SEQUIM – Ann Seiter remembered back fifteen years, when the late Carl Lawrence, a member of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Council, charged the tribe’s natural resources department with a hallowed task.

“Do something about the Dungeness River,” Lawrence told Seiter.

 “I hope we have,” said Seiter, as she accepted an award from the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society on behalf of the Jamestown Tribe’s Natural Resources Department.

 Seiter specifically gave credit to her staff for earning the honor.

 “We have been blessed with a wonderful staff,” she said. “I recently saw a quote that stuck in my mind, ‘It’s amazing what gets accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit.’”

 The Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society, based in Clallam County, specifically cited the Jamestown Tribe’s Natural Resources Department for their work on the Dungeness River.

 As part of their overall work in restoring salmon and watershed conditions, the Tribe has formed a unique partnership with the local Audubon chapter and the Rainshadow Natural Science Foundation to create the Natural History Research Center at the Dungeness Railroad Bridge near Sequim.

 The society also pointed to the Jamestown Tribe role as an historical caretaker of the local environment.

 “We wanted to do something to reflect the tribe’s contribution to our environment,” said Larry Rymon, vice president of the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society. “The tribes have been managing the resources for along time.”

 For More Information Contact: Ann Seiter, Natural Resources Director, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, (360) 683-1009; Emmett O’Connell, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, Regional Information Officer (360) 297-6546