Tribes

The Lummi and Nooksack Reservations are located in Whatcom County, Washington. The Swinomish and Upper Skagit reservations are located in Skagit County, Washington.

Lummi

Whatcom County, including most of the San Juan Islands, was the home and hunting ground of the Lummi Indian Tribe for hundreds of years before the Europeans arrived.1

The Lummi Reservation is seven miles northwest of Bellingham, Washington, in the western portion of Whatcom County, 95 miles north of Seattle. The reservation is a five-mile long peninsula which forms Lummi Bay on the west, Bellingham Bay on the east, with a smaller peninsula of Sandy Point, Portage Island and the associated tidelands. The Lummi Nation signed the treaty of Point Elliott in 1855, ceding much of their lands in western Washington. In return they received a reservation that originally covered 15,000 acres. Today, approximately 12,000 acres remain in Indian control.2

The tribal economy is based on fishing under rights preserved by the Treaty of Point Elliott. The tribe operates a restaurant, a marina complex, and a fish-processing plant at Gooseberry Point. The Lummi fishing is among the largest in the northwest. The county's economic base includes agriculture and light manufacturing. Western Washington University, Whatcom county's fourth largest employer, hosts a broad range of cultural events. Employment opportunities within the local area for other family members are varied, dependent upon what occupation they desire.1

There is no form of government-subsidized housing available. The housing market for rentals or purchase is at a higher market rate than other areas. There are limited, if any houses available to rent or purchase within the Lummi reservation. The local Whatcom County area housing market is tight at various times of the year due to the seasonal migrant population in the local area during the summer harvest season. The local communities where housing is available are Ferndale, Lynden, and Bellingham within 10-15 miles of the reservation's health service unit facility.1

The Lummi Reservation is governed by an eleven-member tribal council. All members of the tribe are members of the General Council, which meets at least once each year, at which time one third of the Tribal Council is elected.1

Most of the Lummi and Nooksack members receive their ambulatory care from the Indian Health Center facility.1

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Nooksack

Historically, the Nooksack people relied on fishing, hunting, clam digging, root gathering, and trading with neighboring village peoples for their subsistence. Wealth and prestige within the Coast Salish system were closely allied with the expansion of a family's network of kinship, trading, and ceremonial ties. The Nooksack language was predominant in much of the upper Fraser River Valley in British Columbia. In the spring and summer the village groups would split up to fish, hunt, dig clams, gather roots and herbs, and to trade with neighboring village peoples. In 1873 an effort was made to remove the Nooksacks to the Lummi Reservation. However, the Nooksacks returned to their upriver sites as they were not closely related by linguistic or kinship ties to the Lummi. The Nooksacks began homesteading in 1874, which placed 2,500 acres in trust land. The Nooksack Indian tribe became officially recognized and organized under the Wheeler-Howard Act of 1934 and by approval of their Constitution and By-Laws in 1973. The Nooksacks became a federally recognized tribe in 1973 and reservation status was established on one acre of land in Deming, WA. Since that time, the Tribe's land holdings have increased to 2,500 acres, including 65 acres of tribally owned trust land.3

The Nooksack tribal center is in the town of Deming, Washington.1

An eight-member Tribal Council elected "at large" every two years governs the tribe.1

The Nooksack Tribe operates a part-time satellite clinic with mid-level practitioners in Deming, Washington.1

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Swinomish1

The Point Elliott Treaty also established Swinomish Reservation, on Fidalgo Island, across the channel from LaConner, Washington. The Swinomish Tribe is organized under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. The Federal Charter, Constitution and By-Laws were voted on by the tribe in 1935 and approved by the Secretary of the Interior in 1936. The governing body is the eleven-member Swinomish Indian Senate, members of which are elected to five year terms.

The Swinomish and Upper Skagit membership receive medical care from mid-level practitioners two to three days per week in their respective tribal health clinics. They also utilize through Contract Health Care local physician services and two hospitals in Skagit County (Island Hospital, Anacortes, WA; Affiliated Health Service located in Mt. Vernon, WA, and Sedro Woolley, WA).

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Upper Skagit

An original signatory of the Treaty of Point Elliott, the Upper Skagit people are descended from a tribe with ten separate villages on the Upper Skagit and Sauk Rivers in Washington State. Their ancestors eventually consolidated, but a separate reservation was not originally established, and some tribal members had to reside on other reservations, primarily Swinomish. The Tribe received formal federal recognition in the early 1970s, with land put into trust for the tribe in 1984.4

The Upper Skagit Tribe is governed by a seven-member Tribal Council elected in accordance with the Tribal Constitution and By-Laws approved by the Secretary of Interior in 1974. Council members serve for staggered three-year terms. The Tribal Chairperson and Vice Chairperson are selected for one-year terms by the entire voting membership. Their tribal center is located approximately five miles east of the town of Sedro Woolley, Washington.5

The Tribe provides limited primary care services in a 4,500 square foot medical clinic built in 1995. Health programs are funded through the IHS. The user population in 1998 was 408.5

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Communication

Telephones are the major communications link on the four reservations. In addition, the Lummi and Swinomish Tribal Police Department have a radio communication systems tied in with the Whatcom County Sheriff's Department and emergency services personnel. The daily Bellingham Herald newspaper is available in both counties. The Lummi Tribe publishes its own paper, Squol-Quol, monthly. The Skagit Valley Herald is available for local Skagit County news coverage. Local radio stations are available to all four reservations.1

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Tribal Health Programs

The Lummi Nation Maternal and Child Health Program (MOH) operates within the service unit facility. All four tribes manage their own Women, Infants and Children state contracted program. The Nooksack, Swinomish and Upper Skagit tribes have part-time small ambulatory clinic services staffed by a mid-level practitioner.1

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Health Care Delivery System

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) accredited Lummi Health Center provides the comprehensive ambulatory medical and dental care program that is typical of other Indian Health Service (IHS) facilities this size. A contract dentist offers direct dental services on site in Nooksack by IHS staff and in Swinomish. Staff at the Lummi facility coordinates inpatient care and specialty referral care for ambulatory patients (as well as routine ambulatory care for the inaccessible populations) utilizes the IHS Contract Health Services (CHS) program. Preventive health services are available to all service unit residents in community health nursing, public health nutrition, sanitation, health education, mental health, and substance abuse.1

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Major Issues of Concern1

The discontinuance of the funding of the Lummi Institute for Child Health Policy (ICHP) in 1998 has had a major impact on the health care of this high risk group. The lack of funding has decreased the staff from six (6) full time to four (4) full time: one part-time permanent pediatrician, two aides, and one clerk typist. This 33 percent reduction has reduced the program's capability in primary care provisions and in outreach activities.

The new eligibility criteria as established by Congress in the Appropriations Bill and IHS Headquarters definition is a major issue with the four Tribes of the Northwest Washington Service Unit, as they feel "left out" of the process in making recommendations on the eligibility requirements.

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References Cited

1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Indian Health Service.
<http://www.ihs.gov/FacilitiesServices/A
reaOffices/Portland/POpre8.asp> THIS LINK IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE

2. Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB). Lummi Nation.
<http://www.npaihb.org/profiles/tribal_profiles/
Washington/Lummi%20NationTribal%20Profile.htm>

3. Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB). Nooksack Tribe.
<http://www.npaihb.org/profiles/tribal_profiles/
Washington/Nooksack%20Tribal%20Profile.htm>

4. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Indian Health Service.
<http://www.ihs.gov/FacilitiesServices/
AreaOffices/PortlandAO/about/UpperSkagit.asp> THIS LINK IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE

5. Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB). Upper Skagit Tribe.
<http://www.npaihb.org/profiles/tribal_profiles/
Washington/Upper%20Skagit%20Tribal%20Profile.htm>

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