the_chemist
Life of the Party
Chehalis Tribe’s intent to charge anglers for permits, issue citations
If this stands, it will certainly set a precedent.
If this stands, it will certainly set a precedent.
Chehalis Tribe’s intent to charge anglers for permits, issue citations
- Thread starter the_chemist
- Start date
If it doesn't stand, it could also set precedent. The fight will probably be closely watched by many riverfront landowners. This issue has been brewing for awhile. Time to make "below the high water mark" the law, with no more "I own to river center" BS.
the_chemist
Life of the Party
The chehalis is navigable water. Below the high water is legal and fine to walk. Also the reservations southern border is the river. The whole opposite bank is private/public land.
skyrise
Steelhead
Read the article in NW Sportsman.
It was the WA state DNR that screwed up (Shocker). And “Navigable Waters “ is Federal ! Of course with the crap judges here this might have to go to federal court ?
Bad enough the tribes dictate when they are fishing and how long and how much as they don’t ask anymore they tell the WDFW. It’s why the stilly and Snohomish are closed 9 months out of the year.
It was the WA state DNR that screwed up (Shocker). And “Navigable Waters “ is Federal ! Of course with the crap judges here this might have to go to federal court ?
Bad enough the tribes dictate when they are fishing and how long and how much as they don’t ask anymore they tell the WDFW. It’s why the stilly and Snohomish are closed 9 months out of the year.
Links to two posts from NW sportsman
A Little Background On The Chehalis River Fishing Permit Situation -
In late 2016, as the Washington Department of Natural Resources moved to convey 30 acres of state forest land along the Chehalis River to the Chehalis Tribe, questions were raised about whether sport fishing on the Grays Harbor system stream would be impacted.
nwsportsmanmag.com
WDFW Issues Advice On Tribe's Plan To Ticket Unpermitted Anglers On Stretch Of Chehalis River -
With fall salmon pushing up the Chehalis, WDFW is offering advice to fishermen who may be contacted by the Chehalis Tribe while on a 10-mile stretch of the federally navigable river.
nwsportsmanmag.com
If you dig even deeper you will find the DNR's lack of communication was more on purpose to push the sale through. DNR has staff and infuencers that are tribal members. Tribal members are and have been infultrating local and state government agency positions for years. Even in elected House and Senate positions. Casey Sixkiller is one of the latest. Appointed by Governor Bob Ferguson as the 14th Director of the Washington State Department of Ecology. Can anyone gaurantee that tribal bias will not be a place in either state agencies, or elected positions? I have wondered how can a soverign nation within a nation can aquire an elected position, that could potentially obtain enough decision making power, to influnce policy of the other nation. One can witness over the last 20 yrs, the way tribes have influenced rec seasons and or closures with WDFW, an agenda that cannot go unrecognized.
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Pink Nighty
Legend
Somebody asked me a while back the age old question "if you didn't need any money, what would you like to spend your time on?" My answer is ultimately this kind of thing. I see a path where the tribes regulate sport and commercial fishing explicitly. Maybe one where the state is entirely removed from the picture.
There is so much that tribal members and sport fishers have in common, including the non-consumptive "players of food." We want more fish. We want wild and undeveloped places to pursue them. We want dams pulled down and less open ocean fishing. We want fish blocking culverts and infrastructure replaced while fish still swim there.
The state is and always has been an impediment to these goals. I'd love to find a path that allowed the tribes to monetize their take in ways that kept that take out of nets. I'd sure as shit pay the sauk-suiattle tribe to fish the skagit in winter and spring.
The animosity between tribes and sport fishermen is the biggest obstacle to sport fishing in Washington. I'm old enough, barely, to remember when nearly every sport fisherman routinely ambushed, obstructed and worked against tribal fisherman as a matter of course. Its not that way anymore, but anyone who is upset at the tribes for not allowing sport fishing is making Billy Frank Jr piss his pants in his grave.
Salmon have never been just food, they have always been wealth. The state has always treated them as such, protecting commercial interests first by removing the natives from the grounds, then by using taxpayer dollars to create more fish for APA.
We sport and state commercial guys fish on a stolen half of the quota. Boldt solidified that theft. 100 years before Boldt, 100% of the fish were available to the tribes to use as they saw fit. Foor food, for ceremony, for trade, for wealth accumulation.
I know anyone who fished in the 50s-90s likely considers these thoughts suicidal to sport fishing. Maybe they are. But from where I sit the state is doing a shit job of allocating their stolen half, and maybe the tribes would do better managing all of it.
There is so much that tribal members and sport fishers have in common, including the non-consumptive "players of food." We want more fish. We want wild and undeveloped places to pursue them. We want dams pulled down and less open ocean fishing. We want fish blocking culverts and infrastructure replaced while fish still swim there.
The state is and always has been an impediment to these goals. I'd love to find a path that allowed the tribes to monetize their take in ways that kept that take out of nets. I'd sure as shit pay the sauk-suiattle tribe to fish the skagit in winter and spring.
The animosity between tribes and sport fishermen is the biggest obstacle to sport fishing in Washington. I'm old enough, barely, to remember when nearly every sport fisherman routinely ambushed, obstructed and worked against tribal fisherman as a matter of course. Its not that way anymore, but anyone who is upset at the tribes for not allowing sport fishing is making Billy Frank Jr piss his pants in his grave.
Salmon have never been just food, they have always been wealth. The state has always treated them as such, protecting commercial interests first by removing the natives from the grounds, then by using taxpayer dollars to create more fish for APA.
We sport and state commercial guys fish on a stolen half of the quota. Boldt solidified that theft. 100 years before Boldt, 100% of the fish were available to the tribes to use as they saw fit. Foor food, for ceremony, for trade, for wealth accumulation.
I know anyone who fished in the 50s-90s likely considers these thoughts suicidal to sport fishing. Maybe they are. But from where I sit the state is doing a shit job of allocating their stolen half, and maybe the tribes would do better managing all of it.