A San Diego native, Johnaye Kendrick received a Bachelor of Music from Western Michigan University in 2005. During her time at Western Michigan, she received a Down Beat Student Music Award as an Outstanding Jazz Vocalist, and was featured on an honors recital with pianist Fred Hersch. In the summer of 2005 she was a featured soloist in a piece composed and directed by legendary bassist Rufus Reid for the International Society of Bassists Conference. In the fall of 2007, Ms. Kendrick was accepted to the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, a graduate program which focuses on jazz performance and composition. While attending the Thelonious Monk Institute, Johnaye worked with many jazz legends, including Terence Blanchard, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Danilo Perez, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and Brian Blade. She received a Masters Degree in Jazz Studies from Loyola University, and an Artist’s Diploma form the Thelonious Monk Institute. After graduating from the Institute, Johnaye was immediately hired by trumpeter Nicholas Payton who rave “Johnaye has the potential to be a vocalist of the highest order; the likes of which we have seen seldom since the grande dames of the golden era of jazz roamed about the earth. She’s got IT!” In addition to her many travels with the Nicholas Payton SEXTET, Johnaye was also the featured vocalist with the Ellis Marsalis Quartet and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. The Orchestra won a Grammy Award in the 2009 “Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album” category for their latest release, Book 1 on which Ms. Kendrick is featured. Ms. Kendrick resides in Seattle, WA and serves as the Assistant Professor of Jazz Voice at Cornish College of the Arts.
Michael Nicolella is recognized as one of America’s most innovative classical guitarists. He has received wide critical acclaim for his performances, recordings and compositions. Classical Guitar magazine has referred to him as “one of the contemporary guitar’s most gifted stars”; while the Washington Post stated “Since the passing of Andres Segovia the guitar world has needed an advocate…perhaps Michael Nicolella is that person.” A uniquely eclectic and versatile artist, Michael blurs the lines between musical styles and disciplines. He is part of a growing trend in classical music to revitalize the role of composer/performer. As a concert artist he frequently programs his own works for guitar in solo, chamber and orchestral settings. His most recent major piece, Flame of the Blue Star of Twilight (for soprano, guitar and orchestra), was premiered by the Northwest Symphony Orchestra and soprano Alexandra Picard in April 2012. Known for his creative programming, he has introduced electric guitar into his “classical” programs and extended the repertoire and audience of his instrument not only with his own compositions and transcriptions, but also by premiering and commisioning works by some of today’s most exciting emerging composers. Michael Nicolella has performed with the Seattle Symphony, Northwest Symphony Orchestra, Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Ensemble Sospeso, odeonquartet, Seattle Choral Company, Seattle Guitar Trio and Charanga Danzon. As a performer and composer, he has received awards from ASCAP, the American Composers Forum, 4Culture, Wisconsin Arts Board, Washington State Arts Commission, Seattle Arts Commission and was first proze winner of both the Portland and Northwest solo classical guitar competitions. Michael is a graduate of Yale University, Berklee College of Music and the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy. He is on the faculty of Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle.
Read more here: http://calendar.thenewstribune.com/seattle_wa/events/show/297920447-cornish-music-series-presents-michael-nicolella-johnaye-kendrick-friends#storylink=cpy
The ubiquitous totem pole, the most visible example of Native artwork in Seattle, actually comes from Southeast Alaska and British Columbia.
Since the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897, Seattle has had close ties to the Northwest Coast, and many monumental works of art from Haida, Tsimshian and Tlingit carvers can be seen in Seattle.
Totem poles were traditionally carved from cedar trees to serve as memorial posts displaying inherited crests, or as house posts providing support for large cedar long houses.
These monumental sculptures feature stylized animals and animal-spirits such as Bear, Beaver, Raven, Frog, Killer Whale, and many others which play important roles in traditional stories and have been associated with family clans reaching back many generations.
Traditional totem poles are on display at the Burke Museum, Victor Steinbrueck Park, Pioneer Square, and other parks and viewpoints around the city. Contemporary artists throughout the Pacific Northwest have adopted this form, and examples of their work can be seen in many museums and galleries.
Coast Salish artwork, the traditional style of the Puget Sound area, features more subtle and personal designs. Local traditions included carved objects such as house posts, which were both decorative and functional. House posts were typically found inside of large plank houses as part of the framing structure, rather than outside on public display.
Small items such as spindle whorls and canoe paddles were both utilitarian objects and ornately carved artworks. Twined baskets, as well as hats and clothing were made from cedar, and elegant blankets and robes were woven on large looms using yarns spun from the hair of mountain goats and woolly dogs.
Local design traditions have been overshadowed for generations by more dramatic artistic styles from farther north, but Coast Salish aesthetics are being revived by contemporary artists such as Susan Point, Roger Fernandes, Andrea Wilbur-Sigo and Shaun Peterson.
These and other Native artists drawn on traditional styles, and incorporate new materials such as glass and metal, to create work that is increasingly visible in Seattle’s galleries, museums, and public artworks.
Did You Know?
Large terra cotta cartouches featuring a stylized portrait of an Indian elder are found in several locations throughout Seattle. Oddly, the figure’s traditional feathered head dress is associated with tribes from the Great Plains region, rather than the Pacific Northwest, and was perhaps inspired by photographer Edward Curtis to symbolize the grandeur of the West, rather than to depict local historical reality.
These architectural ornaments were part of the 1909 White Henry Stuart Building, which once stood at Fourth Avenue and University Street. When that building was demolished, the terra cotta artifacts were salvaged and are now on display at the Convention Center, the Museum of History and Industry, Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center and other locations.
For more Native American culture and other cultures found around Seattle, check out Visit Seattle.
The 43rd Anniversary of the the founding of United Indians of All Tribes Gala Fundraiser Dinner to be held on Friday March 8 2013 at The Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center.
The Fundraiser will raise funds for UIATF’s Elders Nutrition Program, and the Labateyah Youth Home.Each year we provide thousands of hot nutritious meals for low income Native American Elders and Veterans, and for the past 18 years the Labateyah Youth Home has provided transitional residential services to homeless youth through one of the largest youth homes in the state of Washington.
The Gala Dinner will be a inspired Gourmet tribute to the finest Native American cuisine highlighting its Spiritual and Nutritional components. Traditional Salmon bake, Clams, Shrimp, Crabs, Elk, Wild Rice, Fry Bread and a Vegetarian menu. The evening will include Live Entertainment and a Silent/Live Auction.
The face was a composite of at least three Natives. (AP)
Rick Heredia, Indian Country Today Media Network
November 17, 1915. The mighty bison Black Diamond bravely stood his ground in the Joseph Stern & Co. slaughterhouse on West 40th Street in New York City, staring at the man aiming the .38-caliber revolver at him. When the man pulled the trigger, the weapon kicked in his hand as the bullet hit Black Diamond’s head, but didn’t penetrate his four-inch-thick skull, which was covered with a hide two inches thick. Instead, the bullet dropped to the ground, flattened, amazing onlookers, according to the New York Times account that ran the next day.
Black Diamond, angry and sensing danger, lowered his head to charge his assailant, but a second assassin was waiting, this one holding a sledgehammer. When the bison, nicknamed Toby, lowered his head, that man gave a mighty swing and the sledgehammer made a sickening thud as it crushed Black Diamond’s skull.
“Black Diamond’s…head tossed weakly once or twice, his legs sagged and he went down. Then the knife in his throat completed the slaughter,” said the Times. August Silz, a wholesale meat dealer known as America’s Poultry King and hobnobbed with the rich and famous paid Central Park Zoo officials $325 for Black Diamond, believed to be 19 years old at the time of his slaughter.
Dressed out, Toby provided 750 pounds of meat. Buffalo meat, rare in New York City, sold for at least copy a pound at the time, about four times the cost of sirloin steak. The hide, which measured 13 feet by 13 feet, was made into a car blanket and a taxidermist took his head. (It was mounted and displayed for years at Silz’s meat company.)
So why all this press for a slaughtered beast? Black Diamond was, at the time of his slaughter, one of the most famous animals in the United States. Just two years earlier, in 1913, his image was stamped onto the reverse side of the Indian head nickel. The nickel—75 percent copper and 25 percent nickel—made its debut on Washington’s birthday, February 22, 1913, 100 years ago. In the decades that followed, it became an Indian country icon.
At least one newspaper, the National Labor Tribune, believed Black Diamond had been dealt a great injustice. “The buffalo which served as a model for the nickel coin has been put to death,” it said. “Republics are notoriously ungrateful.”
Black Diamond’s life wasn’t worth a plugged nickel just a few years after his coin appeared. (AP)
Invading Staten Island
The occasion for the nickel’s debut was the groundbreaking for the National American Indian Memorial, the dream/scheme (and it turns out, pipe dream) of Rodman Wanamaker, scion of the Wanamaker department store chain. Plans called for the memorial to have a colossal bronze statue of an Indian, 60 feet high on a 70-foot base, one arm raised, two fingers forming a V, greeting ships carrying immigrants and others arriving in New York. A museum and a warrior on horseback were also part of the design. The statue and all the rest were to be erected at Fort Wadsworth on New York’s Staten Island, just south of the Statue of Liberty. Staten Island, named for the Dutch parliament, the Staten-General, originally belonged to Lenape Indians, who repulsed the Dutch three times before the invaders were able to establish a settlement there.
Now, in 1913, the island was being invaded again. On a cold, bleak, wet day, just after noon, the fort’s batteries fired a 21-gun salute announcing the arrival of President William Howard Taft. Waiting to greet Taft were members of his cabinet, New York’s governor, New York City’s mayor, naval and military detachments and officers, including Lieutenant General Nelson A. Miles, who had taken part in many of the U.S. Army’s campaigns against Plains Indians, had forced the surrender of Chief Joseph and spent exhausting months in the field chasing Geronimo.
On hand, too, patiently waiting in the mist, were more than 30 Plains Indian leaders and warriors, many of whom who had fought Miles and the U.S. Army. They were dressed in beaded buckskin and wore eagle feather headdresses. They included Plenty Coups, Drags The Wolf, Crane In The Sky, Little Wolf, Black Wolf, Wooden Leg, Red Arrow, Hollow Horn Bear and Two Moons.
Two Moons, Northern Cheyenne, fought in the Battle of Little Big Horn and later, he, too, had been forced to surrender to Miles. Two Moons was one of the three Indians used as a model for the profile on the obverse face of the nickel. (Another was Iron Tail, Oglala Lakota; there is much debate about who the third Indian was.)
At the dedication, Two Moons, along with the other Indians, sang a war song and raised the U.S. flag. They also pledged allegiance to the United States. During the ceremony, George Kuntz, a member of the Memorial
Chief Two Guns White Calf, nickel model (AP)
Association’s executive committee and president of the American Scenic and Historical Preservation Society, produced a bag of Indian Head nickels that had just come from the Philadelphia mint. Taft, who used a sliver tipped shovel to turn the first bit of dirt, got the first nickel. Then he used an ancient axe and the Indians did the same. They, too, got nickels.
When the ceremony was over, the Indians took a day or two to do some sightseeing. They had visited the Statue of Liberty and Madison Square Garden before the dedication, so now they went to the Bronx Zoo and the American Museum of Natural History. Then they headed for Philadelphia where Wanamaker would be their host.
A few months later, in July 1913, Wanamaker sent out the last of three expeditions to Indian reservations promoting citizenship and fealty to the U.S. At the time, many Americans—even those who said they respected Indians, such as Wanamaker—thought American Indians were a vanishing race. Wanamaker believed that assimilation was their best hope for survival. (This, despite the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) findings that the Indian population was increasing. In 1890 the BIA counted 243,000 Indians. In 1900, that figure jumped to 270,000. In 1910, it stood at 305,000.)
Speaking at a press conference held when the citizenship expedition returned to New York in December 1913, Henry Roe Cloud, Winnebago, a Yale graduate known for his speaking skills, asked the question that must have been on the minds of many Indian leaders of the day. “Today, the American Indian finds himself in the midst of a great, complex civilization, and it is a national question whether this complex civilization will bear him down or be the means of his salvation,” Roe Cloud said, as quoted in The New York Times.
An Abomination?
Once the nickel went into circulation, it was hammered. Critics complained that it lacked the grace and beauty of previous coins, including its predecessor, the Liberty nickel. But after 25 years, that coin had run its course, and treasury officials wanted to change the design. The New York Times said the new nickel was a “striking example of what a coin intended for wide circulation…should not be.” It said the coin was not pleasing to look at when shiny and new and “will be an abomination when it is old and dull.” One Times reader, H.P. Nitsua, said, “The new nickel is certainly a travesty on artistic effect,” and called the Indian’s feathers “barbaric headgear.”
Iron Tail demanded that part of his pay for working a Wild West show come in nickels. (AP)
The New York Sun called it an ugly coin.
“The new nickel suggests a button for a corduroy coat,” said The Charlotte Observer. “The buffalo and the Indian adorning it are sculptural crudities.… ”
That was not the way George Roberts, the Bureau of the Mint’s director, saw things. He considered the Indian head, as displayed on the coin, “an impression emblematic of liberty.” That might have come as a surprise to the many American Indians forced by the barrel of an Army rifle onto reservations.
And there was a bitter irony on the other side of the coin as well. “From the beginning, there had been complaints about using a Native American and a bison on the coin,” said one of the American Numismatic Association’s Money Talks informational exhibits. One collectors’ magazine questioned whether either was a good symbol, considering that many Indians had been forced onto reservations and the American bison had been slaughtered to the brink of extinction.”
James Earle Fraser, the New York City artist who created the images on the coin, explained that he wanted to design a coin that was uniquely American. And, he reasoned, the American Indian on one side and a bison on the other would fit the bill. No other country in the world could make a similar claim about its currency, he said. “The great herds of bison that roamed the Western Plains played an important role in the great American epic, the winning of the West,” he said.
History suggests that at least one Indian liked the new nickel. When Iron Tail became a performer for the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Wild West Show, he insisted that part of his weekly pay be in the nickels. To advertise their show, the Miller Brothers put him on a colorful poster, on horseback, wearing a headdress and carrying an eagle staff, riding the grassy plains. He is sandwiched between large, front and back images of the nickel. iron tail, reads the poster. america’s representative indian chief. Under the coin’s Indian head image the poster describes him as the indian chief that made the nickel famous.
Reproductions of the poster are sold on eBay and other sites.
What a Nickel Is Worth
The coin had a run of 25 years, from 1913 to 1938, when it was replaced by the Jefferson nickel. More than 1.2 billion Indian head nickels were minted; their total currency value was more than $60.5 million.
The National Indian Memorial never did get built at Fort Wadsworth. Wanamaker couldn’t come up with the money and soon enough, World War I grabbed the headlines. But the Indian head—or buffalo—nickel, outlived its critics to become one of the most admired coins the U.S. ever produced. Many have called it beautiful, and it has become iconic. In the early 1970s, an image of the nickel, Indian head showing, appeared on a protest poster that read the only indian america ever cared about.
It has been incorporated into many types of jewelry, from earrings to belts. It adorns T-shirts, jackets and other clothing and is the logo for coin shops and other businesses. It has been made into guitar picks and used to decorate the bolt-action rifles and rifle slings. The image has been tattooed onto backs and shoulders. One artist, Peter Rocha, created a striking four-foot-by-four-foot image of the nickel in Fairfield, California using more than 9,500 jellybeans provided by Jelly Belly (see Rocha’s work at JellyBelly.com).
Many of the nickels are sold on eBay. The American Numismatic Association displayed Black Diamond’s mounted head at its 1985 convention, writes author David Lange in his book, The Complete Guide to Buffalo Nickels. The ANA, headquartered in Colorado Springs, will celebrate 100th anniversary of the nickel during National Coin Week, April 21 to 27. Its theme will be Buffalo Nickel Centennial: Black Diamond Shines Again.
Perhaps the greatest testament to the nickel’s popularity and endurance has come from the U.S. Mint, which resurrected the nickel in the form of the $50 American Buffalo gold bullion coin. When it was first sold in 20
American Indian dancers perform during dinner in the longhouse at Tillicum
Lynn Armitage, Indian Country Today Media Network
When you think of Seattle, the first things that come to mind are probably the Space Needle, Puget Sound, the birthplace of Jimi Hendrix or maybe professional sports franchises like the Mariners or the Seahawks. Somehow forgotten among all the contemporary lore of this beautiful seaport is the knowledge that it teemed with Native Americans for at least 4,000 years before white settlers arrived.
In fact, Seattle, the largest city in the Pacific Northwest, is named after a leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish tribes, Chief Si’ahl. Other tribes in the area include the Muckleshoot and Snoqualmie. Today, many of them continue their long-held artistic traditions, including basket-weaving.
If you’re planning a trip to this vibrant city, you should by all means take in its traditional tourist attractions. But to really rock your visit with some Native American culture, we recommend these five destinations, all off the beaten path:
Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center
Located on 20 acres in Discovery Park, Seattle’s largest city park, with views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains, the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center is a central hub showcasing all the Native tribes in the area. Daybreak Star serves many purposes, says its parent organization, the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation—a conference center, a pow wow venue, a gathering place for after-school programs and an art gallery that features a large body of work by Native artists.
For a real taste of Native culture—literally—go on a four-hour escape to Tillicum Village on Blake Island, just eight miles west of Seattle, in Puget Sound. Guests are treated to steamed clams upon arrival and can watch a traditional Northwest Coast salmon bake in the longhouse. After the feast, enjoy a Native music and dance show that tells the colorful story of the Coast Salish Tribes, also called the Puget Salish or Lushootseed peoples. Daily tours run from May through September.
If you’re up for a beautiful drive to observe the region’s abundant wildlife, Juanita Bay Park is a quick 15 miles east of Seattle, on the other side of adjoining Lake Washington. It’s a 110-acre marshy wetland that is home to all kinds of wildlife, including songbirds, shorebirds, turtles and beavers. Guided tours are available, or walk along the paved trails and boardwalks solo. Either way, you will learn a lot about this natural habitat through interpretive signs that are positioned throughout the park. Don’t forget to bring your binoculars!
Located at the University of Washington, the Burke is the state’s oldest museum. It is dedicated to honoring, researching and sharing the heritage of diverse peoples from all over the world, including the many Native tribes in the state and beyond. Here you will find thousands of Coast Salish artifacts and artworks, as well as a number of exhibits that feature artwork from other tribes, such as the Tlingit and Haida of British Columbia and southeast Alaska.
For more details, go to BurkeMuseum.org. (On this site, you will also find an extensive list of Native American cultural centers and museums. Just type “Native Americans” into the search box.)
The Center for Wooden Boats
A must-see for aquatic enthusiasts is the Center for Wooden Boats, a fun place for the family to learn about boats—on and off the water. The center refers to itself as a “living museum,” since visitors can take their historic wooden boats out for a quick sail. Free public boat rides are offered on Sundays. Tourists can also learn how to carve northern-style canoes from a Haida carver named Saaduuts, the artist in residence, who holds classes periodically just across the way in Lake Union Park as part of the Canoe Project, a partnership of the center, United Indians of All Tribes Foundation and Antioch University Seattle.
Come sail away at the Center for Wooden Boats (Center for Wooden Boats)
By Rob Capriccioso, Indian Country Today Media Network
Two members of Congress, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) are questioning a policy the U.S. Department of Interior has proceeded with in recent weeks involving its tribal land acquisition policies.
For years, Interior has operated under a “self-stay policy,” which prevented the Department from putting land into trust for tribes while another party was suing over that decision. The idea behind the policy was that if the land was already taken into trust, any court case against the decision would be mooted, and therefore a litigant would be denied his or her day in court.
But the game changed in 2012, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Salazar v. Patchak that a litigant could sue for up to six years after Interior takes lands into trust for tribes. In response, Interior officials decided this year that they would end their “self-stay policy” and put lands into trust, regardless of litigation, since litigation can happen for up to six years anyway.
“Interior is in effect saying that because there can be a suit anyway at any point, even after land is conveyed, then why not convey it right away,” said Michael Anderson, owner of Anderson Indian Law. “It makes a lot of sense for the Department and for tribes.”
And there are more possible changes to come. Kevin Washburn, assistant secretary for Indian Affairs at Interior, suggested another proposed policy modification at a January gathering of the National Congress of American Indians, saying that the Department was considering ending a 30-day period meant to notify the general public of land-into-trust decisions. Post Patchak, some Interior officials no longer believe the announcement period is necessary.
These policy shifts are an attempt by Interior to put a Band-Aid on the controversial U.S. Supreme Court Carcieri decision of 2009 and its piggybacking Patchak decision of 2012. Carcieri limited Interior’s ability to take land into trust for tribes not “under federal jurisdiction” in 1934; Patchak allowed a lawsuit to go forward challenging a tribal casino in Michigan from opening based on the Carcieri decision. The Patchak lawsuit – filed three years after Interior took land into trust, which the Supreme court affirmed was okay – argued in part that the tribe in that case, the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, was federally recognized after 1934, so the same Carcieri rule should apply to it.
Interior has not officially announced any of the Patchak-centric changes, but their existence came to be known during recent proceedings involving the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians, a California tribe that has long been proposing an off-reservation casino. Interior officials told the North Fork Rancheria in January that the Department did not plan to wait for a lawsuit to play out before taking the land into trust for the tribe. As a result, U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell recently denied a challenge by the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians’ to stop the land from going into trust. He noted in his ruling that if the North Fork Rancheria ends up losing the suit to the other tribe, “the government may have to contend with legal claims against it.”
“Interior has defended the policy’s application to the North Fork Rancheria on the grounds that the tribe knows what it is doing, so there is little federal liability,” Anderson said, further estimating that “dozens and dozens” of tribes could find the change beneficial, since it is not solely intended for gaming land acquisitions, but all Indian trust lands, such as ones that have come under litigation for housing, health, cultural, and other non-gaming developments.
For a true Patchak fix to occur, and not just a patch, Anderson said that Congress would need to pass a law that would limit all post-land acquisition lawsuits.
Greg Smith, a lawyer focused on Indian affairs with Hobbs, Straus, Dean, & Walker, said that Interior’s decision to proceed with taking land into trust, even in the middle of lawsuit challenging that decision, has sound legal underpinnings, as the Department had voluntarily imposed upon itself the restriction to not take land into trust during litigation in the first place.
“They weren’t prohibited from taking the land into trust by the law, so they are free to change their ‘self-stay policy’ and now start taking that land into trust during litigation,” Smith said.
Still, Feinstein has many concerns. In a letter sent to Interior on January 31, she asked outgoing Interior Secretary Ken Salazar “to clarify several points of concern and allow stakeholders an opportunity for comment before this policy change is implemented.” She called it an “abrupt change in policy has caught many who follow this issue, including many within the Native American community, by surprise.” And she raised several questions, asking if there is a potential for federal liability, if the Department is ready to protect federal liability, if the Department has a procedure for removing lands from trust, and whether the change is necessary at all.
“Have you consulted with tribes and other stakeholders to determine if it is feasible to maintain your voluntary stay policy, with additional conditions?” Feinstein asked in the letter. “Given the significant unanswered questions and the lack of consultation as recommended by Executive Order 13175 which calls for ‘meaningful consultation and collaboration with tribal officials in the development of Federal policies that have tribal implications,’ I urge you to open a formal rulemaking process to resolve these outstanding issues prior to implementing this new policy.”
Brian Weiss, a spokesman for Feinstein, said his boss has yet to receive the answers she is looking for. “The policy change is significant and was done without consultation,” he said. “The purpose of the letter was to ask some questions.”
Feinstein’s letter came at an interesting time, being sent very soon after Interior announced its decisions to take land into trust for the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians, as well as the Enterprise Rancheria of Maidu Indians—both California tribes that she has been scrutinizing. The senator is well known for opposing Indian gaming interests in her state, and she has received criticism for offering legislation in 2011 that would amend Section 20 of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) to make it very difficult for some tribes to open casinos. She has also been called out for attempting to secure a compromised Carcieri fix to a controversial 2009 Supreme Court ruling that called into question Interior’s ability to take land into trust for tribes recognized by the federal government after 1934.
Young, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs, is also requesting clarity on the policy change. In response to an inquiry from Indian Country Today Media Network about Feinstein’s letter, Young’s office said that he is concerned that Interior has not shared the change with him or his office. His spokesman said that Interior has not consulted with, nor informed, the congressman of the changes, and that Young would like to see a response from Washburn on this matter.
Nedra Darling, a spokeswoman for Interior, said that she could not comment on the letter: “We are reviewing the letter, but the Department does not comment on matters of litigation.”
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, has yet to respond with her thoughts on her Democratic colleague’s concerns; her staff has been studying the letter for many days without comment.
Several Indian affairs lobbyists and lawyers in Washington believe the shift in Interior’s policy is good for Indian country as a whole, and they fear that Feinstein, at least, is attempting to once again negatively tie Indian gaming to Interior’s ability to take land into trust for tribes.
“Interior is being fairly proactive about allowing land to be conveyed, and Sen. Feinstein has been on the record – probably at the behest of D.C. lobbyists and those who have opposed the North Fork and Enterprise projects – against Indian gaming interests,” said Anderson. “She’s opposed to gaming, period.”
Anderson said the issue goes far beyond gaming, however, adding, “There are tribal advantages to having land into trust immediately, including tax advantages, grant opportunities, and all the other opportunities of having a land base. It would be nice to see the senator support these outcomes.”
Joe Valandra, a tribal consultant, said he finds the substance of Feinstein’s letter to be “at best disingenuous” with an underlying motive of “dividing and conquering” Indian country on Patchak and other trust and gaming issues.
“This letter continues the point of view that land should almost never be taken into trust and when it is, it should be subject to every political whim and pressure available,” Valandra said, adding that Feinstein implies that the change in policy is a negative for tribes, but what he thinks she really means is that it is negative for some gaming tribes that wish to limit competition from other tribes on this front.
Valandra said that if she had real concerns in this area for all tribes, “she would be advocating for legislative fixes to remedy the effects of the Carcieri and Patchak decisions. She would also be supportive of the change in policy at BIA that is attempting to bring certainty to land in to trust decisions at an earlier time.”
Valandra said that Feinstein’s federal liability concerns are “spectacularly disingenuous,” adding, “the cost to tribes because of uncertainty about future landholdings and the ability to engage in economic development is the real cost.”
Other lobbyists, including those from firms representing some wealthy California tribes, are less alarmed by Feinstein’s letter because they see her as a person who needs to be worked with if important Indian country legislation is to pass the Senate, and they view her as a friend on issues they are passionate about.
Belonging to that camp is Larry Rosenthal, owner of the Ietan tribal lobbying firm, who said his firm consulted with Feinstein before her letter was sent. “She tends to see these issues through the prism of gaming because she has had a lot of issues with gaming in her state over the years,” Rosenthal said. “She has never liked gaming, and she has always been anti-gaming.
“At the same time, she is not anti-Indian. We have worked well with her on a variety of issues, like the tribal components of [the Violence Against Women Act] and Internet poker.”
To those who think he is befriending an enemy of Indian country, Rosenthal said, “It’s important to note the distinction between being a realist versus being a defender. I am not defending Sen. Feinstein; I’m just being a realist about who you have to work with to get things done.”
But Valandra cautioned that those who help Feinstein in her efforts are not looking out for the good of Indian country as a whole. “I am not inclined to pigeon hole, but the tribes that generally would benefit from the fruits of this letter are those that have a perceived economic interest to protect,” Valandra said.
“They are doing their job,” Anderson said of lobbyists who have supported Feinstein’s Carcieri and Patchak tinkering. “They are trying to achieve an ends for their clients, which is to stop competitive projects. Their goals are narrow.”
Valandra added that tribal policy at the federal level is based on consultation and consensus, but he believes that this idealistic ideology is hampered when it involves the divergent interests of the 566 federally recognized tribes today.
“Not all tribes agree, and most will never,” Valandra said. “This not for lack of incentive or trying, rather it is the same reason not all states and cities agree—diversity of ideas, geography, history and economic conditions. The policy dilemma is that when Feinstein (and others) use the divide and conquer strategy, it works. When consensus is not achievable, policy making/implementation almost always grinds to a halt, or is left to the loudest or most politically persuasive voice.”
Christopher Dunagan | Kitsap Sun – February 20, 2013
SKOKOMISH — A federal lawsuit involving the rights of Indian tribes to hunt game on “open and unclaimed lands” has been filed by the Skokomish Tribe against the state of Washington.
The lawsuit claims that actions by state agencies and officials have denied tribal members access to their legitimate hunting areas. Furthermore, state officials have imposed civil and criminal sanctions on tribal members and promoted a “discriminatory scheme” of hunting regulations that favor non-Indians, the suit says.
The Skokomish Tribe’s lawsuit could open the door to long-awaited litigation that could define the extent of treaty rights related to hunting animals and gathering roots and berries by Native Americans across Washington state.
Listed as defendants in the case are state officials who oversee the Department of Natural Resources, Department of Fish and Wildlife and Attorney General’s Office. Also listed are the county prosecutors in Mason, Kitsap, Jefferson, Grays Harbor, Clallam and Thurston counties, who are charged with prosecuting hunting violations.
The lawsuit asks the federal court to define the extent of the tribe’s hunting and gathering rights, identify the territory where the tribe may operate, confirm the tribe’s “exclusive and co-concurrent management authority” and declare a tribal allocation for game, roots and berries.
The tribe also seeks an injunction to prevent state officials from interfering with tribal rights to hunt and gather roots and berries.
Assistant Attorney General Joe Shorin, assigned as lead attorney for the state, said he and his colleagues are evaluating the tribe’s legal complaint and will file an answer with U.S. District Court in Tacoma.
“It is too early to say what, if any, precedent this case will have,” Shorin said. “There has not been a lot of litigation regarding these hunting and gathering issues. Part of that may be that the parties have been working together fairly effectively.”
In response to questions, Joseph Pavel, vice chairman of the Skokomish Tribal Council, said tribal officials are preparing a written statement.
A landmark 1974 ruling by U.S. District Judge George Boldt and following court decisions held that treaties signed in the 1850s guaranteed tribes the right to take half the harvestable fish and shellfish, with some exceptions. Tribal fishing areas have been approved by the courts, though some areas are still in litigation.
As a result of those rulings, Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted a policy in 1988 calling for negotiations with various tribes to resolve hunting issues. Tribes typically set hunting rules for their own members and coordinate with state officials on management plans for specific populations, including six identified elk herds. But the courts have never delved into hunting rights to the extent they have for fish and shellfish.
The 1855 Treaty of Point No Point preserves the “privilege of hunting and gathering roots and berries on open and unclaimed lands.” That treaty — signed by representatives of the Skokomish, S’Klallam and Chimakum people — ceded to the United States tribal lands around Hood Canal and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
In its lawsuit, the Skokomish Tribe contests state maps that purport to identify those ceded lands, as well as a Washington State Supreme Court ruling that limits “open and unclaimed lands” to those not in private ownership.
The lawsuit argues that state Supreme Court cases fail to define the extent of the hunting and gathering rights of the Skokomish Tribe. That lack of definition has caused state officials to “unlawfully interfere with plaintiff Skokomish Tribe’s privilege of hunting and gathering on open and unclaimed lands as guaranteed by Article 4 of the Treaty of Point No Point …
“This unlawful interference … resulted and continues to result in denial of lawful access to plaintiff Skokomish Indian Tribe’s territory and use of resources located thereon.”
The tribe’s lawsuit lays out an extensive history of hunting before the treaties were signed. The Skokomish Tribe, which includes the successor of the Twana people, ranged throughout the Hood Canal region and lived in nine communities, mostly at the mouths of rivers.
Tribal members took sea mammals, including porpoises, seals, sea lions and whales; waterfowl, including geese, brant and duck; and land game, including elk, bear, deer, beaver, mountain beaver and muskrat, according to the lawsuit. Tribal people also gathered plants, including the roots of ferns and other plants, as well as a wide variety of berries.
INDEX — Building a mini-dam on a scenic stretch of the Skykomish River would not cause flooding or reduce water flow, according to preliminary studies by the Snohomish County Public Utility District.
These findings are among the results of studies done recently by the PUD in determining whether to pursue the project.
The utility is looking at building an inflatable mini-dam, or weir, on the river just above Sunset Falls near Index. The PUD believes the project could generate enough power for nearly 10,000 homes. Its cost is estimated at between $110 million and $170 million.
The utility has scheduled open houses for Wednesday in Everett and Thursday in Sultan to discuss its findings with the public.
The meetings will be informal. Visitors may circulate, look at photos and graphics and discuss the idea with officials.
“We heard a lot of concerns from the local residents,” said Kim Moore, an assistant general manager for the PUD. “We’ve been trying to address those concerns.”
Some neighbors and environmental groups oppose any consideration of a dam on the stretch of river.
Jeff Smith, who lives about 50 yards from where the mini-dam would be installed, said the new information makes no difference to him.
“This is not an issue about engineering details,” he said. “This is an issue about a protected natural resource. It’s like negotiating the terms of surrender before the battle starts.”
The south fork of the Skykomish is part of the state’s Scenic Rivers System. Under this designation, development is discouraged but not prohibited.
This designation also does not prevent development, but the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is required to consider the tag in deciding whether to issue a permit for a dam.
Last year, American Rivers, a national environmental group, listed the stretch of river as the seventh most endangered river in the nation. The designation was prompted by the possible PUD project, said Brett Swift, regional director for the group’s northwest office in Portland.
In the project, water would be diverted from the pooled water behind the weir, above Sunset Falls, through a pipeline downstream to a powerhouse below the falls.
The dam would be inflated only during winter months when the flow is highest, PUD officials have said.
The PUD has a federal permit to study the project but has yet to apply for a license to build. If that occurs, it likely won’t be for three or four more years, Moore said.
Concerns about the project include flooding above the dam and reduced water flow below it; glare from lights; noise and traffic during construction, and the effect on the scenery.
In addition to the findings on flooding and water flow, the PUD also has artist’s conceptions showing the weir would have a minimal effect on the appearance of the river.
Officials have drawn up routes to minimize noise and traffic during construction, Moore said. An electrical switchyard for the power could be hidden behind the powerhouse to keep it invisible from across the river, PUD spokesman Neil Neroutsos said.
Other issues, such as the project’s potential effect on fish, will have to be studied in greater detail, Moore said.
All the information so far is preliminary and will have to be fleshed out further if the utility decides to go ahead with the project, Moore said.
“We have not found, as of yet, a fatal flaw with respect to this project.”
The PUD buys about 90 percent of its power in the form of hydroelectric energy from the Bonneville Power Administration and is looking to diversify.
In 2011, the PUD opened a $29 million mini-dam on Youngs Creek near Sultan. In 2008, the PUD bought a tiny, 6-foot-tall dam and powerhouse on Woods Creek near Monroe from a private utility company for $1.1 million.
The PUD also owns and operates the Jackson Hydroelectric Project on the Sultan River, which includes Culmback Dam on Spada Lake.
Lower Elwha Klallam elder Adeline Smith talks about growing up on the Elwha, where the salmon were once so numerous she had to push them out of the way with her hands as she swam in the river’s cold waters as a child. Photo: STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES
For the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, the Elwha River’s restoration also is a cultural renewal
By Lynda V. Mapes, Seattle Times staff reporter
Swimming in pools of the Elwha River as a child, Adeline Smith pushed salmon out of the way, so thick were the fish in the lower river. “It was nothing to see them everywhere when us kids were in the water, especially in the deep holes. We would scare them away.”
Elwha Dam was finished just four years before she was born in 1918. It quickly began killing fish.
Smith, one of the oldest living members of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, whose homeland included villages up and down the river, remembers as a kid running from pool to pool with her niece, the late Bea Charles, scooping up the silvery baby salmon stranded in puddles by operation of the dam. “They were just dying. We felt sorry for them,” she said of the gasping fish. The dam walled adult fish off from 93 percent of their habitat upriver. With so little spawning ground left, the fish declined. Today the river’s chinook, steelhead and bulltrout are listed for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.
The tribe intervened in 1986 in licensing proceedings to demand the dams be taken out, and worked with environmental organizations to force the settlement that became the 1992 Elwha restoration act.
With 989 members today, the tribe lost the most with the destruction of the fish runs — and was the slowest to reap the benefits of economic development from the dams. Power poles carried electricity to only parts of the tribal community as late as the 1930s, and the reservation didn’t even have indoor plumbing until 1968.
Smith, now 93, has outlived three children and two husbands. Over the course of her life she welded submarines, worked as a riveter at Boeing, eviscerated chickens at a meatpacking plant, sewed jackets at a Seattle garment factory, and picked salal in the woods for 17 cents a bunch. She’s seen and done a lot in her life. But the dams coming out?
“I never thought I would see the day,” Smith said. “It’s a great thing, even if a percentage of the fish come back.”
Some things, though, may be gone forever.
As a child, she remembers her father telling her about Thunderbird’s Cave — the place where a rainbow jumped back and forth in the river’s mist as it crashed through a tight canyon.
There, Thunderbird, who could make the salmon come upriver just by flashing his eyes, dwelled in the upper reaches of the watershed, where only the biggest fish could go.
She fears the cave, and the tribe’s creation site near where Elwha Dam is today, may be gone because of the dynamiting of the river channel when the dams were built.
But restoration of the river will continue a cultural revival for the tribe, which in 2007 published a book on the Elwha River and its people for use in its tribal community and in public schools. And the tribe is playing a lead role in the recovery of the Elwha ecosystem, from restoring habitat in the river to replanting native plants in the mud flats that will be exposed when the dams come out.
“It’s a lot of change,” Smith said. “And we are going to have the fish back.”
The new Elwha Tribal fish hatchery on the Elwha reservation is to be used to supplement populations of fish that naturally recolonize the river as habitat becomes available. Photo: Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times, 2011
A federal judge has dismissed a suit against the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe’s hatchery plan as moot, and the tribe has terminated its plan to stock the Elwha with nonnative steelhead.
By Lynda V. Mapes, Seattle Times staff reporter
A federal judge has thrown out a suit against the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe’s hatchery plan, and the tribe has backed away from stocking the Elwha River with nonnative steelhead.
The Elwha is at the center of the region’s long-running debate on hatcheries and their role in salmon recovery. A $325 million federal recovery project for the river is now under way, with one dam out of the river and another soon gone in the largest dam-removal project in history. With so much at stake, hatchery plans for the fish-recovery effort drew fire early.
Litigation was flying before the first chunks of concrete even came out. Advocates for wild fish filed notice of intent to sue in September 2011 over the new $16 million hatchery built as part of the recovery project. But portions of the lawsuit, filed in March against the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, were thrown out last week by Benjamin Settle, U.S. District Court judge for the Western District in Tacoma.
Settle found that the suit was moot because, since the suit was filed, the tribe had obtained permits from federal fisheries officials to carry out programs at its hatchery, leaving no question to settle.
“It speaks for itself,” said the tribe’s lawyer, Steven Suagee. “The initial complaint had been that the tribe didn’t have the approvals for these hatchery programs, and now we do.“
The new hatchery is to be used to supplement populations of fish that naturally recolonize the river as habitat becomes available. Ultimately, taking two dams out of the river will reopen 70 miles of habitat in the Elwha to salmon and steelhead spawning. But dam removal also is letting loose huge amounts of sediment, trapped behind the dams for a century. As the water gets muddy, the hatchery also is intended to provide a safe-harbor gene bank for four populations of fish listed for protection in the river, including steelhead.
The tribe backed away from one of the programs it sought to run at its hatchery: stocking Chambers Creek steelhead, which, while not native to the Elwha, have provided a fishing opportunity for tribal fishermen for years as native stocks in the Elwha declined because of the dams.
With the dams coming out, however, wild-fish advocates no longer wanted the nonnative fish stocked in the river. The tribe, while not conceding that the fish cause harm to wild stocks, announced in December to federal officials that it has ended its Chambers Creek program and will not be reviving it.
Instead, tribal members will mop up the fish returning from its last release from the hatchery in 2011 until no more of the nonnative fish come back. That will serve the needs both to avoid crossbreeding of the nonnative fish with fragile, rebuilding native runs and to provide a small fishing opportunity for the tribe.
A moratorium is in effect on fishing in the river for five years while populations rebuild. The tribe is negotiating with federal fisheries officials to be able to fish native Elwha steelhead after the moratorium even if those fish are still listed for protection under the Endangered Species Act, if doing so does not set back recovery.
Suagee said that those talks are still ongoing and that nothing is final.
Kurt Beardslee, of the Wild Fish Conservancy, said the nonprofit, which took the lead in the suit, intends to appeal.
Meanwhile, dam removal is on hold until repairs are made to a water-treatment plant built as part of the recovery project that clogged with leaves, sticks and mud during the first fall rains. The plant has not been providing the level of water quality expected nor functioning as planned.
Repairs are expected to put off resumption of work until at least April.
