The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe is one signature away from reclaiming 1,100 acres of ancestral land in Washington state.
The parcel along the Lower Elwha River sat flooded beneath a dam’s reservoir for more than a century, cutting the tribe off from the salmon runs that sustained their way of life.
Now that the dam has been removed, the land is recovering, and a federal bill returning it to the tribe has passed both houses of Congress and awaits the president’s signature.
The area includes historic villages and the site where elders say the Creator blessed the tribe into existence, along with habitat for salmon, bears, mountain lions, and kingfishers.
The transfer would effectively reverse part of an 1855 treaty that ceded most of the tribe’s territory, and this year marked the fourth straight season tribal members have exercised their fishing rights on the river.
As tribe member Vanessa Castle put it, the last missing piece of the river’s restoration was the Klallam people themselves, who will finally have a space to call home again.
