Squaxin Island Tribe's Natural Resources

The name “Salish Sea” was chosen as the “Name of the Year” by the American Name Society.  Last year’s winner was “Barack Hussein Obama.”  Check out www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/jan/12/salish-sea-becomes-name-of-the-year for more details.

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The Washington State Board on Geographic Names met on Oct. 30 and gave formal approval to the term “Salish Sea” as an umbrella name for Puget Sound, Hood Canal, Admiralty Inlet,  Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Strait of Georgia.  Its formal adoption by the state helps solidify the Squaxin view that the Tribe occupies [...]

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October 15th was one of two days this year that the shellfish industry picked up garbage on beaches in South Sound. Four Choice High School students and their leader, John Johnson pitched in to clean up debris on the Twin River Ranch tidal marshland at the head of Oakland Bay.

In the phot0, Michael Hooton shows [...]

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On Monday September 21, WDFW staff with some help from Squaxin NR staff began spawning approximatly 100 female and 100 male Chinook at the Tumwater Falls Hatchery.

An estimated 500,000 eggs were taken and milt from 100 males to Minter Creek Hatchery for fertilization.   Eventually these fertilized eggs will return to Tumwater Falls Hatchery as Fry.
All [...]

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Ocean sunfish or Mola mola are a rare find in the Puget Sound. These fish are  generally found worldwide in temperate and tropical seas. They feed primarily on jellyfishes.  Although the photo above is a small Ocean sunfish, they can get up to 2 meters in length and  are known as the heaviest bony [...]

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Photos courtesy of Taylor Shellfish staff and Phil Rousseau, a Simpson retiree.  See also:  http://picasaweb.google.com/clharrismeister/Orcas09?authkey=Gv1sRgCMzrlq-HwJngdA&feat=email# .

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State and Tribal scientists use fecal bacteria (FC) as an indicator of water pollution in Oakland Bay.  In 2006 during the summer months, the bacteria concentration in the water column at the head of Oakland Bay skyrocketed and restricted commercial harvest in some shellfish beds.  In in the first half of the summer of 2009, [...]

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The Squaxin Island Tribe and Taylor Shellfish hosted the 2009 Puget Sound Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources on July 12th.  Fifteen journalists from around the county gathered to learn about the Tribe’s relationship with shellfish and its commercial production in South Sound.  Lynda Mapes from the Seattle Times led the tour.
Charlene Krise, Tribal Council member [...]

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Weyerhaeuser published a report in June 2009 in the Journal of American Water Resources Association (Volume 45, Number 3, Pages 793-808) detailing 30 years of turbidity data collected in the upper reaches of the Deschutes (WA) Watershed.  To my knowledge, it is the longest water quality study on private forestlands in the Pacific Northwest.
In the mainstem river, [...]

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