Category: Tulalip News
Qwuloolt restoration in its final phase
By Monica Brown Tulalip News Writer
Tulalip, Wash. –
Restoring 400 acres of estuary land is not a mediocre task and has required years of dedication from many groups. The complexity of the restoration project has spanned fourteen years and is nearing completion. With just over a year left in the project the, the final stage is to lower the southern levee and remove the tide gate.
The tide gate and levee drain the fresh water from the land and prevent any water from flowing back into the estuary. With the completion this winter of the setback levee on the western side, the southern levee, which runs along the northern edge of Ebey Slough, will be breached and the tide gate removed allowing the saline and fresh water to mix.
The Tulalip Tribes, along with the City of Marysville, Army Corps of Engineers, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Washington State Department of Ecology, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service have collaborated on this project and representatives were invited along with local and state politicians to view the progress that has been made.
Visitors were led into the estuary and taken on a brief walk to view the channel opening. Afterwards they were invited to the Hibulb Cultural Center for lunch and a discussion the estuary project in its final stage.
The restoration’s completion is expected to increase the salmon and migratory bird population and bolster the native vegetation in the area.
Tulalip Backpack Distribution, Aug 29
11AM – 6PM, Tulalip Quil Ceda Elementary School
Open to Native American students in kindergarten-12th grade that are enrolled members of the Tulalip Tribe – or – other Natives that must be enrolled in the Marysville School District. Tribal ID and/or tribal affiliation verifcation required.
Community Meeting, Mission Beach Improvements, Sept 10
Community Meeting, Tulalip tribal members only
5-7:30 PM, Tulalip Administration Building
Tulalip on Lopez Island
Photo/Andrew Gobin
Lopez Island − Two aging piers, a bit of history and a lot of fun. Tulalip kids paid a visit to the tribes’ property at MacKaye Harbor on Thursday, August 22.
Tulalip Youth Services offers a plethora of activities during the summer to occupy kids, including movie premiers, whirly ball, and trips to Wildwaves. This year, youth services wanted to do something different.
“We usually do the same things, make the same trips, but those things are typically open year round,” said Tony Hatch, who organized the trip. “We wanted to do something special, something different. So we brought the kids up here to learn about the tribes’ fishing history.”
He and Ron Iukes reminisced about fishing and staying on the docks during the summer.
“It’s good that the kids see this part of our history, and where we fished off the reservation,” Hatch added. “Here, they also get to see some of the tribes’ property that has been put on the back burner.”
Tulalip fishermen used to fish the San Juan Islands more frequently, which led to the purchase of land. Today, four tracts of land are owned by Tulalip, the first purchased in 1986, two in 1993, and one in 2005, according to the San Juan County Assessor. They still fish there today, though not as often as the decades leading in to the 1980s and early 1990s.
The tribe did plan to renovate the docks, and began work on one in recent years, but the project has not progressed since.
Hatch said, “It is unclear what Tulalip will do with the land, but we’d like to plan an end of the year camp next year.”
MLK’s ‘I Have a Dream’ legacy celebrated in shared memories
Julie Muhlstein, The Herald
EVERETT — In poetry and song, proclamations, speeches and shared memories, the essence of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech was celebrated Wednesday night in Snohomish County.
An overflow crowd packed the Jackson Center at Everett Community College to hear leaders, young people and those who remember the struggles of the Civil Rights Movement reflect on King’s words, spoken in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28, 1963.
County Executive John Lovick, noting that King’s birthplace of Atlanta has adopted the slogan “a city too busy to hate,” suggested a positive variation: “Snohomish County — a county that is not too busy to love.”
Two presenters were given standing ovations, one representing a new generation, the other an Everett elder, former City Councilman Carl Gipson Sr.
Gipson, first elected to the City Council in 1970, recalled harsh realities of his youth in Arkansas, when he wasn’t allowed into restrooms or restaurants. In Everett, he knocked on doors for a job, finally talking his way into one at a car dealership.
Gipson’s expressed gratitude to Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson for his efforts in naming the city’s senior center in his honor.
Many expressed a common theme, that King’s dream is not yet fully realized.
As they did for Gipson, the audience stood to applaud at the end of a poem recited by Rahwa Beyan, a 17-year-old leader of the youth chapter of Snohomish County’s NAACP organization. Her powerful recitation centered on the shooting death of black Florida teenager Trayvon Martin.
Lynnwood Mayor Don Gough spoke about a new “Let Freedom Ring” event earlier Wednesday in his city. Bells rang, and members of the public were given a minute each to say what King’s speech meant to them. Gough said social justice and civil rights “must meld with labor and worker rights.”
Shirley Sutton, of Lynnwood, read proclamations from her city, from Everett and Snohomish County officially recognizing the 50th anniversary of the march on Washington.
Tulalip Tribal Chairman Mel Sheldon offered a brief history lesson about his people.
It was 1924, he said, before American Indians were granted the right to vote. Sheldon praised current leaders of local government for forging strong relationships with the Tulalip Tribes.
There were speakers representing “Yesterday’s Wisdom,” “Today’s Focus” and “Tomorrow’s Dreams.”
Angelina Karke, a student at Discovery Elementary School in the Mukilteo district, shared an ambitious dream of her own:
“My dream is to be accepted into Harvard Law School. I will get my law degree and become president of the United States,” the girl said
August 28, 2013 syəcəb
Swәdx’ali, Huckleberry Hill
Photo/Ross Fenton
Co-stewardship areas yield bountiful harvests
By Andrew Gobin, Tulalip News, with photo contributions from Ross Fenton
Tulalip − The Tulalip Forestry Department took their summer youth workers huckleberry picking in Swәdx’ali on Harlan Ridge for the Hibulb Cultural Center on Wednesday, the 21st.
The berry patch is one of many co-stewardship areas throughout the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest where tribes are collaborating with the Washington Forest Service to preserve and maintain natural flora. Along with gathering berries for the museum, the Tribes’ Forestry Department wants to make the tribal membership aware of Swәdx’ali, and sites like it, where our people can go and harvest traditional plants and foods.
Staining their hands purple and red, the day was also intended as a fun and meaningful way to bring the youths’ time with the department to an end.
“Every year, we look for ways to take the youth out of the office, away from the reservation, and show them what we do, while having a little fun,” said Jason Gobin, Tulalip Forestry Manager. “And the museum will get a nice surprise because they don’t know they’re getting berries today,” he added.
Photo/Andrew Gobin
Swәdx’ali, meaning the place of the mountain huckleberry, is on Harlan Ridge and is covered with berry bushes; the common huckleberry bush with the small red berries, the mountain blueberry bush, and the big leaf huckleberry bush that has the larger black berries. Swәdx’ali is so named because of cultural and biological significance of the area, as the big leaf huckleberry naturally grows in the mountains, above 3,000 feet.
This area is one example of how the Tulalip Tribes is working to reclaim traditional areas. The co-stewardship with the state stems directly from the Point Elliot Treaty, which secured claims to usual and accustomed places, and the privilege of “gathering roots and berries in all open and unclaimed land.”
Reiterating the need to bring awareness to the people, Gobin explained, “These places of co-stewardship are open to all of Tulalip, but there aren’t many who know how to access them, or that we even have these resources available to us.”
For those who would like to access these sites, contact Tulalip Natural Resources at 360-716-4640 or Tulalip Forestry at 360-716-4371.
Photo/Andrew Gobin
Community Meeting, Suicide Prevention, Sept 13
September 10, 2013 is National Suicide Awareness Day. The Washington State Governor’s Proclamation of Suicide Prevention Week is September 8th -14th. Because of the importance of this topic and its effect on our community, Tulalip’s Behavioral Health Mental Wellness Program invites you to join us in turning strategy into action concerning suicide prevention. This can be accomplished through everyone who will play a role in the Suicide Prevention Community Meeting. You are needed and important to this community for the benefit of all of us. Please come and attend.
September 13, 2013, Administration Bldg., Room 162; Dinner 5PM, Meeting 5:30PM
Possible manhunt in progress on Tulalip
By Monica Brown, Tulalip News writer
TULALIP, Wa- A manhunt currently in progress on Marine Drive, Between 7th Ave NE and Maplewood Rd. (14th Ave NE).
A stolen vehicle was recovered and the suspects took off on foot into the woods behind Marine Dr and were believed to be headed towards Maplewood Rd. Tulalip Tribal Police and Snohomish County Sheriff’s are on the scene.
No description of the suspects were given, and they were not specified as dangerous.
- Heading west on Marine Dr between 7th Ave and Maplewood Rd.
- Photo by Monica Brown