Swinomish policy staff warns rollback of 'harm' rule threatens Chinook; tribe and Squaxin Island sue

Salazar Spore, environmental policy manager for the Swinomish Tribe, told the Puget Sound Partnership science panel that recent federal policy changes weaken protections for salmon habitat and threaten tribal treaty rights.

"What harms salmon harms Swinomish," Spore said, summarizing the tribe's concern about a federal rollback of an Endangered Species Act (ESA) "harm" rule and the practical consequences for habitat and tribal lifeways. She told the panel the tribe and Squaxin Island have filed a lawsuit challenging the rescission and issued a press release citing tribal leadership.

Spore described how the ESA and other regulatory tools help the tribe participate in permitting and mitigation processes, and said removing the harm definition would narrow what regulators may regard as injurious to listed species and their habitats. That narrowing, she said, risks allowing projects that degrade estuary and rearing habitat critical to Chinook and other listed species.

The presentation stressed government‑to‑government consultation as separate from public comment. "Tribal consultation should not be lumped in with the public comment periods," Spore said, arguing that early, formal consultation gives tribes time to prepare science‑based analyses and influence proposed actions before decisions are finalized.

Spore listed types of coordination the tribe pursues—review and comment on state and federal rulemaking, direct agreements with federal land managers, and community‑centered surveys and monitoring that inform policy—and she described the Swinomish Climate Adaptation Plan update, which now covers off‑reservation waters and incorporates community priorities and new climate science.

The tribe's legal step was presented as part of a broader stewardship strategy: using science, monitoring, and law to preserve habitat upon which treaty fishing, subsistence and cultural practices depend. Spore urged the partnership to continue early engagement with tribal staff and to recognize tribal consultation as a distinct, government‑to‑government process.