Duwamish: Recognition of a People

The Duwamish Tribe (as they refer to themselves on their website: www.duwamishtribe.org) were among the first people to inhabit the Pacific Northwest.  Their leader in the 19^th century was in fact the namesake for the very city in which the University of Washington is located.  Chief Seattle (also known as Chief Sealth) greeted the first white settlers in 1851 and helped them survive in this region by providing guidance and technology such as canoes.  The Duwamish are at least partially to thank for the unique and productive city of Seattle that their land has become; yet the Federal government is ignoring this First Nation, and fails to recognize them as a tribe.

            In 2001, the Duwamish gained federal recognition as a tribe for only a second.  As soon as President George W. Bush took office, their recognition was retracted.  The reasoning the government uses is that the Duwamish do not have a continuous history, a “fact” which is easily undermined.  The Bush Administration even went so far as to declare them “extinct”.  These First People have place-based knowledge that extends through a number of significant eras in Washington’s history.  They have passed down information from generation to generation which even covers the most recent Ice Age, and the accuracy of this information has been validated by radiocarbon-dating of ancient artifacts discovered in the area.  The Duwamish have great pride in their heritage.  Their website proclaims, “We have never left our homeland”.  They have centuries of knowledge regarding all of the animals, plants, landscapes, and waterways of this region.

            In the summer of 2009, Duwamish leaders again attempted to gain federal recognition as they instigated a bill titled “Duwamish Tribal Recognition Act”.  This bill continues to be ignored by Congress, and the Duwamish have yet to gain the recognition they have always deserved.  If they were to be recognized as a tribe, the Duwamish would receive funding that could go towards housing, tribal government, education, health care, and cultural programs.  They would also gain fishing rights and would be authorized to open a casino, which would bring in further money.  Without this funding, the Duwamish are struggling to remain an independent and prominent culture.  They do have a number of projects underway currently, however.  One of their most recent accomplishments is the opening of the Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center, the first longhouse built in Seattle since they were burned down to build the city.  Overlooking the Duwamish River, this traditional longhouse serves as a symbol of the rich culture and history of this First Nation.  The next step is for the federal government to finally recognize these people as the true founders of Seattle, a community that lived in, learned from, and maintained the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

-Rachel Wolk

Sources:

http://www.duwamishtribe.org/index.html

http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=2951

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/377827_duwamish05.html

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h2678/show

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/408126_duwamish15.html

Elwha River Dam Removal

Last Dam Summer

            As an environmentally forward state, Washington practices many progressive techniques to help renew aspects of the environment that has been harmed by the imposed infrastructure of the industrial era. Many years ago the Elwha River was dammed in two places (1913 and 1927 respectively) in the Olympic National Forest in order to create more hydroelectric power. The dams are detrimental to the ecosystem and to the people who inhabit the area around the Elwha River. Since the dams were built, salmon have not been able to swim past the dams to spawn in their natural habitat on the Elwha River. Salmon was prized above all other fish because it was the economic, cultural, and spiritual heart of the Elwha River to the Native Americans. The Native American tribes who have fished the salmon on this river for many centuries have lost the economic, spiritual, ritual and nutritional benefits that the river used to provide them. Also, when the dams were built, some tribal land was flooded and lost its value as well. In my opinion, the Elwha River ecosystem was the biggest loser in this specific battle between nature and humanity. Of the Elwha River ecosystem, the salmon were the most noted species to be harmed because they were missed most by humanity. Furthermore, the Native Americans were the most noted peoples to be harmed because they were heavily reliant on the benefits of the salmon. Nevertheless, there were many more harmful aspects of the dams that people are not aware of because we have not studied them or they are unquantifiable under human standards. For example, many ecosystem functions that enable life (including human life) are harmed when an environment is changed so drastically. 

 

            The government has recently decided to remove the dams. While Native Americans support the removal, they have not been directly included in the process of dam removal. Nevertheless, they are inherently included in the end product due to the bolt decision, which states that the Indian Tribes are entitled to half of all fish. Even though the Native Americans have a very strong connection to the river, the government is removing the dams for other reasons, such as economic, mitigation, licensing and environmental protection reasons. The dams are being removed because the power could be bought for less money elsewhere, the dams need new licensing, new regulations require fish passage, and mitigation would be costly. This will be the largest dam removal in the world. The National Park Service is funding the removal of the dams, replacing the salmon in the river, and protecting drinking water, which will directly benefit the Native Americans who are dependent on the river system as a fishery and a clean water source. Native Americans will be able to fish the salmon once more for the first time in a hundred years. Furthermore, The National Park Service is not funding education, research or monitoring in relation to the project, which inhibits humanity’s ability to learn from the project and statistically see how the ecosystem changes with respect to the dams’ removal. This is a very unique opportunity to for humanity to learn how the natural environment changes with respect to anthropologic changes. 

This picture illustrates the amount of sediment that has accumulated above one of the dams on the Elwha River.

            While there are many ways in which this project is beneficial, there are also many ways in which this project can go awry. Many feet of sediment have accumulated around the dams some of which will be removed, but the remaining sediment has unclear consequences. Scientists do not know what species are in the seed bank in the sediment and which species will grow in the sediment. It is also unknown whether that land will be relinquished to the native peoples and if it will even be considered usable. There are so many questions that will be answered through this project, but since there is no funding for research most people will not be able to learn from it. While humanity continues to face the environmental destruction of the past and present, it is interesting to watch how it is dealt with and how humanity interacts with the environment. The removal of the Elwha dams is an example of humanity trying to recreate an ecosystem that was harmed by humanity, but the way in which they do it does not reflect the importance of native peoples nor the opportunity to learn from such an extravagant project. Instead humanity is motivated by economic and political ideals in order to patch one damaged piece of the ecosystem with no regard to the interconnectivity between this damaged piece and other ones that have occurred or wSHill occur in the future. 

Sources:

• http://www.nativetimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1188:dam-removal-offers-opportunity-for-salmon-science&catid=22&Itemid=2

• http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/chiefeditor/2010/10/dam-removal-provides-restoration-opportunities.html

• Dr. Jerry Freilich, Olympic National Park Research Coordinator 

SH 

Kitsap County Water

While browsing local newspapers looking for environmental news and updates, I stumbled upon an article addressing the idea of reusing water or "Thinking of Water in a New Way" (Dunagan, Christopher, Kitsap Sun, 11/13/10). The article discusses the idea of managing water in a "more natural way", rather than using the water in one's house, sending it through a series of pipes and discharging "1.5 billion gallons per year" of sewage in the Puget Sound. The upcoming technology will make it possible for one to recycle the water as it goes from the sink and toilet to what is described as a water treatment unit placed next to the septic tank. The water will then be fit to use for watering lawns and even reusing in the household.

This plan will allow for each household to conserve the amount of water sent to the Puget Sound, thus improving the quality of the water in the sound over time, if other counties are able to follow down this path. Not only would this plan help reduce the amount of pollution released into the environment, it would also lower costs of sewage for many households since the monthly price would be based on individual usage, not the usage of the community sewage pipes. Although the initial cost of installing these tanks/units in each household would be high at first, it is predicted in the article that over 20 years around $300 million will be saved, since the expensive sewer upgrades will no longer be necessary. This article was refreshing as it gave a positive outlook to the future of conserving environmental resources and protecting the environment from pollutants. While this switch from sewage lines to water treatment units may take a few years due to technological and financial set backs, it's a great idea that would be easy for the homeowner to utilize.
                                                           -BV

Makah Whaling

http://www.makah.com/whalingrecent.html

I remember just turning 9 years old when I heard the news about the struggle of the Makah whalers attempting to re initiate their 2,000 year old whaling tradition. At the time, I did not understand the controversy of animal rights activists protesting the event or why the whalers wanted to kill an innocent animal. This is my attempt to delve deeper into the spiritual and environmental issue that occurred in 1999.

My grandmother on my mother's side grew up on the Makah reservation on the north westernmost point of Washington state called Neah Bay and is 50% Makah and 50% Tulalip. My only connection with this portion of my heritage has been the annual trip to Neah Bay to participate in Makah Days, an August celebration featuring the gathering of native groups, smoked salmon and canoe races. I have never felt a particularly strong connection to the Makah tribe, mostly because I was raised in the Seattle area my whole life. However, when given the opportunity to explore local environmental issues, I was struck with the idea to investigate the Makah whaling controversy and how it relates to what we are learning in Environmental Anthropology.

Over 150 years ago, the Treaty of Neah Bay was signed with the US and the Makah peoples that stated that while land was being taken away from the natives, the right to whale legally was still intact. This right to whale was not exercised by the native peoples of Neah Bay for nearly 70 years until the late 1960s when artifacts from the ancient mud buried village of  Ozette were excavated, artifacts including equipment that was used for whaling. This discovery sparked an interest in whaling in the Makah natives. It wasn't until 1999, however, that the first successful whaling mission took place. Tribal members who were to participate in the event trained for months in order to be a part of this historical event.  During the whaling process, animal rights activists protested the Makah's traditional practice, claiming that the traditional killing of the whale was inhumane and that while the Makah are only permitted to kill 5 whales every year under the treaty, the fear that this Makah whaling would be  "used as a wedge to break international protections against whaling" existed among protesters (Walker, "The Makah Whale Hunt: Politics Meets Tradition"). I remember driving up to Neah Bay soon after the whale was killed in May of 1999, passing by crowds of people standing on the sides of the winding roads, attempting to make it known that what the Makah peoples had done was wrong.

Legally, the Makah peoples had every right to kill the grey whale that was killed in 1999. The Makah peoples share a whaling quota with the Chukotka, a tribe found in Russia, so the amount of whales killing was within a manageable rate so as to not create extinction of a species. However, protestors still believed that the ethical circumstances of this situation were more important than the traditional and spiritual values the Makah held with this whaling process. According to the Makah webpage, whaling is a deeply spiritual process that is the focus of many of the creative forms of expression in the Makah culture. To have that denied, or rather protested, by groups of people fighting for the life of one creature seems to be a destruction of cultural diversity. While many protestors argue that since the whaling tradition was dormant for 70 years so it therefore must not be critical to the native peoples of Neah Bay, whaling is what the Makah peoples claim to be known for and is something my ancestors specialized in. Ethnocide is the destruction of one group’s culture or identity. While the Makah peoples successfully practiced their whaling process, the attempt to stop the killing of the whale (often physical attempts of motor boats of protestors trying to interfere with the canoe of whalers) is an attempt at ethnocide.

While I would hardly say I have a spiritual background connected to my Makah ancestors, traveling to the Neah Bay High School gymnasium to partake in the gathering of native communities from across the US and Canada to enjoy the refreshing of a cultural practice and traditionally prepared whale meat and blubber was a cultural experience that I will always appreciate.

Sources: http://www.hsus.org/marine_mammals/what_are_the_issues/whaling/makah_the_tribe_who_would_be_whalers/the_makah_whale_hunt_politics_meets_tradition.html
http://www.makah.com/ozette.html
http://www.makah.com/whalingrecent.html




-Brittany Vigoreaux