Messages from Frank's Landing: A Story of Salmon, Treaties, and the Indian Way

Rating:
Summary: Page-Turning History with a Hint of Hope
Review: As a member of a Pacific Northwest tribe and fishing family, I found this book to be resourceful, interesting, eye-opening, and yet hopeful. It summarized rather clearly many important points of the "fish wars," tribal treaties, government-to-government relations and tribal sovereignty, family and tribal traditions, timber and dam effects on river/fish sustainability, and much more. It is clear that the author put a tremendous amount of time and energy into the research and ideas behind this book. And it is not just a "history rewritten" book or an attempt by one cultural group to get their two cents in on the events of 30 to 150 years passed. It's about an Indian world view, and how saving the salmon and the rivers they run through is part of the Indian way.

Another aspect that I liked about this book was the lack of white bashing, and also the tremendous respect for the law of the land. This book provides many examples of the patience required to work through the American judicial system, and how the positive results of that patience can be cultural, environmental, and social... things that are impossible to measure in terms of dollars.

A hint of hope is intertwined through the chapters as various governments and cultures -- people with sometimes conflicting goals and values -- are able to successfully work together as "good neighbors."

Inspiring and even humorous at times, I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of the Pacific Northwest, the environment, Indian culture, and/or the law. It would be great if this book ends up in classrooms at the junior high level on up. It also includes many excellent, crisp photos.

Rating:
Summary: Page-Turning History with a Hint of Hope
Review: As a member of a Pacific Northwest tribe and fishing family, I found this book to be resourceful, interesting, eye-opening, and yet hopeful. It summarized rather clearly many important points of the "fish wars," tribal treaties, government-to-government relations and tribal sovereignty, family and tribal traditions, timber and dam effects on river/fish sustainability, and much more. It is clear that the author put a tremendous amount of time and energy into the research and ideas behind this book. And it is not just a "history rewritten" book or an attempt by one cultural group to get their two cents in on the events of 30 to 150 years passed. It's about an Indian world view, and how saving the salmon and the rivers they run through is part of the Indian way.

Another aspect that I liked about this book was the lack of white bashing, and also the tremendous respect for the law of the land. This book provides many examples of the patience required to work through the American judicial system, and how the positive results of that patience can be cultural, environmental, and social... things that are impossible to measure in terms of dollars.

A hint of hope is intertwined through the chapters as various governments and cultures -- people with sometimes conflicting goals and values -- are able to successfully work together as "good neighbors."

Inspiring and even humorous at times, I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of the Pacific Northwest, the environment, Indian culture, and/or the law. It would be great if this book ends up in classrooms at the junior high level on up. It also includes many excellent, crisp photos.

Rating:
Summary: great overview, photos, implications for the future
Review: Messages from Frank's Landing is a unique examination of a turning point in Indian sovereignty in the Pacific Northwest. For nearly 12,000 years the Nisqually and Payullup Rivers have provided food, a way of life, and a spiritual force to the Indians of the Puget Sound region. Encroachments on their land and their fishing areas began in 1833 when the Hudson's Bay Company founded Fort Nisqually to enhance the fur trade. Their reservation was decreased significantly in 1854 through a perfidious treaty agreement, triggering the Leschi War, named for the Tribal leader who lost his life for the cause. During World War I, the U.S. government broke part of the treaty, and transferred a section of the reservation along the river to the army as part of Fort Lewis. Three years later, Billy Frank bought six acres along the river which became known as Frank's Landing.
In the 1930s, the salmon count fell victim to unregulated offshore commercial boats and to hydroelectric development. The end of World War II signaled a massive population increase, and many non-Indians took jobs as offshore commercial fisherman. This population boom proved disastrous as hydroelectric dams, timber harvests, road and highway development, and pesticides used in forestry and agriculture combined to endanger the rivers. By the 1960s, Indians without fishing permits were the victims of constant raids and sting operations. In this context, Frank's Landing became the focal point for the tribal assertion of treaty rights in the Northwest.
In 1962, the state mounted a major raid on Nisqually fisherman during the winter salmon run. The Nisqually's passive resistance was caught on film and ended up in front-page photographs. Frank's Landing gradually became to be recognized in the 1960s as a place to go and honor a noble cause. In 1970, the United States filed United States v. Washington, on behalf of the tribes in the Puget Sound and Olympic Peninsula areas that had been included in the 1854 treaties. On February 12, 1974, the Boldt Decision, as it came to be known, reaffirmed the treaties, and allocated 50% of all salmon harvested to the Indians. Indians made up less than one percent of the population, and had previously been taking only about five percent of the total salmon harvest. This was a drastic blow to the commercial and sport fisherman, and an extraordinary victory for the Indians. More significantly, the opinion recognized the tribes' sovereignty and ruled that tribal governments had the authority to regulate their members. Led by Billy Frank, Jr., the Tribe announced an ambitious program to restore the Tribe's fisheries, which had been devastated by years of pollution and misuse. To save the watershed, Frank, Jr. cooperated with two Washington state fish and wildlife agencies to find a way to operate the river for both salmon and power-production. Several projects over the next few years would ensure the livelihood of the salmon and their habitat for generations to come.
Billy Frank, Jr. has served as the chair of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission since 1977, which includes 19 Tribes, and a staff of fifty professional biologists, ecologists, computer modelers, policy analysts, and lawyers. Billy's sister, Maiselle Bridges, founded the Wa He Lut Indian School at Frank's Landing. The founding of this school, the refusal to relinquish the right to fish despite the state's exertions, the restoration of the Nisqually watershed, and the work of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission all reflect the struggle of Indian people to endure as peoples. This book is a testament to this struggle and to this endurance. The author relies on archival research, newspaper and media accounts, secondary sources, but most of all, personal interviews and experiences with Frank, Jr. and the Nisqually people. Activist Hank Adams provides vivid photographs which document the struggle as well as the beauty of the landscape. Wilkinson provides a thoughtful and well-written narrative, and concludes by examining the global implications found within this story. Frank, Jr. ends with an offering of hope for the future: "We're the advocates for the salmon, the animals, the birds, the water. Put out the story of our lives, and how we live with the land, and how they're our neighbors. And how you have to respect your neighbors and work with your neighbors. So what you do is, you do what you can in your lifetime. Then that'll go on to another lifetime (104)."