By RICHARD WALKER
Kitsap Weekly
BREMERTON — In Billy Frank Jr.’s lifetime, Western Washington’s Treaty Tribes and the State of Washington went from being adversaries to co-managers of the state’s fishery.
In the 40 years since the Boldt decision established that relationship by upholding the Tribes’ treaty right to 50 percent of the annual salmon harvest, Tribes and the state have worked together to improve habitat for salmon. Though great strides were made during Frank’s lifetime, he lamented near the end of his life that we are still losing habitat faster than it can be restored.
According to Frank, the loss of salmon — central to Northwest Native culture — threatens treaty rights for Indians and non-Indians because salmon is a shared resource, guaranteed to all by treaties signed in 1855 by indigenous leaders and representatives of the U.S. government.
“Treaty rights should never be taken for granted — by anyone,” he wrote in 2007.
And so the work continues.
The Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group’s Salmon Center will honor Frank’s legacy beginning at 6 p.m. Oct. 10 in the Kitsap Conference Center in Bremerton; Frank will be posthumously inducted into the Wild Salmon Hall of Fame. His son, Nisqually Tribe Vice Chairman Willie Frank, will accept the award on his behalf.
According to the Salmon Center, the inductees to the Wild Salmon Hall of Fame are chosen for their contributions to saving wild salmon populations in the Northwest. Past honorees include former U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks and Paul Dorn, fisheries biologist for the Suquamish Tribe.
Billy Frank Jr. devoted his life to improving the life of salmon affected by more than 150 years of development, deforestation and other impacts to the nearshore and upland landscape.
Frank’s efforts led to the 1974 Boldt decision and the establishment of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, which he chaired for more than 30 years. In those years, he forged relationships with former adversaries as well as state and federal agencies to improve the health of streams, restore estuaries, remove blockages to salmon passage, and to protect and sustain his people’s way of life.
“He was a selfless leader who dedicated his life to the long fight for the rights of our state’s Native people,” Gov. Jay Inslee said after Frank passed away in May 2014. “Billy was a champion of Tribal rights, of the salmon, and the environment. He did that even when it meant putting himself in physical danger or facing jail.
“I’m thankful Billy was here to see the 2014 Legislature pass a bill helping to overturn convictions from treaty protests. Billy was right on this issue and the state owed this gesture of justice to him and others who jeopardized their liberty to fight for treaty rights.
“Billy never wavered in his conviction and passion. He stressed to me the spiritual and cultural relationship that indigenous people have with salmon. His work is the foundation of an enduring legacy that will never be forgotten in Washington state. He once said, ‘The Creator put that salmon there for it to survive.’ I thank the Creator for putting Billy here to make sure we never forget what he fought for.”
Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Bremerton, is the scheduled keynote speaker. The Nisqually Canoe Family will open and close the event with traditional songs.
To attend, go to the Wild Salmon Hall of Fame Gala website, or call 360-275-3575, ext. 10.
Hors d’oeurves will be offered at 6 p.m. during a Northwest-themed art show featuring local artists Amy Burnett and Ken Lundemo. The art pieces will be available to purchase; a portion of each sale will benefit the Salmon Center.
Dinner will be served at 7 p.m.; menu choices include wild silver salmon, herb-roasted beef medallions with mushroom demi-glace, and Thai curried coconut tofu. An auction hosted by George Kenny will take place during this part of the evening; proceeds from the auction will help fund Salmon Center projects.
The Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group is one of 12 original Regional Fisheries Enhancement Groups created by the Legislature in 1990. The enhancement group’s Salmon Center offers dozens of educational opportunities every year to the general public and K-12 school children; on-site programs and projects like 4-H and a certified organic garden and farm; salmon habitat restoration projects in the watersheds of Hood Canal; a salmon and steelhead restoration program in the Union, Dewatto, Little Quilcene and Tahuya rivers; a knotweed control program on several river systems; and hundreds of volunteer opportunities.
“We’re involved in restoration, research and education,” Salmon Center outreach coordinator Erin Mihlbachler said. “We offer youth summer programs and undergraduate internships, and we conduct summer chum and steelhead research. We’re volunteer-heavy, and we encourage volunteers to come out, spend some time with us next to the river and monitor summer chum populations. Raising awareness is one of the key things we do.”
Impacts of the Boldt decision
U.S. District Court Judge George H. Boldt’s decision in U.S. v. Washington, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, did more than affirm Indian fishing rights. It upheld treaties as being supreme over state law, as stated in the U.S. Constitution. It established Treaty Tribes as co-managers of the salmon fishery. And it spawned other actions designed to protect salmon, because — as Frank stated in the ensuing years — if there is no salmon fishery, then the treaty is violated.
Among those subsequent actions:
— In 1985, Canada and the United States signed the Pacific Salmon Treaty; through the Pacific Salmon Commission, both countries cooperate in the management, research and enhancement of Pacific salmon stocks.
— In 1994, U.S. District Court Judge Edward Rafeedie ruled that indigenous treaty signers had also reserved the right to harvest shellfish from any beds not “staked or cultivated by citizens,” meaning all public and private tidelands are subject to treaty harvest. “A treaty is not a grant of rights to the Indians, but a grant of rights from them,” Rafeedie wrote in his decision.
— In 1999, the state Legislature adopted the Forests & Fish Law, directing the state’s Forest Practices Board to adopt measures to protect Washington’s native fish and aquatic species and ensure compliance with the Clean Water Act. The law affects 60,000 miles of streams flowing through 9.3 million acres of state and private forestland.
— In 2013, U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo Martinez ruled that the state must remove hundreds of state highway culverts that block fish passage over the next 17 years.
The State of Washington is appealing the decision.
