HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/01/26 - Public Comment re: Jamestown S'klallam Tribe gocc
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Comments to the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners Sumitted by
Lorna smith
June 1, 2026
I am here today to express my deep concern over how quickly things appear to be
moving forward in the bid for the Jamestown S'klallam Tribe/BIA to take over
ownership and management of Protection Island/Dungeness National Wildlife
Refuge. I am asking that you please opppose any such action, and urge our
Congressional delegation to undertake a full and public process.
it is absolutely true that Protection island National Wildlife Refuge would not be
here today were it not for the thousands-strong grass-roots citizen campaign led by
local Audubon activist Eleanor Stopps, with me as her able assistant back in the late
1970s-early 80s. I addition to the trips to D.C. and vast letter-writing campaign, I
and many ntherc niirrhacerd Iota to cave them from heinn ddevelnnerd We then
donated the lots once the Refuge was established to be managed for the benefit of
wildlife in perpetuity.
Protection Island provides nesting habitat for 70% of the seabirds that nest east of
Cape Flattery in the Salish Sea: iconic and sensitive species such as Rhinoceros
Auklets, Pigeon Guillemots and Tufted Puffins. These burrow-nesting birds are
highly sensitive to disturbance, and only exist here because the island is free of
mammalian predators, and humans, for the most part!
The Jamestown S'kallam Tribe have done amazing things for their community. We
all enjoy the River Center; its beautiful. One area where they have been explicit
about striving for more economic development has been aquaculture.To expand
their aquaculture businesses, they need more protected waters and shoreline area
for oyster-growing and net pen fish production.They have made no secret about