Tag: Lummi Nation

Ferndale to consider deal that would end land dispute with Lummi Nation

Published: May 13, 2013

By Ralph Schwartz — THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

FERNDALE – City officials and Lummi Nation are pursuing an agreement to protect the city’s tax revenue and the tribe’s interest in properties it owns at the south city limits.

The City Council will decide whether to accept the agreement at a special meeting, 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 15, at 5694 Second Ave.

A draft of the agreement, posted Monday, May 13, on the city website, said the tribe would sell the western lots on land it owns along Slater Road west of Interstate 5. The tribe would receive 25 percent of the city’s share of sales tax revenue from those lots, which are on the southwest corner of Slater and Rural Avenue.

The city also would support the tribe’s application for trust status on the remaining properties. No property tax is paid on trust lands, and development on such land is not bound by state or local environmental rules.

In return, the tribe would agree to not purchase or apply for trust status on other land within the city limits, in order to protect the city’s property-tax base.

Lummi Nation mourns Fran James, elder and weaver

Published: April 30, 2013

 By JOHN STARK — THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

 

LUMMI RESERVATION — Those who knew Fran James well used the same word to describe her: humble.

James, a renowned weaver who shared her skills with her Lummi Nation community and many others, died April 28 at 88. She was widely known as “Auntie Fran.”

“She definitely gave more than she received,” said Darrell Hillaire, a former chairman of the Lummi Indian Business Council. “She definitely decided to share her life with the world, and through her weaving she was able to do that. … She thought that was representative of weaving our lives together.”

Hillaire and others said James taught a lot more than weaving. Her life itself was an example — a life that Hillaire described as “pure, simple, hard-working and generous.”

“She did those first things in order to be the last thing,” Hillaire said. “She gave everything, most importantly her time. She treated everyone with respect. … She always said that people should keep their hands busy. It kept them out of mischief.”

James’ weavings have appeared at the Seattle Art Museum, and are for sale at the Stonington Gallery in Seattle. She and her son Bill James, traditional hereditary chief of the Lummi people, have played an important role in keeping weaving and other traditional practices alive.

Makah Nation weaver Carl Irving credited Fran James with inspiring new generations to carry on the weaving tradition. Tribal communities from Alaska to California are mourning her passing, he said.

“It is because of her encouragement that I became the weaver I am,” Irving said. “She is the one who told me, ‘You keep going! You keep going!’ There are numerous lives she has touched — uncountable. … It’s like losing the Queen of England to the British people, that’s how big of a loss it is to us. They don’t make them like that anymore.”

Lummi Nation member Freddy Lane said he made a point of dropping by James’ home to share his catch every time he went clamming.

“She’d shake my hand and give me a little bit of gas money,” Lane said. “Every year we would have a clambake for her.”

Once, Lane said, Auntie Fran told an acquaintance that he had been doing his clambakes wrong.

“She said, ‘You’re using the wrong kind of seaweed. You’ve got to use the lettuce, the really light green seaweed.'”

As Lane explained it, a traditional clambake on the beach uses rocks in a pit, heated with a wood fire. The big horse clams are piled in first, with smaller butter and steamer clams on top. Then the whole thing is covered with seaweed while the clams cook.”

The different seaweed has a different taste and it salts them differently,” Lane said, adding that the first time he tried it Auntie Fran’s way, “The clams were exquisite.”

Shirley Bob, a niece, said she never knew her Auntie Fran to hold a grudge against anyone.

“She taught me a lot, just the way she carried herself, being humble and kind to everybody,” Bob said. “She showed me how to knit. She showed me how to do baskets. She would say, ‘Love love!’ That meant she loved us. I’m going to miss that.”

Video: Lummi Nation releases a million coho yearlings

Source: Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

Every year, the Lummi Nation releases a million coho yearlings from its Lummi Bay Hatchery in two batches of 500,000 fish. The fish are spawned at the Lummi Bay Hatchery and reared at the state’s Kendall Creek hatchery until they are yearlings. Then the fish are transported back to Lummi Bay where they are released.

Lummi Bay Hatchery Releases Yearling Coho Salmon from NW Indian Fisheries Commission on Vimeo.

Delegation from Lummi Nation Visit Pacific Luther University

Pacific Luther University, Chris Knutzen Hall
 7:00pm, April 22nd, 2013

Source: Pacific Lutheran University

As part of Earth Day celebrations at Pacific Luther University during the week of April 21st, a delegation of representatives of the Lummi Native American Nation is being invited by PLU student club G.R.E.A.N. (Grass Roots Environmental Action Now) to visit Pacific Luther University on Monday April 22nd, 2013 and speak to the university as well as the wider community about a fight they are in the midst of waging.
Directly to the North of the Lummi Indian reservation, which is located near Bellingham, Washington, lays a forested and rocky shoreline known as Cherry Point, or Xwe’ chi’ eXen to the Lummi. It is at this site near the Straits of Georgia in the Salish Sea that SSA Marine, an international shipping company, has proposed building what would be the nation’s largest coal export terminal.  The forest would be convereted to mountains of coal and the waters off of Cherry Point would be converted to mooring space for up to three of the largest sized ships in the world.

 

The problem lies in the fact that the Lummi consider Cherry Point and the ajoining waters a sacred site. The Lummi point to burials grounds, ancient villages and fishing sites at Cherry Point as reasons for opposing the export terminal; the terminal would undermine the Lummi’s right to economic prosperity, cultural dignity and spiritual well-being. With SSA Marine spending tens-of-thousands of dollars a day on PR, the Lummi have been overwhelmed, unable to get their message to as many people as the corporations. Thus, this event seeks to give a forum to the Lummi, one where they can share their story, in their own words.

Please join us for an evening of listening, conversation, and solidarity.

Sought-after local, sustainable seafood sold at Lummi market

Lummi tribal fishermen harvest Fraser River sockeye during 2010′s record-breaking run.
Lummi tribal fishermen harvest Fraser River sockeye during 2010′s record-breaking run.

Source: Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

Tribally caught fish sold at the Lummi Nation’s Schelangen Seafood Market is both locally sourced and sustainable, two of the most sought-after qualities for chefs, according to the National Restaurant Association.

Schelangen, in the Lummi language, means “way of life.”

“Harvesting has always been the cornerstone of our culture,” said Elden Hillaire, chairman of the Lummi Fisheries Commission. “All of our harvest targets healthy stocks while protecting weak wild runs. Fishing sustainably and being able to supply locally caught seafood is important to us.”

Locally sourced meat and seafood is the top trend in the National Restaurant Association’s What’s Hot 2013 survey. Ninth on the list is sustainable seafood. The What’s Hot list is compiled from a survey of professional chefs about the food, cuisines and culinary themes that will be popular on restaurant menus this year.

Tribes have been forced in recent years to limit fisheries because of widespread damage to salmon habitat. “Fortunately, because of careful management, we can still harvest without impacting weak wild runs,” Hillaire said. “But in the long term, sustainable harvest and the restoration of salmon habitat are our goal.”

The Lummi Gateway Center, off Interstate 5 north of Bellingham, is intended to promote community prosperity through tribal enterprise. The nearly 10,000-square-foot shopping center also includes a cafe serving lunch daily and a gift shop featuring Lummi artwork.

In addition, the Lummi Gateway Center has space for seven small businesses to start up. These “incubator” spaces will provide an opportunity for tribal members to develop a new business in a prime storefront area. The building itself has been designed to use less energy on a daily basis than a traditionally constructed building, and earned a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver Certification.

Lummis move to get trust land status worries local governments

JOHN STARK; THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

Updated: Feb. 1, 2013 at 6:01 p.m. PST

 

FERNDALE – Whatcom County and the city of Ferndale have written letters to the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs opposing Lummi Nation’s move to get trust land designation for an 80-acre site south of Slater Road and west of Interstate 5.

The land had been mentioned as a possible site for both a new county jail and a new Costco store before the tribe acquired it from Ralph Black and family for a reported $5.4 million in late 2011. Ten of the 80 acres are inside the Ferndale city limits, while the remainder is within Bellingham’s legally designated urban growth area. That means it is earmarked for eventual Bellingham annexation.

Tribal trust designation would move the parcel out of city, county and state jurisdiction and take it off property tax rolls.

In his letter to BIA Northwest Regional Director Stanley Speaks in Portland, Ore., Ferndale City Administrator Greg Young notes that in 2006 Ferndale supported Lummi Nation’s earlier move of 3.78 acres into trust status for construction of the tribe’s Gateway Center. The city threw its support behind the tribe’s plans after working out a deal to compensate the city for loss of tax revenue, making an annual payment to the city that is meant to be roughly equivalent to the taxes that would otherwise have been collected without the trust land designation.

Young’s letter says recent negotiations with Lummi over the 80-acre parcel have not borne fruit, and he expresses concern that more transfers of land into trust status could follow.

“While we supported this prior trust conversion and appreciated the Lummis’ desire to have direct freeway exposure, we are now extremely concerned over what may become a pattern of slow but continuous removal of essential land from Ferndale – as you may be aware, not only have the Lummis purchased this 80-acre site, they hold purchase options on additional property in this area. Apparently they have adopted a strategy of land purchase, trust conversion, and development in this area – leading to direct and unavoidable harm to the city of Ferndale.”

Young’s letter also suggests that Lummi Nation may be hoping to imitate the Tulalip Tribes’ big commercial development along Interstate 5 in Marysville.

“It is understandable that the leaders of the Lummi Nation want to mimic the development success of the Tulalip Tribes to the south, but this should not be accomplished and coupled with perpetual harm to the city of Ferndale,” Young wrote.

The Whatcom County Council approved a letter of opposition to the Bureau of Indian Affairs after discussing the matter in a closed session on Tuesday, Jan. 29.

“There is no information regarding the proposed use or development,” says the letter, signed by County Executive Jack Louws and County Council chairwoman Kathy Kershner. “Nor has the Nation consulted with Whatcom County or entered into any agreements regarding the use of the land with any of the three impacted jurisdictions.”

In her own letter to Speaks at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bellingham Mayor Kelli Linville does not flatly oppose tribal trust land status.

“The City of Bellingham values its relationship with the Lummi Nation and is confident that, if given an opportunity, the concerns can be addressed through a government-to-government agreement that respects the self-determination of the Lummi Nation,” the letter says. “However, we believe these issues need to be addressed prior to a determination on the (trust) application.”

Linville’s letter states that the impact on the city goes far beyond the 70-acre section of Lummi Nation property that is inside the city’s urban growth area: Another 445 acres in the growth area would be cut off from the city if the 71-acre section is converted to trust status and cannot be annexed by the city.

Those 445 acres are industrially zoned.

“Bellingham has a shortage of industrial-zoned parcels that are sufficient in size and unencumbered by wetlands,” Linville’s letter says. “Conversion of the subject property to trust status would significantly erode Bellingham’s future industrial land base.”

In a later interview, Ferndale’s Young said as he understands it, the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ regional director has the discretion to approve trust status to the Lummi land, with or without the approval of local governments. But the local governments could appeal that approval, if it comes, to the U.S. Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C.

In his talks with Lummi officials, Young said he got the impression that the tribe may not yet have definite plans for the property.

Linville said she got the same impression during a Thursday, Jan. 31, phone conversation with Lummi chairman Tim Ballew.

“He restated that the tribe didn’t have any plans,” Linville said. “There were no details to give me.”

Linville also agreed that the city and other local governments have a right to comment, but the BIA can give the property trust status despite local objections.

Linville said she told Ballew she would like to work with the tribe to find a mutually beneficial approach to development of the tribe’s property.

Lummi Nation and the BIA did not respond to requests for comment.

 

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/02/04/2458700/lummis-move-to-get-trust-land.html#storylink=cpy