Muckleshoot — As we officially enter autumn, the season of harvest and preparation for the colder months that follow, we know that many in the community are busy exercising our Treaty-protected rights to fill their freezers with fish and game to carry us through the year.

The Tribal Council has similarly been hard at work protecting our Treaty rights, ensuring our people have the services we need to succeed and thrive, while also confronting an ever-changing world where new threats and opportunities seem to appear daily.

Tribal Council would like to thank Senator Cantwell for helping to unfreeze $2 million in hatchery funding for the Tribe that was caught up under Executive Order 14154. The Senator was instrumental in creating that funding through the Inflation Reduction Act and now getting it released. The Tribe plans to use the funding at the White River Hatchery to address six urgent infrastructure projects, including raceway repairs, electrical modernization, water system assessments, and new circular tank designs. These improvements will help sustain and protect healthy salmon runs for generations to come.

The Tribal Council is also working with Senator Murray, Senator Cantwell, Rep. Schrier, and the Trump Administration to obtain the release of fishery disaster funds that the Tribe was awarded under an October 6, 2023 fishery disaster determination for the 2019 Green River/Duwamish River fisheries and 2017 Green River/Duwamish River fisheries. These funds have been held up pending the approval of the Tribe’s spend plan. The Tribal Council is actively pushing and advocating for the release of these funds to assist our fishers.