Natural Resources

The Tulalip's predecessor tribes were among the signers of the Treaty of Point Elliot made with the United States in 1855. In this treaty the tribes gave up thousands of square miles of land in exchange for a small amount of money and permanent protection from the United States government. The treaties also specified that the the tribes retained fishing and hunting rights. The federal court has interpreted the nature and extent of those retained rights, and ruled that the tribes, along with the State of Washington, have comanagement responsibility and authority over fish and wildlife resources. The mission of the Tulalip Natural Resources program is to carry out the tribes' comanagement responsibilites in a manner consistent with treaty rights as well as protection and perpetuation of the resources upon which the people have depended for over ten thousand years.