Greenwire: As water threatens to wipe out its reservation, the Hoh Tribe in Washington state is seeking legislation from Congress that will give it the deed to 37 acres of higher land in Olympic National Park.
The Washington-based tribe has purchased about 260 acres of land to move some of its reservation out of the flood zone, and the state Department of Natural Resources has transferred the title for about 160 acres of additional land to the tribe.
The 37 acres of national park land, which could be deeded to the tribe as part of a trust through an act of Congress, would connect the tribe’s existing parcels into a continuous swath of usable land.
The bill, written in collaboration between the tribe and the National Park Service, would prohibit the tribe from logging, hunting or developing a casino on the property.
It has been sponsored in the House by Washington Rep. Norm Dicks (D) and in the Senate by Washington Sens. Patty Murray (D) and Maria Cantwell (D). It was first introduced more than a year ago (Lynda V. Mapes, Seattle Times, March 10). – DFM