Date: 10/30/26 12:43 pm From: Darrell Smith via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: [Tweeters] Protection Island / Dungeness NWRs -Clarifying the Record --Lorna Smith
I am writing this post to clear up certain remaining questions, and certain misinformation that has appeared here regarding proposed legislation transferring ownership of Protection Island and Dungeness National Wildlife Refuges to the Jamestown S'klallam Tribe via the BIA and the reasons the Tribe has given for pursuing the transfer. I am a casual participant on Tweeters, and find that as a birder I am most involved in protecting as much habitat as we can, and standing up for strong laws to protect species.
That is why my colleagues and I have formed the coalition that is supporting the continuation of co-management of Protection Island and Dungeness National Wildlife Refuges (NWR) by U.S. Fish and Wildlife (USFWS) and the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe (JST), while opposing the Tribe taking over ownership of our publicly-owned NWRs and breaking up the existing Washington Maritime NWR Complex.
Some of you on this forum will remember the >10-year long hard-fought campaign that many of us carried out to save Protection Island from development in the first place. I was the campaign partner of the indomitable Eleanor Stopps in that effort. Thousands of letters were written by Audubon members and others in support of saving the Island, and we succeeded! The dozens of Protection Island building lots purchased by Audubon members like myself to save them from development were then donated to U.S. Fish and Wildlife in perpetuity to be part of Protection Island NWR.
Today, we find ourselves having to campaign once again to save both Protection Island and Dungeness and keep them in the public domain. We (Audubon members and allies) have formed the ProtectRefuges campaign. You can find our position statement on our website ProtectRefuges.org <http://protectrefuges.org/>, where you will also find a link to our petition. Email us for information or to get on the mailing list at <ProtectRefuges...> <mailto:<ProtectRefuges...> . We also are more than glad to give presentations with Q and A for any groups that might benefit. Our primary position is clear: we welcome the participation of the Tribe as co-managers, an agreement that was just renewed between U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe to jointly manage both Protection Island and Dungeness NWRs.
However, the draft bill prepared by the Tribe that is circulating would remove USFWS from the picture altogether. The public would no longer have ANY role in the decision-making over how these refuges are managed, as confirmed by the tribal Chairman Ron Allen in his June 22, 2026 presentation to the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners.
There is a word with strong legal meaning that applies to tribally owned lands. That word is "sovereign," meaning the Tribe and the Tribe alone controls all actions and decisions affecting tribal lands. There is no legally-enforceable public involvement, nor public oversight outside the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe required, once the lands are sovereign lands. Even safe-guards considered in a congressional bill matter little once the transfer is complete.
Why should we be concerned about tribal takeover beyond the incremental dismantling of our public system of federally-owned NWRs? Consider these comments made by JST Chair, Ron Allen at that same meeting on June 22, 2026, before the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners regarding the impetus for taking over the Refuges. Here it is in his own words:
"So to go to your first question, that you raised Greg: [Greg Brotherton, County Commissioner]. What initiated this to start with? So, we have an oyster farm inside of the Refuge......We ran into a buzzsaw with [U.S.] Fish and Wildlife on recertifying [non-native Pacific oyster commercial operations inside the tidelands of Dungeness Refuge] and getting all the permits because we were out of compliance. They raised issues with us which were really not legitimate issues [ such as seabird impacts]. Basically we were clashing with Fish and Wildlife over that particular project, and so we got frustrated with them." And later, "Over the years the Tribe has become really strong conservationists, you know for many different reasons...we're developers too, so don't confuse yourself that we're just conservation-minded."
--So, in fact, it WAS the issue of disagreement between USFW and JST over the Tribe's plan to expand Pacific oyster aquaculture in Dungeness Bay, inside Refuge boundaries, and the Tribes frustration over failure to get approval for that expansion which set this whole idea in motion--a business decision.
And later in the transcript Allen says this about Protection Island: "But we decided that why not just take two of them? [Dungeness and Protection Island] … makes it simpler and easier for us? We do have a nexus with Protection Island. Our people would go over there to harvest shellfish. Shellfish was always a big deal for us historically---they would go different places to harvest different vegetation and different purposes that was important to us. So we just felt put the 2 together. It makes more sense for us because we basically wanted to remove [U.S.] Fish and Wildlife and that we can control and manage it --what we think is much more respectful"
And finally, "No, [our frustration is] just U.S. Fish and Wildlife. Yeah, they were coming up with reasons why we can't establish an oyster farm, which has nothing to do with the Refuge itself. They didn't want to see it happen. We did farm oysters and clams [traditionally] that is something we did do, just today in the 21st Century, just bigger. And it's not just for subsistence anymore, its just for commercial purposes."
Also. in an interview with Seattle’s KUOW regarding the tribe pushing for federal legislation to take over the Dungeness and Protection Island NWRs, published May 7, 2026, Tribal Vice Chair, Loni Greninger stated on this issue:
"If we're able to remove some of that less-local control from us, we are able to care for the land more deeply and I would say, more correctly ....." meaning, I assume, she seconds Chair Allen in his desire to remove federal regulations which stymie their aquaculture expansion plans.
Chairman Allen was not hiding the truth of the Tribe's intent. Rather, he let it be known publicly that the Tribe values conservation but has business to do, and much of their business is the business of aquaculture and fishing. That is why the Tribe has also gone to Representative Randall to sponsor a bill, HR 9621, that would allow the the culling of Salish Sea-wide pinnipeds, a bill currently being considered by Congress. How does that factor into the reality that Protection Island is the largest consistent harbor seal pupping and haul-out location in the Salish Sea? Elephant seals are now frequent visitors, and Biggs Orcas can be seen weekly just offshore. Furthermore, the JST has been pressuring Washington DNR to reverse its 2024 decision to ban fish net pen cultivation so they can get back into that business, one widely condemned for allowing transmission of viruses from the pen-reared fish to wild fish. These are business decisions being made by the Tribe, to benefit the Tribe. In contrast, our USFWS and the refuge system was created to protect habitat, birds and other wildlife, held in trust for the benefit of ALL Americans, period.
Chairman Allen also made additional alarming comments about the plans of other Tribes stating that “once this is done” (referring to the transfer of Dungeness and Protection NWRs to the JST through the BIA), other WA area Tribes plan to follow suit and take over the remaining 4 NWRs in the Washington Maritime NWR Complex.
Do any of us really want to see the incremental dismantling of our unparalled National Wildlife Refuge system? Many of us fought to protect these places, like Bowerman Basin, one of the single most important shorebird migration stopovers on the entire Pacific coast, now permanently protected as Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge. It was once slated to be part of a port and airport expansion plan until Audubon activists pushed for the Refuge formation. We have 23 other unique and valuable NWRs in WA, 573 NWRs Nationwide.
We hope that you will express your strong support for a system of refuges protecting precious wildlife populations, many of which are endangered, a system not matched in scope anywhere else in the world. We hope you will let your congressional representatives and senators know your views in favor of keeping public ownership of both Protection Island and Dungeness NWRs, integral components of our irreplaceable Washington Maritime NWR Complex for the benefit of extremely sensitive seabird nesting species and other wildlife, and for the entire public who values them. Today, wildlife need our help more than ever, and we all need to work together, Tribes, resources agencies, scientists and the public, in order to meet the looming ecological challenges ahead.
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