The Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe is a

federally recognized tribe This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...

S'Klallam Klallam (also Clallam, although the spelling with "K" is preferred in all four modern Klallam communities) refers to four related indigenous Native American/First Nations communities from the Pacific Northwest of North America. The Klallam cul ...

Klallam Klallam (also Clallam, although the spelling with "K" is preferred in all four modern Klallam communities) refers to four related indigenous Native American/First Nations communities from the Pacific Northwest of North America. The Klallam cult ...

Native Americans. They are on the northern

Olympic Peninsula The Olympic Peninsula is a large arm of land in western Washington that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, and contains Olympic National Park. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

state in the northwestern

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History

The Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe was formalized by members of S'Klallam communities along the eastern end of the

Strait of Juan de Fuca The Strait of Juan de Fuca (officially named Juan de Fuca Strait in Canada) is a body of water about long that is the Salish Sea's outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The international boundary between Canada and the United States runs down the centre ...

in 1874 when, faced with the threat of

forced relocation Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, g ...

by European colonizers, a group purchased a tract of and established a community near

Dungeness Dungeness () is a headland on the coast of Kent, England, formed largely of a shingle beach in the form of a cuspate foreland. It shelters a large area of low-lying land, Romney Marsh. Dungeness spans Dungeness Nuclear Power Station, the hamlet ...

named " Jamestown" in honor of village leader James Balch. This was a notable feat, since at the time Native people were legally barred from buying property. Despite periodic pressures to relocate to reservations, and without the Federal financial assistance that such relocation would have enabled, the Jamestown band maintained its independent community, and developed a viable economic base. A century later, after a six-year effort to receive official recognition as a tribe, the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...

granted them such recognition on February 10, 1981.

Reservation

The Jamestown S'Klallam Indian Reservation, at , is very small in area, comprising 0.145 km (13.49

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

s) of land area on and near

Sequim Bay Sequim Bay is a bay in northwestern Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. The bay is on the Strait of Juan de Fuca of the Pacific Ocean and is located east of Sequim, Washington Sequim ( ) is a city in Clallam County, Washington, United States. It ...

along

U.S. Route 101 U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, on the West Coast of the United States. It is also known as (The Royal Roa ...

in the community of Blyn, in extreme eastern Clallam County at the southwest corner of the Miller Peninsula. The reservation is the location of the tribal government administration, not a residential area. It includes the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribal Center (location of the tribe's administration, natural resources, social and community services departments as well as the Tribal Library and Jamestown Family Dental Clinic), the Tribe's Seven Cedars Casino, Longhouse Market Deli and Fueling Station, Cannabis and natural remedies shop, and newly built resort hotel. In addition to the small parcel of reservation land, the Tribe also owns more than 1,000 acres of land in Clallam and Jefferson Counties. That land includes Railroad Bridge Park and The Cedars at Dungeness Golf Course in Sequim, and

Tamanowas Rock Tamanowas Rock ( clm, t̕əménəwəs) (also spelled Tamanous), also called Chimacum Rock, is a high rock with caves and crevices that lies in a forest adjacent to Anderson Lake State Park, near Port Townsend, Washington. It is a sacred site to ...

, a sacred S'Klallam site in Chimacum.

Language

The S'Klallam language (called Clallam or

) belongs to the

Salishan The Salishan (also Salish) languages are a family of languages of the Pacific Northwest in North America (the Canadian province of British Columbia and the American states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana). They are characterised by ag ...

family of Native American languages. The word S'Klallam means "the strong people."

Tribal government

The community is governed by a democratically elected tribal council. , the tribe had 594 enrolled citizens, and provided services to almost 640 Indians in the northeast Olympic Peninsula.

Mission statement

The tribal mission statement reads:

''The Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe seeks to be self-sufficient and to provide quality governmental programs and services to address the unique social, cultural, natural resource and economic needs of our people. These programs and services must be managed while preserving, restoring and sustaining our Indian heritage and community continuity.''

Tribal council

The Tribe is governed by the five-member Jamestown S'Klallam Tribal Council. Council members are elected on a staggered basis by the registered adult tribal members for two-year terms. The council acts in accordance with the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribal Constitution and is led by the Tribal Chairman.

Native American Advocacy

On April 4, 2014, the

Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and A ...

, part of the department of the interior, approved the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe leasing regulations under the

HEARTH Act The Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009 () is an enacted public law in the United States. On May 20, 2009, the Senate bill was signed into law by President Barack Obama. The stated purpose of the act, a product of the 111th United States C ...

after testimony from the Tribal Chairman, W. Ron Allen. With this approval, the Tribe is authorized to enter into the following type of leases without BIA approval: Business leases.HEARTH Act Approval of Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe Regulations, 80 Fed. Reg. 122 (June 25, 2015) ''Federal Register: The Daily Journal of the United States''. Web. 21 April 2019. This has allowed the tribe to expand their business ventures for the welfare of the members with the prosperity and benefits of a casino, golf course, medical and dental facilities, and other small enterprises. The Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe is also heavily involved in protecting and preserving their ancestral lands. Their natural resources department works to reach all parts of the diverse Pacific Northwestern ecosystem, but is mainly focused on the

Dungeness River The Dungeness River is a long river located in the Olympic Peninsula in the U.S. state of Washington. It rises near Mount Constance in the Olympic Mountains within the Olympic National Park, flows through the Buckhorn Wilderness, passes by the to ...

watershed. Headed primarily by their Dungeness River Management Team, the tribe has been involved in the completion of over 40 watershed planning documents, studies, and recovery plans since 1989.

Notes

References

*Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe homepage
www.jamestowntribe.org
(retrieved July 12, 2006) *Joseph H. Stauss. ''The Jamestown S'Klallam Story: Rebuilding a Northwest Coast Indian Tribe''. Sequim, Washington: Jamestown S'Kallam, December 2002. .
Jamestown S'Klallam Reservation and Off-Reservation Trust Land, Washington
United States Census Bureau

External links

Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe
official website

A web-based museum showcasing aspects of the rich history and culture of Washington State's Olympic Peninsula communities. {{authority control Klallam Native American tribes in Washington (state) Federally recognized tribes in the United States Clallam County, Washington