Tse-whit-zen Village Protection

To:  All Government Officials

To: To All Government Officials
Tse-whit-zen Village has existed for at least 1700 years. Direct line descendancy from Tse-whit-zen are the families constituting the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe located near Port Angeles in Washington State.

To repair the Hood Canal Bridge in Washington State the Federal Highway Administration (FHA), Washington State Department of Transportation (WADOT), the Army Corp of Engineers, and other governmental agencies determined that the site of the Tse-whit-zen Village was appropriate to construct a Graving Dock project to build replacement parts for the Hood Canal Bridge.

A pilot environmental review process was used for this project. The intent of this pilot environmental review process was to streamline the environmental review and permitting process for Washington State construction projects. Preliminary site analysis was conducted with the initial Environmental Assessment (EA) resulting in a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) upon which the permit was applied for and granted.

Since the granting of the permit the resulting excavation has resulted in finding over 250 complete human remains, 700 partial human remains, six longhouse structures, and over 5000 artifacts being unearthed and moved from the site for the construction to continue. It is not known how many more burial sites or artifacts remain on the site. It is known that this is the most significant coastal archeological site existing.

Despite this knowledge, the State and Federal agencies involved have declared their intent to limit the Lower Elwha Tribe's ability to recover remains of relatives and culturally and historically significant items from the site. The plan, if not stopped, would result in covering graves and artifacts with concrete and seawater permanently desecrating this ancient village site. This plan would also expose countless other artifacts to looting and expose the burial grounds to grave robbers.

Lower Elwha tribal members have been forced to endure the injustice of moving burial grounds for this project to proceed. They are now being subjected to added injustice of leaving family member remains and artifacts behind so that the schedule of the bridge may be kept.

We, the signers of this petition, state the following:

1. That any determination made in regards to the Tse-whit-zen Village rests solely with the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. Unless and until express Lower Elwha consent for the remains and artifacts of these ancestors to continue to be desecrated or left behind that all construction cease immediately.
2. That the determination of a FONSI and the permit issued on a FONSI be set aside and an Environmental Impact Study be conducted that takes full consideration the cummalitive impacts of this project.
3. That the State of Washington remove this project from the pilot streamlined review and permit process and provide full public scoping hearings and public comments in the impacted communities that were not held prior to the construction and desecration being conducted and continued.
4. That the Federal and State governments fully fund any and all needs of the Lower Elwha Community in being able to repair the resource, emotional, spiritual and intergenerational truama damages created as a result of this project.

We, as signers of this petition, acknowledge that this is a very complex situation that evolved as a result of human beings representing government agencies attempting to negotiate a solution to meet multiple needs. We do not sign to place blame or find a scapegoat on any individual or agency.

However, it has become clear that the situation has evolved far beyond what any reasonable person could have anticipated and that another process must be utilized to seek how to end the injustices placed upon the Lower Elwha families. We sign this as a statement that “enough is enough” and that this project simply should not continue based upon a course set when lacking the knowledge that is now known.

On behalf of our next seven generations,

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Tse-whit-zen Village Protection Petition to All Government Officials was created by Wildcat Community Development and written by Kii yaa tuk (Keith Hunter) (khunter@wildcatcdc.org).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.

Send this to a friend