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[article forwarded by JH. Thanks!]

Wed, 16 Feb 2000
Seattle Times

The Suquamish reclaim clam dig, exercise commercial
treaty right

By Florangela Davila
Seattle Times staff reporter

DYES INLET, Kitsap County - For all its historical
significance, the moment unfolded quietly amid the shadows
cast by lights on their miners' headgear and the floodlights
of television crews.

Last night, men of the Suquamish Tribe stood splay-legged
and hunched over on the muddy tidelands, took large forked
tools and unearthed thousands of manila clams.

Theirs was the first commercial shellfish harvest on private
tidelands by Native Americans since U.S. District Judge
Edward Rafeedie restored treaty rights to 15 Western
Washington tribes in 1994.

For the 800-member Suquamish Tribe, represented by some 15
men last night, the harvest rekindled memories of coming to
this area 30 years ago when there were fewer houses and more
trees.

"You gotta take change in stride, I guess," said Dave Sigo,
43, whose grandfather dug on this beach at a spot known as
Erland's Point. Sigo can remember coming here when he was a
child. In his hip waders, he filled one of three mesh bags
with clams. The Suquamish men planned to harvest 2,000
pounds of clams that have already been sold to a buyer.

"I got grandkids now," Sigo said. They're 2, 3 years old.
That's why I'm out here exercising my rights. I want them to
have this when I pass on."

Rafeedie's ruling upheld harvesting rights specified in
treaties signed between tribes and the government in the
mid-1800s. The ruling, later upheld by the U.S. Court of
Appeals, paralleled the landmark 1974 Boldt decision, which
entitled tribes to harvest half the salmon returning to
traditional tribal waters. When the Suquamish first notified
four property owners along this 400-foot stretch of beach
about their intended dig, Sharon and Robert Tucker, who own
a house here, were concerned about their privacy. They
worried how the tribe would access the tidelands, where
their family held clambakes each Fourth of July.

But over the months, Sharon Tucker explained, their concerns
were assuaged.

"There are some folks who don't like anybody on their
beach," she said. "They don't like it when people walk on
the beach. I don't share it with them."

If the Suquamish dig was controversial to the many Dyes
Inlet property owners who have protested since Rafeedie's
ruling, there was no hint last night. The tribal diggers
worked quietly just after nightfall, almost outnumbered by
media covering the event.

"The law says they have the right to do it. I have no
objection," said Dan Ackerman, who, with his wife, Kathy,
and their dog, watched the Suquamish from the beach outside
their home.

"This is the most exciting thing to happen here since the
orcas," said Kyle Aardal, 13, referring to the pod of 19
orcas who took up residence in Dyes Inlet in 1997.

"The Indians lived here before we did," Kyle said. "They
deserve it. It's their clams."

Last night's dig was preceded by surveys of Dyes Inlet to
protect both the resource and public health, said Doug
Williams of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission.
Because of high bacterial levels found in the saltwater, the
clams would be relayed to a cleaner beach along Hood Canal,
where they would burrow for two weeks to be purged of
contaminants.

The Suquamish characterized their dig as a political and
cultural victory as much as an opportunity to draw public
attention to the health of Puget Sound.

"Our people have always said, 'When the tide is out, the
table is set,'" elder Merle Hayes said of the tribe's
tradition of harvesting shellfish.

---
Copyright © 2000 The Seattle Times Company
 

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