Eight Peninsula Tribes, Olympic National Park Sign Pact

“The partnerships that are being built both in this process and in our work regarding removal of the Elwha dams and bringing the salmon back has been gratifying,” said Frances Charles, chairman of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. “It will continue to be important that we be informed when there are camps or artifacts found. Protecting all the resources on these lands and doing no harm is a joint concern. We’re grateful that the details of the government-to-government relationship make this partnership work and it will evolve as we listen to one another and move forward.”

Puget Sound Treaty Indian Tribes, Shellfish Growers Reach Pact

OLYMPIA (May 18, 2007) – Puget Sound treaty Indian tribes and commercial shellfish growers have finalized an agreement that will protect and enhance the resource while resolving legal issues from a federal court ruling that re-affirmed treaty-reserved tribal shellfish harvest rights.

The pact resolves lingering legal issues from a 1994 federal court ruling that upheld the tribes’ treaty-reserved shellfish harvest rights. The agreement preserves the health of the shellfish industry, recognizes the importance to the tribes of their shellfish harvest rights and provides greater shellfish harvest opportunities for everyone in the state.