River wins: Tiny tribe seeks to move village

updated 12:32 p.m. ET Jan. 1, 2009

HOH INDIAN RESERVATION, Wash. - Flooding used to be a problem every five or 10 years for the tiny Hoh Indian Reservation. These days it's an annual event.

Sandbags permanently surround the tribal center and many homes because the nearby Hoh River has meandered dangerously closer over time. Meanwhile, most of the 443-acre reservation is less than 40 feet above sea level, and could be devastated by a major tsunami.

So the Hoh Indians are trying to move to higher ground.

"We're literally moving the village," said Alexis Barry, executive director of the tribe in remote northwestern Washington. "We've known for a long time this has had to happen."

There's just one catch: The tribe needs 37 acres of the Olympic National Park to connect their existing land with property they've acquired from private owners and the state.

The river and its salmon have always been focal to its history and identity, but the tribe weren't always confined to this one-square mile plot at the mouth of the river.

Tribal members historically used the entire river to fish, hunt and forage. But the Hoh and other tribes ceded their land to the government under the Quinault Treaty of 1856.

In 1893, the Hoh were moved to this reservation on land hemmed in by the river, the ocean and what is now the rain-soaked Olympic National Park.

Since then, the Hoh River, which descends 7,000 feet as it winds 50 miles from Mount Olympus west to the Pacific Ocean — has shifted a half-mile south, cutting into land near the tribal center.

"The Hoh decides where it's going to go," Barry said.

Mostly flood zone now
With 90 percent of the reservation in a flood zone, there isn't enough land on the reservation to move all the tribal buildings and homes out of harm's way. The tribe has sought to relocate its buildings for two decades, but only recently made progress.

"You can't be a sovereign land without land," said Marie Riebe, the tribal secretary.

Standing at the shore where the ocean crashes into the mouth of the river, Riebe pointed to a patch of overgrown blackberry. "There was a house there, and another home there," she said.

No one lives there now. The ocean washed several homes away, and the ones left standing were abandoned long ago.

Amy Benally, who lived in one of the homes lost to the river, remembers the water flowing to the front door and the night a Coast Guard helicopter circled above warning them of a tsunami threat.

AP Hoh tribal treasurer Amy Benally stands by her grandparents' home, now little more than a shell, at the mouth of the Hoh River where it meets the Pacific on the Hoh Indian Reservation.

Gambling revenues in recent years allowed the tribe to buy 265 acres of private land from nearby tree farms. The tribe doesn't have a casino, but leases its gambling rights to other tribes.

It's also increased its political clout and enlisted several state lawmakers to help it acquire 160 acres of state trust lands in June.

"It's the right thing to do," said state Democratic House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, whose district includes the reservation. "The land was available and no reasonable person would deny them the ability to get above the flood zone."

MORE FROM LIFE

Life Section Front

Some banks won't honor Calif. IOUs Some 911 centers can’t keep tabs on cell phones Baby cut from womb turns 1 Des Moines may legalize late-night dance Motorist drives over Grand Canyon edge Swim club faces discrimination suit Minn. mom says missing son killed in Somalia Life Section Front   Add Life headlines to your news reader: