Co-Manager Assessment of Status Review and Management of Olympic Peninsula Steelhead

The Quinault Indian Nation, Hoh Tribe, Quileute Tribe, Makah Tribe, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, and Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe are federally recognized sovereign nations possessing reserved rights memorialized within the Treaty of Olympia (12 Stat. 971 (1856)), the Treaty of Neah Bay (12 Stat. 939 (1855)), and the Treaty of Point No Point (12 Stat. 933 (1855)).

The United States entered into these binding agreements, establishing a unique, government-to-government relationship with our Nations—a relationship underpinned by a Federal trust responsibility of the highest order. The United States ratified this trust responsibility through the processes outlined in the U.S. Constitution, and reaffirmed it again in subsequent congressional legislation, Executive and Secretarial Orders, and judicial decisions, all of which affirmatively protect our inherent rights to self-determination, self-governance, and the continued exercise of our reserved rights, including the federal right to the marine resources throughout our “Usual and Accustomed” places.

For our Tribal Nations, rights and the promises made by the United States are more than words; they represent living commitments that safeguard self-determination, cultural, spiritual, and economic lifeways that are central to our stewardship of marine and freshwater resources. The Federal fiduciary trust responsibility obligates the United States to honor its commitments and ensure that its agencies, including NOAA, actively co-manage in a manner that honors our sovereign status and protects the resources our communities have cared for and relied upon for thousands of years prior to the United States’ existence.

Through the below Report, we provided information regarding management of Olympic Peninsula Steelhead and our need to work together for cooperative stewardship. The United States, through NOAA Fisheries, must take our concerns seriously and respectfully as it fulfills its federal trust obligations, because only if we work together can we properly manage, conserve, and sustain the resources that are at the heart of our enduring relationship.