For thousands of years, the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community has lived in and around north Puget Sound and its largest river, the Skagit. I have been blessed to fish these waters for 50 years. For generations, my family and our tribe were able to feed ourselves from the bounty of the waters we were careful to protect. In serving as the tribe’s chair, I know the hard work of preserving and restoring our salmon runs. I also know the Swinomish’s history of working collaboratively with the federal government, our trustee, to ensure adequate protections for our beautiful ancestral homelands and waters that salmon and many other species rely upon.

The federal Endangered Species Act prohibits “harm” to salmon and their habitat, as well as other endangered or threatened species and their habitats. Sadly, this federal administration is doing everything it can to kill the ESA, and as a result, the species it protects.…