<
https://www.npr.org/2026/05/03/nx-s1-5806062/washington-tribe-restore-wetlands-fish>
“Scott Boyd walks through deep mud where the Stillaguamish River empties into
Puget Sound, an arm of the Pacific Ocean.
This flood-prone river mouth north of Seattle changed dramatically in October
when the Stillaguamish Tribe removed two miles of earthen levee. The ridge of
dirt kept the river and the tides from spreading onto nearby farmland. Once a
giant excavator bit into the levee to breach it, the tribe welcomed tidewater
onto the land for the first time in over a century.
"Before, it was a dairy operation, and now it's a big tidal marsh," Boyd, a
Stillaguamish tribal member and fisheries manager, says while looking out at
the new 230-acre wetland.
Tidal marshes are crucial nurseries for young Chinook salmon and a focal point
for efforts to bring these fish back from the brink of extinction. The
Stillaguamish Tribe has been buying riverfront land in its traditional
territory and removing levees to turn farmland into wetland with the hope of
restoring Chinook.
Boyd's tribe of about 400 people only gained federal recognition in 1976, more
than a century after tribal leaders signed the Treaty of Point Elliott with the
U.S. government in 1855.
"Our official reservation is pretty small, I want to say less than 100 acres,"
Boyd says. "And it wasn't granted to us until maybe 10 years ago."
Over the past 15 years, the Stillaguamish Tribe has purchased 2,000 acres of
land for fish and wildlife habitat.
Under the 1855 treaty, the Stillaguamish and other Puget Sound tribes gave up
almost all of their land but kept their rights to fish and hunt.
"It is a bit of a bitter pill to swallow to buy back the land that we
essentially traded for the resource, the fish, but it's what we have to do to
get things back on track," Boyd says.
What the tribe wants to get back on track is salmon.”
Via Frederick Wilson II.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
