Washington congressman introduces bill that would return land to Quinault Indian Nation

Outgoing U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer has introduced a bill to Congress that would transfer 72 acres of Olympic Peninsula land back to the Quinault Indian Nation.

The Quinault Indian Nation Land Transfer Act, introduced Monday, Aug. 26, would transfer the land, known as Allotment 1157, to the Bureau of Indian Affairs to be held in trust for the benefit of the Quinaults.

The Quinault Indian Reservation was set aside for the Quinault Indian Nation following the Treaty of Olympia of 1856, in which the Quinaults ceded millions of acres they had freely roamed in exchange for a homeland and other benefits.

According to a news release from Kilmer’s office, Allotment 1157 was a part of the original Quinault Indian Reservation in the treaty, but was taken away in 1928 during the so-called Allotment Era when the federal government gave allotments, or parcels, of Native lands to private owners. KIlmer’s bill would restore ownership of the land to the Quinault Indian Nation and hold the U.S. government responsible to its trust and treaty obligations to the QIN.

Allotment 1157 is considered a sacred place and holds significant historical value to the QIN, as the site was once where ancient carvers would slide canoe hulls in the Salmon River to be transported downriver to the main villages for completion, according to the news release.

Allotment 1157 also is one of the last remnants of old growth cedar that once dominated the reservation landscape.

“This legislation will help restore the Quinault Indian Nation’s original reservation lands under the Treaty of Olympia of 1865 – ensuring the Nation can preserve its ancestral lands,” said Rep. Kilmer, the 6th Congressional District representative who is not running for re-election and whose term ends in January. “I’ll keep working to ensure the federal government fulfills its trust and treaty obligations.”

“The forced breakup of our reservation erased one of the foundations of our way of life, our view that the land and waters of our homeland were for communal use by all. This legislation will help right a historic wrong,” said Quinault Indian Nation President Guy Capoeman.

“The Quinault Indian Nation Land Transfer Act helps fulfill the promise the United States government made to the Quinault Nation when signing the treaty of Olympia in 1856, the promise that the lands set aside for the Quinault Indian Reservation will always belong to the Quinault Nation.”

In an effort to restore its original reservation lands, the Quinault Indian Nation has purchased thousands of acres from timber companies, Grays Harbor County, and fee and trust landowners, according to the news release. The QIN now owns approximately 48% of the original acreage of the reservation, the news release says.

The Quinault Indian Nation plans to use Allotment 1157 for educational and cultural purposes.

The Quinault also are dealing with climate change and sea level rise issues that threaten some of its land. About 800 homes in the tribe’s lower village near the water in Taholah are being relocated up the hill.