As tribal members looked on, many wearing traditional hats of cedar bark and bear grass, a tribal elder gave an opening prayer in their native tongue. The Quinault nation agreed to $32.2 million for conservation easements in the North Boundary Area of the Quinault Reservation, giving up a proposed timber harvest plan in favor of habitat for the marbled murrelet according to Quinault Indian Nation President Pearl Capoeman-Baller.
“And it means so much to the Quinault people to be able to restore land and make it manageable and it’s going to be the greatest thing that could ever happen to the children of the Quinault nation.”
The settlement enables the U.S. and Wildlife Service to protect important mid-elevation temperate rain forest habitat on the Olympic Peninsula. Ron Tull, Washington