Work has begun to connect the Tulalip Tribes’ reservation to the city of Everett’s water system.
From the Daily Herald:
When finished, [the pipeline] will allow the Tulalips to develop more commercial land, serve their growing population and even conserve important waterways. The positive economic benefits are expected to ripple far beyond the reservation.
“We’re thinking of the future,” tribal Chairman Mel Sheldon said.
…
A decade ago, the tribes filed a $37 million legal claim against Everett, contending that the city’s diversion dam built years earlier on the Sultan River had destroyed a salmon run. There were other hurts too.
The good-faith efforts of the city on this project have done much to heal old wounds, Sheldon said.
“They saw the historical inequities and realized in order to go forward they had to review those and find solutions,” he said.
The entire pipeline won’t be completed for at least a few years.
