prior to entering the ocean.

“We try to repair one a year or every other year. It’s something we do when we have time on the side,” said Brett Shattuck of Tulalip’s Natural Resources. Brett works as a forest and fish biologist, a position that doesn’t center on stream restoration. Together as a department though, they research and find vital streams that require repair yet fall out of state jurisdiction which would require the state to repair according to the court order. While the state owns and is responsible for 1,521 culvert barriers, they have been court ordered to only repair just fewer than 1,000 of those within the next 17 years, a feat which the state implies that they do not have enough funds for in order to complete on time.

Brett includes that, “because most streams on the reservation are either naturally non-salmon bearing, or are utilized for hatchery operations and do not have wild salmon access for that reason,” they look beyond the reservation boundaries to find nearby, integral streams in need of repair that would otherwise be ignored. “These streams are really important to fish and a lot of them have degraded,” explained Brett. There are streams that contain salmon on the reservation including Quilceda Creek, Sturgeon Creek and Coho Creek, but these streams already have, or are in the planning stages, of being repaired by Natural Resources.

Greenwood Creek is located in the Port Susan watershed, and as a tidal stream, it is similar to an estuary where salt water tides flow in and mix with the out flowing fresh water. During salmon monitoring of one small portion of Greenwood Creek, it has been recorded to support over 700 salmon in various species. Brett explains, “most of the fish come from the Stillaguamish River and they come in here to avoid predators, to have refuge and to find food.” The stream, mainly utilized for salmon rearing also provides an extra half mile of stream for Silver and Coho spawning.

Many streams located within development areas have degraded environmentally and structurally. Stream area diminishes due to roads, invasive plants change habitat and inaccessible culverts prevent salmon from traveling further upstream. When a stream is developed, a culvert is placed in the stream to modify it so that it can be crossed over. As per Washington Department of Transportation’s data, many streams statewide are important to salmon spawning and rearing but overtime have become inhospitable; 1,960 out the 3,200 culverts statewide have been identified as fish barriers.

The Natural Resources department has restored this and previous streams through grant funding. The $50,000 in grant funding was obtained from Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund (PCSRF) to replace the preexisting culvert with one that is more functional and to excavate in order to restore 250ft of the stream. While Snohomish County did not provide funds they did provide in-kind services and materials to the project which match the grant fund in cost from PCSRF.

BeforeBelowCulvertHoriz — Before the culvert was restored. Photo by Brett Shattuck

Orcas Spotted in Puget Sound near Seattle

Credit Elaine Thompson / AP PhotoA pair of orca whales swim in view of a state ferry crossing from Bainbridge Island toward Seattle in the Puget Sound Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2013, as seen some miles away from Seattle. — Credit Elaine Thompson / AP Photo
A pair of orca whales swim in view of a state ferry crossing from Bainbridge Island toward Seattle in the Puget Sound Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2013, as seen some miles away from Seattle.

Source: Associated Press, October 30, 2013

Whale spotters say dozens of killer whales are still in Puget Sound where they have been seen by ferry passengers as well as people on shore.

Howard Garrett of the Orca Network at Freeland says 30 to 35 were spotted again Wednesday from the ferry on the Edmonds-Kingston route. The killer whales had been spotted in the same area at sunset Tuesday after swimming past Seattle.

The Orca Network reports members of the J and K pods have been in Puget Sound since Sunday.

Inslee: Ellensburg Area Stream Restoration Good for Salmon

Credit Anna KingGovernor Jay Inslee signs his name to some of the pipe that will put water back in Manastash Creek near Ellensburg, Wash. — Credit Anna King
Governor Jay Inslee signs his name to some of the pipe that will put water back in Manastash Creek near Ellensburg, Wash.

By Anna King, KPLU news

A dried-out 3-mile-stretch of creek in central Washington will soon swell again with water. It’s part of a project near Ellensburg to pipe irrigation water from the Yakima River to keep water in the creek for salmon and steelhead.

In June, Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill passed by the Legislature that sets aside $132 million to improve water usage and sensitive habitat in the Yakima Basin. Inslee traveled to Manastash Creek to celebrate the start of one part of that work—construction of a 13-mile pipeline that will replace an unlined canal system. With more water back in the creek, it will once again free salmon and steelhead to spawn on 25 miles of habitat upstream. Inslee says this project stems from lawsuits, bitter fights and earlier failures.

“You know sometimes water projects have not been shall we say perfect in the West, because they’ve ignored one aspect of our culture or our values,” Inslee said. This combines all of them, it’s jobs, it’s farms, it’s fish, it’s forest.”

The Manastash Creek restoration project is expected to be finished next spring.

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