"Dwindling Salmon And Treaty Rights In The Puget Sound"

"TULALIP, Wash.— The flat-bottom boat weaves across bends in the broad, mud-colored Qwuloolt Estuary, scaring up squawking blue herons and geese along the sloping banks of muck. Scattered log booms poke out.

“A little more than a year ago we were driving cars out here,” says Francesca Hillery, a Tulalip Tribes spokeswoman, tucked tightly in a raincoat and baseball cap to protect against the early autumn drizzle blowing in from the Sound as the skiff glides across the water.

In August 2015, the U.S. Army Corps cut the levee, and water from the Ebey Slough poured in, flooding 375 acres of farmland. The breach marked an end to centuries of diked-up farming. The estuary is part of the Snohomish River flood plain and about three miles from where it empties into the Puget Sound."

Brian Bienkowski reports for Environmental Health News November 16, 2016, as part of the ongoing "Sacred Water" series.

SEE ALSO:

"Tribal Commissions Fight For Fishing Rights" (EHN)

"One Tribe's 'Long Walk' Upstream For Environmental And Cultural Justice" (EHN)

"Sacred Water" Series Portal (EHN)