Tulalip News

Wash. DNR Postpones Clear-Cuts It Approved Near Oso Landslide

Source: KUOW

Washington state officials have postponed selling 250 acres of timber on steep slopes near the town of Oso.

The Washington Department of Natural Resources had scheduled the 188-acre “Riley Rotor” timber sale and the 62-acre “Home Repairs” timber sale for auction this Wednesday, a month and a day after the March 22 landslide that killed at least 39 people in Oso.

The Riley Rotor site is on state land about five miles southwest of the deadly Oso slide. Much of the site is so steep that the DNR had proposed logging it with helicopters.

Helicopter logging would allow the state to sell an estimated $1.3 million worth of timber from the site without building new logging roads through the steep landscapes of the Stillaguamish River basin. Cutting roads into the hillsides could worsen the risk of landslides, according to the DNR.

In January, the Washington Forest Law Center urged the DNR to leave parts of the area uncut to further reduce the landslide risk.

The environmental group said the proposed cut would put up to a dozen homes, as well as salmon streams, below the proposed sale at risk. It also expressed concern about the combined impact of the sale with logging proposed just uphill, on land owned by Weyerhaeuser.

The DNR replied that maps showing a historic landslide on the site — which would indicate the site’s vulnerability to more sliding — proved to be incorrect once geologists, biologists and foresters from the agency and from the Tulalip Tribes walked the site in person.

“This ‘landslide feature’ was determined to be non-existent,” DNR assistant regional manager Laurie Bergvall told the Forest Law Center in January.

The agency formally approved the Riley Rotor sale on March 4.

DNR officials dismissed concerns the Forest Law Center raised in late March, after the Oso landslide.

“There are essentially no geologic or lithologic similarities between the site of the Riley Rotor timber sale and the Oso landslide,” DNR geologist John McKenzie wrote on April 14. The two sites “could hardly be more different,” he wrote.

Credit: Washington Forest Law Center

The agency’s decision to postpone the Riley Rotor auction surprised the center’s wildlife biologist, Kara Whittaker.

“It was kind of funny because it was just Tuesday, on the 15th, that we got some correspondence from DNR confirming they were going to proceed with the sale,” Whittaker said.

By Friday afternoon, the DNR had reversed itself.

“We’re hoping this reversal is a signal that DNR is committed to changing the way it logs on steep and unstable slopes,” Whittaker said.

“We really did have a thorough review beforehand, but prudence and the changing conditions dictated the decision to postpone until further review,” said Kyle Blum, a deputy supervisor with the Department of Natural Resources.

Blum said the changing conditions included Oso’s near-record rainfall in March as well as the Oso landslide.

Blum said the DNR is also reviewing other timber sales in the Oso area to make sure none of them put public safety at risk.

On Wednesday, the agency postponed the auction of its Home Repairs timber sale in Skagit County, about 17 miles northwest of the Oso slide. That sale of an estimated $770,000 worth of timber would require building a mile and a half of logging road on Cultus Mountain above Nookachamps Creek, which supports six species of salmon.

“Most of the sale area is located on a deep-seated landslide,” according to DNR documents.

This was first reported for KUOW.

Tulalips, others oppose state’s move to halt release of hatchery steelhead

By Chris Winters, The Herald

TULALIP — A lawsuit filed against the state Department of Fish and Wildlife has led the state to cancel this year’s entire release of hatchery-raised steelhead trout into Western Washington rivers.

That means that there will be virtually no steelhead fishing in 2016 and 2017.

This week the Tulalips and other local American Indian tribes weighed in, blasting the decision by the state to cancel the release, and the lawsuit that forced the move, filed by the Wild Fish Conservancy, a nonprofit based in Duvall.

The suit was filed on March 31. In a declaration filed April 16 by Phil Anderson, the director of Fish and Wildlife, he wrote that the department’s plan to protect wild steelhead from genetic hybridization with hatchery fish is under review by the National Marine Fisheries Service, but that he had no expectation it would be approved in time for the release.

That approval is necessary so that the program wouldn’t run afoul of the Endangered Species Act, which lists wild steelhead as threatened. Therefore, Anderson decided there would be no steelhead release this year.

A joint statement issued by the Tulalip Tribes, the Lummi Nation and the Upper Skagit Tribe took issue with the basis for the nonprofit’s lawsuit, which, it said, “erroneously concluded that hatchery production, rather than the loss of habitat, is responsible for the depressed state of the Puget Sound steelhead populations.”

The statement from the tribes urged anglers to contact Gov. Jay Inslee, the Fish and Wildlife Commission, and Anderson and to put pressure on the department.

“Maybe the hatcheries do have some impact, but there are greater impacts out there,” said Ray Fryberg, executive director for natural and cultural resources for the Tulalip Tribes.

Habitat loss, environmental change, perhaps even seals waiting at the mouths of rivers to eat the returning fish probably have a greater impact on wild populations than the hatcheries do, Fryberg said.

The fish at issue is known as Chambers Creek steelhead, a strain raised in six hatcheries in Western Washington, including the Whitehorse Ponds hatchery near Darrington.

The hatchery-raised juveniles are released earlier than when wild steelhead hatch, and the difference in timing allows the hatchery-raised adult steelhead to be fished before the wild runs return to their spawning grounds.

A spokesperson for the Department of Fish and Wildlife declined to comment on the lawsuit or the statement from the tribes.

The conservancy’s suit alleges that the state’s hatchery programs allow Chambers Creek steelhead to interbreed with the wild strains, out-compete the wild fish for food and spawning grounds, and that the hatchery operations themselves have suppressed the wild population.

The wild stocks are so depressed that they are in danger of being listed as endangered, which would drastically affect fishing for all salmonid species in the region, said Kurt Beardslee, the executive director of the Wild Fish Conservancy.

Loss of habitat is a critical issue, Beardslee said, but the only two actions that would have an immediate impact on wild populations would be to curtail fishing or to stop hatchery releases.

He cited a recent study conducted in the Skagit River of the impacts of hatchery-raised steelhead on the wild population, one of whose recommendations was to suspend hatchery releases for seven to 10 years to eliminate competition among the species, reduce cross-breeding among populations and increase the survival rate of wild steelhead.

“We have to look at things that can get results immediately,” Beardslee said.

Fryberg said that the lawsuit was a step backward in the struggle to restore wild runs of steelhead and salmon.

“For years and years as co-managers and cooperative managers we’ve always emphasized that we should be working together,” Fryberg said.

With the environment changing rapidly, there is simply no baseline condition to compare it to, and it’s essential to get all the scientific data on the table before acting, he added.

“We have not fished some native runs of fish out here for 20 to 30 years and they still haven’t rebounded,” Fryberg said. “Let’s not run into this hastily.”

Video: Colorful Easter Carpet Breaks Guinness Book of World Records

Associated PressA worker helps create the sawdust carpet in Guatemala City, Guatemala on Thursday — Associated Press
A worker helps create the sawdust carpet in Guatemala City, Guatemala on Thursday

Indian Country Today Media Network

For 2000 meters or 6,600 feet, the world’s longest sawdust carpet spreads down the main avenue in Guatemala City, Guatemala’s historic center.

In preparation for Easter, thousands of Guatemalan Catholics constructed the carpet over the course of seven hours and began working on it early Thursday morning, The Global Press said. They used 120,000 pounds of sawdust to create what’s considered a piece of temporary art.

“Thanks to all who have made possible the longest sawdust carpet in the world,” said Archbishop Oscar Vian, who joined a procession in which youth volunteers carrying two images of Jesus passed over the multi-colored surface.

This is the second time that the city has united to create the multi-colored carpet which is made of sawdust, vegetables, flowers, tree bark and other natural elements.

“At a moment when Guatemalans unite and take on a common objective, we can demonstrate great things,” Victor Martinez, member of Guatemala City’s municipal council, told The Global Press.

The city broke it’s own Guinness Book of World Records title for the world’s longest sawdust carpet. Last year, the city created its first record-breaking carpet as an initiative to invite Pope Francis to visit. But, the pope has not yet confirmed if he will come.

Watch some of the volunteers construct the carpet in the video from Mail Online below.

New Sand Habitat Attracting More Life near Elwha River

A juvenile dungeness crab found within the newly formed beaches near the mouth of the Elwha River. Steve Rubin/USGS

Source: Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

With thousands of cubic yards of sediment forming new beaches at the mouth of the Elwha River, marine life that’s been missing for decades is showing up again.

Before the recent deconstruction of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams, the beaches at the mouth of the river were mostly cobblestone, which is suitable for a limited type of shellfish, including red rock crab, horse clams and urchins.

After the dams started to come down in 2011, sediment started flowing heavily downriver, and the cobblestones have been covered up with soft gray sand. As a result, scientists started seeing more marine life, such as Dungeness crab, make use of the new beach.

“We have always looked forward to a more sand-dominated substrate adjacent to the river mouth, once the dams were removed and trapped sediments were washed downstream,” said Doug Morrill, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe’s shellfish biologist and natural resources manager.

The sand habitat attracts hardshell clams such as butter clams and littlenecks, plus Dungeness crab.

“A whole new habitat has formed,” said Mike McHenry, the tribe’s habitat program manager. “Since dam removal, we have witnessed the transformation of rocky inter- and sub-tidal habitats to those dominated by sand. During last summer’s dive surveys, we observed many juvenile crabs on the floor off the river mouth.”

Fishermen have noticed changes too.

“Now there are crab pots being set near the mouth of the river,” said Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe fisherman Joe Luce. “This hasn’t happened for years since there were no sandy beaches for the shellfish at the mouth of the river.”

Washington Congresswoman Airs Oil Terminal Concerns

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., visits with the public after she held a discussion about raising capital for small business at Vancouver City Hall on Wednesday. | credit: Zachary Kaufman/The Columbian | rollover image for more

April 17, 2014 | The Columbian

Gov. Jay Inslee, who will have the ultimate say over the construction of what would be the Northwest’s largest oil-by-rail transfer terminal in Vancouver, hasn’t taken a stand on the project. But members of the state’s congressional delegation are weighing in.

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., was in Vancouver on Tuesday and stopped to visit with The Columbian’s editorial board.

Cantwell was asked if she were a Vancouver resident, would she support building the oil-handling facility?

“It wouldn’t be something I would be promoting,” she said.

She said safety is one of her foremost concerns. In a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee earlier this month, Cantwell, along with other senators, called for more federal dollars going toward addressing safety issues related to transporting crude oil by rail.

“We’re certainly willing to introduce legislation to put requirements on rail car safety because we don’t think it exists now and we’re not waiting for a voluntary system. We’re not waiting for these guys to get their act together,” Cantwell said. “We’re going to push this year.”

Earlier this week, BSNF Railway officials told Vancouver city councilors they would spend millions to prepare first responders in case of an oil spill. City officials have expressed concerns over ensuring the oil travels safely on the rail line, which runs through downtown and by the proposed waterfront development on the old Boise Cascade property.

Although city officials don’t have a say over the $110 million project proposed by Tesoro Corp. and Savage Companies, they could join other cities, such as Seattle and Bellingham, that have called for a moratorium on new oil-transport facilities until safety concerns, ranging from oil spills to explosions, are addressed.

“This industry has grown far greater than our capacity to deal with it and we need to slow down and get this right,” Cantwell said.

The proposed Tesoro-Savage oil terminal could handle as much as 380,000 barrels of crude per day. The facility would act as a transfer point for oil, arriving by rail to the Port of Vancouver and leaving by water.

Cantwell said she recently pressed the U.S. Coast Guard for details on any safety plans in place for an oil spill.

“So we did get the comment on the record at the hearing that, yeah, we don’t really have a plan … We were glad we were able to clarify that point because we want people to understand there is no solution there,” she said.

Cantwell said she wants to hear about “what people here say about the situation.”

“I get the sense that Vancouver is painting a different picture of where they want their economy to go long-term,” she said.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, recently held a hearing to question officials from the Obama administration and city of Seattle about the safety of rail transport of crude oil.

U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, said Wednesday she’s still asking a lot of questions about safety and environmental impacts.

But in the last three years, she’s said, she has heard a lot of talk about wanting more trains, moving more commodities.

“If these folks can demonstrate they will be good community partners and meet environmental hurdles, then we should talk about it,” she said.

The governor is waiting to receive a recommendation from the state’s Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council before making a decision.

Follow reporter Lauren Dake on Twitter: @col_politics.

Native Arts and Artists Day at The Burke Museum, April 19th

Breast Cancer Awareness Basket, by Pat Courtney Gold. Photo by Bill Bachhuber, Portland, OR. — Breast Cancer Awareness Basket, by Pat Courtney Gold.
Photo by Bill Bachhuber, Portland, OR.

Burke Museum

Info from Burke Museum website

Sat., Apr. 19, 2014 | 9:59 am – 3:59 pm
Included with museum admission; FREE for Burke members or with UW ID

Join the Burke Museum for a celebration of Northwest Native art. Watch demonstrations and examine the incredible artwork of local Native American artists, who are experts in mediums such as weaving, basketry, and beadwork. Take part in hands-on art activities for kids and adults. Also attend talks about supporting indigenous artists and various basket and weaving techniques of Northwest Native Peoples.

Activities throughout the day include:

Cedar basketry and cordage demonstrations with Theresa Parker (Makah/Lummi)
Columbia River Wasco basketry demonstrations with Pat Courtney Gold (Wasco/Warm Springs)
Beadwork and twined sally bag demonstrations with Rodney Cawston (Colville)
Yarn spinning and Salish twill demonstrations with Heather Johnson-Jock (Jamestown S’Klallam)
Cedar basketry weaving demonstrations with Bill James (Lummi)
Try weaving on looms, learn about natural dyes and raw materials used in weaving
Kids can make a paper version of a Plateau Style beaded bag to take home

Talks:

12:30 pm: Introduction to Northwest Baskets with Pat Courtney Gold
Renowned NW weaver Pat Courtney Gold leads us through a richly illustrated introduction of the 12,000 year history of NW basket weavers, the materials and techniques they use, and the unique baskets that they create.
2 pm: Resources for Indigenous Artists with Anna Hoover (Unungan)
Anna Hoover’s Anchorage-based non-profit, First Light Alaska, has drawn inspiration from The Banff Centre, Longhouse at Evergreen State College, Kinggait Studios, Maori bi-annual Artist Gatherings, and many other programs. She will discuss how these programs and her own are adapting to the ever-changing needs of the thriving indigenous arts community.

Admission:

General	$10
Senior	$8
Students (with ID)	$7.50
Youth (5 & up)	$7.50

FREE to Burke members, children ages 4 and under, and UW staff/faculty/students with UW ID.

Free Admission on First Thursdays
*Group tours may not be scheduled on these days.

Check out our special admission discounts and promotions!

Location:

Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture

17 ave Northeast and Northeast 45th St

Seattle, WA 98105

Contact:(All phone numbers Area Code 206)

(24-hour recorded information) 543-5590

Reception
543-7907

Burke Museum Café
543-9854

Education & Group Tours
543-5591

Membership
616-6057

Giving
543-9539

Museum Shop
685-0909

Public Programs
616-6473

Public Relations
543-9762

U.S. Raelian Movement says Cliven Bundy owes grazing fees to Native Americans, not the federal government

PR Newswire

LAS VEGAS, April 17, 2014

LAS VEGAS, April 17, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — A parcel of land in Bunkerville, Nevada, about an hour’s drive east of Las Vegas, is currently the scene of heated controversy, with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) claiming that local rancher Cliven Bundy owes the federal government over $1 million for years of accumulated grazing fees.

Insisting that Bundy has been using publicly owned land as ranchland for his own profit, the BLM recently went so far as to seize the rancher’s cattle. Although the cattle have since been released following negotiations, the government says the grazing fees are still due.

But does the federal government really own the land it’s assessing grazing fees for?

Not according to the U.S. Raelian Movement.

“The Moapas, a band of the Paiute Indians, still have a map showing that the land comprising the Bundy ranch was promised to them by federal treaty,” explained Las Vegas resident Thomas Kaenzig, who is a Raelian Guide and spokesperson for the U.S. Raelian Movement. “That means the land really belongs to them. If Bundy should be paying grazing rights fees to anyone at all, it’s to these Native American descendants of the original owners. They were there first!”

According to Kaenzig, the government’s claim to lands that once belonged to indigenous tribes is illegal.

“The U.S. federal government repeatedly violated its own constitution by seizing large amounts of territory that belonged to Native Americans by treaty,” he said. “That includes much of the 80 percent of Nevada that is today referred to as public land, since it was illegally appropriated. The particular area used by Cliven Bundy for cattlegrazing, along with the surrounding region, was taken from the Moapas. It’s outrageous that the U.S. government claims that land when the Moapas clearly had a treaty designating otherwise.”

Kaenzig said that injustice should be addressed, with the government paying reparations for the nuclear testing and other activities it pursued on tribal land.

“It’s not public land, but stolen land,” he said. “It’s time to return it to its rightful owners!”

SOURCE Raelian Movement

Squaxin Island Tribe, land trust, working together to restore former golf course

Photo by the state Department of Ecology.

From the Squaxin Island Tribe’s natural resources blog:

The Capital Land Trust and the Squaxin Island Tribe are working to bring back salmon habitat and protect an important shellfish growing area by restoring a former golf course on Oakland Bay. The land trust recently purchased the 74-acre Bayshore Golf Course, which includes the mouth of Johns Creek and over a thousand feet of Oakland Bay shoreline.

The tribe and the land trust will remove a 1,400 foot dike, restoring the Johns Creek estuary and important marine shoreline. “Taking the dike out will provide salmon with additional acres of saltwater marsh to use as they migrate out to the ocean,” said Jeff Dickison, assistant natural resources director for the tribe..

Eventually, the golf course fairways will also be replanted with native vegetation, restoring a streamside forest that helps provide habitat to salmon.

Tribe lends a hand with spring cleaning

By Monica Brown, Tulalip News
It’s time for spring cleaning; let the neat freaks and germaphobes unite. The sun is shining more often and the weather outside is warming up. It’s a perfect time to clear the clutter, organize and clean up the remnants of winter before the hot days of summer are here.
The Tulalip Tribes are supplying garbage dumpster containers at select housing locations (see list below) on April 28th and they will be available for tribal members to use for 3 weeks. Please do not put paint or tires in the dumpsters; leave them outside the container and Solid Waste will pick them up. For disposal of larger items, call the tenant service specialists to make a request.

Spring cleaning tips
Organize your household clutter into five piles; Items that belong in another room, donations, giveaways to a specific person, items to throw away and uncertain items. If the items in the uncertain pile go unclaimed, pack them up and label the box with the date. If in six months to a year you never open the box or can’t remember what is inside, and can stand parting with it, you can safely discard those items.
Clean up dust, dander or mold and sanitize. This is perfect weather to clean those items that have been skipped over during housecleaning or only need once a year cleaning. Steam clean the rugs and couches, sort out and clean the refrigerator, dust behind electronics, wipe down cabinets, doors, windows and light fixtures, sanitize door handles, t.v. remotes, game controllers, phones and light switches.

Tenant Service Specialist for each area
Jolene M. Fryberg 360-716-4842: Mission Highlands, Church site, Battlecreek tax credit apartments, and all tax credit homes 1, 2 and 3
Darla Johnny 360-716-4458: Battlecreek, Silver Village, Quil Meadows
Elizabeth Vosika 360-716-6647: Y-site, Senior apartments, Senior duplexes, Battlecreek apartments, Turk, Quil 1 & 2, Beatty Estate, 28th Ave. and John Sam

Gov. Jay Inslee hires coal lobbyist to direct his policy office

Washington State Governor-elect Jay Inslee hugs outreach director Unjin Lee, the first hire made by his campaign, during a celebration on Friday, November 9, 2012 at the Inslee campaign headquarters in Seattle. (AP Photo/seattlepi.com, Joshua Trujillo)

By Joel Connelly, Seattle PI

Gov. Jay Inslee has hired a coal lobbyist to direct his policy office, an eyebrow-raising selection for a governor who has insisted on sweeping scrutiny of coal export terminals proposed at Cherry Point, north of Bellingham, and along the Columbia River at Longview.

The new appointee is Matt Steuerwalt, who has been through the revolving door in recent years. He was a top energy/climate adviser to then-Gov. Chris Gregoire, then went to work for the Seattle-based Strategies 360 group.

At Strategies 360, he represented TransAlta, the Canadian-based owner of the Centralia Coal plant and the state’s only coal plant and its largest greenhouse gas emitter.

The state, under Gregoire, and TransAlta reached a landmark agreement for a phased, decade-long phaseout of coal at the power plant. Steuerwalt also lobbied for a coal port proposal.

“In recent years, Steuerwalt has acted as a lead lobbyist for coal-fired power in Washington, as well as for a now-defunct coal port proposal,” said Eric de Place, research director with the Sightline Institute.

De Place has delighted in giving footprints to Northwest public relations firms which have touted their “green” credentials and commitment to renewable energy, while lobbying on behalf of Big Coal, the railroad industry and “astroturf” front groups.

“Given that Steuerwalt has recently been a paid lobbyist in support of coal in Washington, the move raises questions about whether he will use his influence in the Inslee administration to advance an agenda more favorable to the coal industry,” said de Place.

He won’t, said Inslee spokeswoman Jaime Smith.

“The choice of a policy director will have no impact on the state’s role in reviewing coal export projects,” she added. ”The governor has a longstanding and well-known position on coal pollution and climate change, and has directed the Department of Ecology to conduct a rigorous review of current coal projects to the full extent allowed under state law.”

Inslee has touted his green credentials and been rewarded for same.

He coauthored a book, “Apollo’s Fire,” which calls for a U.S. commitment to develop new energy technologies that would rival, in intensity, the drive in the 1960′s to put Americans on the Moon. He will preach to the choir next month as keynote speaker at Climate Solutions’ annual breakfast.

In turn, two years ago, the national League of Conservation Voters made Inslee the first gubernatorial candidate it had endorsed in 42 years. The conservation community, state and national, spent an estimated $750,000 to get him elected.

Strategies 360 has close ties to Democrats, but not always of the same mindset as Inslee.

It has hosted fundraisers for Montana Sen. Jon Tester, who supports coal development and export from the Big Sky State. It has represented Puget Sound Energy, which gets electricity from a Montana coal plant, in fighting back movements to create a public utility district in Island and Skagit counties.

Steuerwalt gave $250 to support then-U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee in 2009, and $950 to Inslee in 2011-12 as he transitioned and quit Congress to run for governor.

Steuerwalt begins his new job on May 1.