Quinault
From NativeWiki
People of the Quinault
We are among the small number of Americans who can walk the same beaches, paddle the same waters, and hunt the same lands our ancestors did centuries ago. The Quinault Indian Nation (QIN) consists of the Quinault and Queets tribes and descendants of five other coastal tribes: Quileute, Hoh, Chehalis, Chinook, and Cowlitz. Our ancestors lived on a major physical and cultural dividing line. Beaches to the south are wide and sandy, while to the north, they are rugged and cliff-lined. We shared in the cultures of the people to the south as well as those to the north. Living in family groups in long houses up and down the river, we were sustained by the land and by trade with neighboring tribes. Superb salmon runs, abundant sea mammals, wildlife, and forests provided substantial material and spiritual wealth to our ancestors. A great store of knowledge about plants and their uses helped provide for our people. The western redcedar, the “tree of life,” provided logs for canoes, bark for clothing, split boards for houses, and more. We are the Canoe People, the people of the cedar tree. We remember our past while employing modern principles in a marriage that will bring hope and promise to our people now and in the future.
Self-Governance - The QIN is a sovereign nation with the inherent right to govern itself and deal with other tribes and nations on a government-to-government basis. By-laws established in 1922 and a constitution approved in 1975 form the foundations of the modern-day Quinault government. Our General Council meets annually the last Saturday in March to hold elections, accept new tribal members, allocate fishing grounds, and discuss other issues relevant to tribal operations. The Quinault Business Committee, which consists of four executive officers and seven councilmen, is entrusted with the business and legislative affairs of the QIN throughout the year. The Self-Governance Act of 1988 began as a demonstration project in the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). In 1990, we took the challenge, along with six other tribes, to implement self-rule in Indian affairs. This law was amended in 1991 and authorized planning activities in the Indian Health Service. After 150 years of mismanagement by the federal government, it was obvious that tribes could manage their own affairs better and make their own decisions without external interference. This is the basic underlying philosophy of Self-Governance. Tribal operations consists of the following areas: Administration, Natural Resources, Community Services, Health and Social Services. In addition, we have several enterprises: Quinault Pride Seafood, Land and Timber, Quinault Beach Resort, Maritime Resort, and the Mercantile, all of which promote the growth and develop the potential of our Reservation. It may take another century to correct the many problems created by the “Indian agents” we once relied upon, but we now look to the future while learning from the past.
Early Contacts - The first recorded Quinault contact with non-Indians led to a bloody conflict with the Spanish in July, 1775. It was not until after 1792 that ships, mostly from Boston, seeking furs along with the Northwest coast, made much contact with the native people. With them came the introduction of several devastating diseases. Of these, smallpox and measles nearly wiped out the tribes and their cultures along the coast. The John Wilkes United States Scientific Expedition recorded volumes of information about the Northwest in its visit in 1841. Soon after these manuscripts were published, the Oregon Territory was created. The region north of the Columbia River became Washington Territory in 1853. Washington’s first territorial governor, Isaac Stevens, arrived in 1853. His major responsibility was to make treaties with the Indians to open land for settlers. The Quinaults ceded much of the western half of the Olympic Peninsula to the U. S. Government by a treaty on July 1, 1855, in exchange for a Reservation, education, medical care, and the right to fish in their usual and accustomed areas. The Reservation was enlarged in 1873 to include members of other coastal tribes which did not sign any treaties. The assistance promised by the treaty to the Quinaults was slow in coming. But, when it did, it was an attempt to change the way of life of the people. Settlers moved into the region in greater and greater numbers in the 1880’s. In an attempt to further assimilate the Quinaults into the non-Indian way of life, the land was divided up into over 2,300 eighty-acre allotments for farming. However, most of the lands on the Reservation are not suitable for farming, but for conifer forest production. Allotment resulted in a fractionated land ownership pattern of trust, fee, and tribal lands which hampers natural resource management and jurisdiction to this day.
The Land - The Quinault Indian Reservation is a land of magnificent forests, swift-flowing rivers, gleaming lakes and 23 miles (37 kilometers) of unspoiled Pacific coastline. Its boundaries enclose over 208,150 acres (84,271 hectares) of some of the most productive conifer forest lands in the United States. Located on the southwestern corner of the Olympic Peninsula, its rain-drenched lands embrace a wealth of natural resources. Conifer forests composed of western redcedar, western hemlock, Sitka spruce, Douglas-fir, Pacific silver fir and lodgepole pine dominate upland sites, while extensive stands of hardwoods, such as red alder and Pacific cottonwood, can be found in the river valleys. Roosevelt elk, black bear, blacktail deer, bald eagle, cougar, and many other animals make these forests their home. Twenty-five thousand years ago, woolly mammoths roamed here as glaciers plowed the land, creating the rolling terrain which makes up much of the Reservation today. The glaciers also created Lake Quinault, the gem of Quinault country. The lake’s twelve miles (19.3 kilometers) of shoreline enclose 3,729 acres (1,509 hectares). As a wet, mild climate began to evolve 12,000 years ago, the glaciers withdrew to the higher peaks of the Olympics. These conditions led to the development of forests of centuries-old trees, towering nearly 300 feet into the sky, and a land of untold forest resources.
The Loggers - The BIA began contracting large scale logging units on the Quinault Reservation in 1922, with railroad logging by the Aloha Corporation. The loggers hungered after the timber resource, often leaving unwanted species lying on the ground in their wake of progressive clear cutting. Great wildfires in the 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s burned through the loggers’ slashings, leaving behind lands with little or no tree stocking. In 1929, a small piece of land was set aside as the Quinault Experimental Forest, where Indian crews planted thousands of trees. Unfortunately, this reforestation attempt, the first in the region, was not continued. The Indian Bureau continued the major duty of managing logging contracts with the philosophy that nature would take care of reforestation. As more of our people went away to school, they returned to see their land being cleared of its forests with little regard for the future. In 1971, we protested these practices by blocking the roads into the logging units, bringing the plight of the land to the public’s attention. The attitude of the United States government toward Indians turned from termination in the 1950’s to self-determination in the 1970’s. With that, we set out to seek our own destiny, reducing the paternalistic role of the BIA, and to prove we could manage our own land and resources.
Natural Resource Managers - Realizing much of our future depends on natural resource management and QIN ownership of the land on the Reservation, our young QIN staff developed the Quinault Resources Development Project (QRDP) in 1970. First, with grants from the Ford Foundation and the Economic Development Administration (EDA) and later with the Indian Self-determination and Economic Development Act (P.L. 93-638), our staff of Quinaults and non-Indians began the arduous task of building a natural resource program from scratch. Along the way, job opportunities have been opened for Quinault people and others. Our staff receives extensive on-the-job training to stay up-to-date with the latest information regarding natural resources. In addition, we produce publications to educate and create more awareness about natural resources and the opportunities they present.
Fisheries - The early years of our fisheries program involved a great deal of study and development of inventory data. Rivers and streams were studied, water quality investigated, and historical catches analyzed. Data collection still constitutes a significant part of the program. The establishment of fish culture facilities, protection of wild runs and habitats, and harvest management insure protection and continuation of the salmon and steelhead runs. The Boldt Decision (U.S. vs. Washington) further defined our fisheries management role. As one of only two self-regulating tribes in Washington, we cooperatively manage the Usual and Accustomed (U&A) fishing areas with the State. These areas include the Queets, Quinault, Humptulips, and Chehalis river systems, as well as the marine waters from Destruction Island south to Point Chehalis and Grays Harbor.
Forestry - The condition of forest lands affects many other resources on the Reservation, so it is important to protect their health. Until we started a forestry program in the early 70’s, the BIA’s major thrust was logging management, but we saw opportunities in the destruction left in the wake of the intense logging efforts. Working with other forest owners and managers, we developed a forestry program on the Reservation. We set up a computer system, contracted for a soil survey, and were one of the first programs utilizing satellite imagery to help us understand the conditions of the land. We set about to reclaim brushy and slash-covered land. Timber has dominated the use of our forests for decades, but minor forest products such as ferns, mushrooms, bear grass, and a multitude of berries are growing in importance and provide additional economic opportunities.
Environmental & Resource Protection - Our Environmental Protection Department ensures that we look at all parts relating to the whole, so that any one aspect of the environment is not exploited to the detriment of another. Its mission is to maintain the QIN and its reservation as a social, cultural, political, and economic unit for the continuing benefit and prosperity of the members of QIN.
Land Tenure - Land on the Quinault Reservation is a quiltwork of fragmented land holdings of trust, fee, tribal and mixed ownerships. The complex land ownership pattern makes management of our natural resources difficult and creates jurisdictional problems which plague not only Quinault but much of Indian country. Our land acquisition program seeks to return much of the land to QIN ownership so that it can be better managed to protect the long-term productivity of the land and to stabilize job opportunities. In 1988, the Quinault Land and Timber Enterprise (QLTE) was formed to assist us in utilizing the land’s resources and to return alienated land on the Reservation to QIN ownership.
Planning the Future - Our Reservation is more than trees and fish. It is people. People remain our most important resource and it takes educated people to fill QIN’s many technical jobs. Nearly 700 people are employed by QIN and its enterprises, making it one of the largest employers in Grays Harbor County. We have much to do and limited resources. While we live in a land of great wealth, federal government policies often impoverished our people. During the last three decades, the tribal government has taken the steps necessary to reestablish control over our own destiny and developed a strategic plan as a road map. This plan keeps all the sections of the tribal government focused and heading in the same direction. QIN encourages individuals to develop their own businesses and also maintains many of its own enterprises, such as Quinault Pride and the Quinault Beach Resort and Casino. The only way to predict the future... is to create it. With the combined strength, courage and willingness to work together, we will build a brighter future for the Quinault People.
Information
Guided Fishing – Winter or summer, our guides will take you steelhead and trout fishing on the Quinault River below Lake Quinault. Contact 360/276-8215 ext. 279 or 372 for a list of the guides.
Lake Fishing – Fish for trout when Lake Quinault is open. Obtain a tribal permit and regulations at outlets near Lake Quinault.
Quinault Cultural Center – Visit our museum in Taholah at the Fifth Avenue Mall to see natural and cultural artifacts from Quinault Country. Open weekdays. Contact 360/276-8211 ext. 245 for more information.
Chief Taholah Days – An annual commemoration of the 1855 Treaty the first week of July. Parade, baseball, canoe racing, salmon bake, fireworks and more.
Beach Hiking on the Reservation – To go on any of the beaches of the Reservation you must purchase a permit at the main Tribal Administrative building in Taholah weekdays or at the Police Department. Call 360/276-8211 ext. 208 or 309 for more information.
Quinault National Fish Hatchery – Visit the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Cook Creek Hatchery on the Moclips Highway just off U. S. 101 south of Lake Quinault. Call 360/288-2508 for more information.
Quinault Beach Resort and Casino http://www.quinaultbeachresort.com – A family oriented resort near Ocean Shores with many beach side activities in the local area: horseback riding, kite flying, beachcombing, or relaxing in a room with an ocean view. Our resort features a full service casino for the adults and has facilities for conferences small and large. Call toll free 888/461-2214 or locally call 289-9466.
Lake Quinault Area – Both the Olympic National Park and Forest offer easy to walk interpretative trails, or for the experienced hiker, trails into the back country. Bird watching, elk, black bear, rain forests, and sub-alpine country. Both the Park and Forest Service maintain web pages. Call ONP 360/452-4501, ONF 360/288-2525 or inquire locally.
Kalaloch – Visit Olympic National Park beaches north of the Reservation. Inquire locally.
Moclips/Pacific Beach – State park and easily accessible beaches south of the Reservation. Museum and other opportunities. Inquire locally.
Grays Harbor Tourism – http://www.tourismgraysharbor.com
The Quinault are a group of Native American peoples from western Washington state in the United States. The Quinault Indian Reservation is located on the Pacific coast of Washington, primarily in northwestern Grays Harbor County, with small parts extending north into southwestern Jefferson County. It has a land area of 819.294 km² (316.331 sq mi), and reported a resident population of 1,370 persons as of the 2000 census. The Quinault people settled onto reservation lands after signing a treaty with the former Washington Territory in 1856. About 60 percent of the reservation's population lives in the community of Taholah, on the Pacific coast at the mouth of the Quinault River.
There is an original Quinault language, which is a part of the Salishan family of languages. In modern times, the Quinault is a mixture of separate indigenous peoples. The mixture of members with ethnic ties to the modern Quinault tribe is made up of the Quinault, Hoh, Chehalis, Chinook, Cowlitz, Queets, and Quileute peoples. Linguistically, these groups belong to three language families: Chimakuan (Quileute, Hoh), Chinookan (Chinook groups), and Salishan (Chehalis, Cowlitz, Queets, and Quinault).
[edit] Communities
[edit] References
- Quinault Reservation, Washington United States Census Bureau
[edit] External links
- Quinault Indian Nation homepage
- Quinault Indian Nation tribal council and history page (also links to treaty of 1856)
- University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – The Pacific Northwest Olympic Peninsula Community Museum A web-based museum showcasing aspects of the rich history and culture of Washington State's Olympic Peninsula communities. Features cultural exhibits, curriculum packets and a searchable archive of over 12,000 items that includes historical photographs, audio recordings, videos, maps, diaries, reports and other documents.
