Trade agreement between Tulalip and FSST focuses on food, health

Carleen Wild, Enterprise staff
Posted 12/25/24

The Tulalip Nation of Washington and the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe are finalizing a nation-to-nation trade agreement to provide healthier, traditional food options to their members. Under the …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Trade agreement between Tulalip and FSST focuses on food, health

Posted

The Tulalip Nation of Washington and the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe are finalizing a nation-to-nation trade agreement to provide healthier, traditional food options to their members.
Under the agreement, the tribes will exchange bison meat from the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe for salmon and crab harvested by the Tulalip Nation’s fisheries.
Vice President Cynthia Weddell led a delegation to Washington in early December, where Flandreau tribal members toured the Tulalip fisheries near the U.S.-Canada border, north of Seattle.

The Bernie Kai-Kai Gobin Salmon Hatchery is operated by the Tulalip Tribes. According to the tribe’s website, “the hatchery raises and releases approximately 11.5 million juvenile salmon (2.4M Chinook, 1.0M coho, and 8.0M chum salmon) each year, which provide fishing opportunity for Tulalip Tribal members in terminal area fisheries on and near to the Tulalip Reservation and also contribute to other commercial and sport fisheries in Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, and SE Alaska. In addition, the hatchery raises a small number of cutthroat trout annually for planting in Reservation lakes and ponds to provide recreational fishing opportunities for tribal members.”
The Tulalip Nation harvests crab and salmon from Puget Sound.
In Flandreau, the tribe has begun processing its bison meat for the first shipment to the Tulalip Nation, where it will initially be shared with elders. Both tribes hope the exchange will reintroduce traditional food sources and reduce reliance on processed foods.
Discussions during the visit highlighted the value of consuming naturally produced, high-quality foods over genetically modified alternatives, which participants agreed often lack the taste and texture of traditional foods.
The Trade Agreement, aimed at strengthening tribal sovereignty and reconnecting members with traditional foodways, is expected to be finalized in early 2025.