Author: kneumeyer

The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community is using traditional knowledge to incorporate cultural values into wetland management. In 1999, a wetland inventory identified 54 wetlands on the Swinomish Reservation and assessed 36 of them for functions such as flood and stormwater control, base flow and groundwater support, and shoreline and erosion protection. “We realized that standard wetland inventory and functional assessment methods could not adequately identify wetland functions related to tribal cultural values,” said Todd Mitchell, Swinomish environmental director. “We are fortunate that as the tribal government and regulatory authority, we are able to incorporate cultural values within our policies.”...

Tribal natural resources staff are setting traps for European green crab on the North Olympic Peninsula and Puget Sound, hoping not to find any. A small number of the invasive crab were found last year in North Puget Sound, apparently not enough to establish a population. However, since April, 60 green crab have been found at a single site near Sequim. “At Dungeness Spit, multiple crabs are being found at the same site, over successive days of trapping,” said Emily Grason, Washington Sea Grant’s Crab Team program coordinator. “This indicates a situation where the population could grow very quickly,...