Tribe: No plans to change land access

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, April 14, 2026

PORT ANGELES — The Jamestown S’Klallam tribe has no plans to change accessibility or to develop the lands of the Dungeness and Protect Island national wildlife refuges.

Tribal members presented to the Clallam County commissioners on Monday about legislation they are working on with U.S. Rep. Emily Randall, D-Port Orchard, called the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe Land Transfer Act of 2026.

If the legislation is passed, the refuges would go from the current co-management agreement between the tribe and the federal government to full management under the tribe, placing the land into trust. The legislation would not result in the loss of any tax dollars and would be federally budget neutral, tribal vice chairwoman Loni Greninger told the commissioners.

“We fully intend to keep all of these lands publicly accessible,” Greninger said. “That is not going to change. … As part of the act itself, there is no development. There’s no intention of anything that’s going to change that. So, no hotels, no casinos, no nothing. We are keeping our conservation goals.”

The refuges have been co-managed by the tribe since August 2024.

“The management is conducted using science-based adaptive approaches consistent with federal standards,” Greninger said. “We as a tribe fully believe in science-based methods. When you weave in your science Western-based models with your indigenous science-based models, we know that that’s just the best way of success, not only for the people but the land and animals as well.”

Since the co-management agreement was signed, the tribe has worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife department, said Fawn Wagner, refuge manager and ecologist for the tribe.

“We’ve been able to address some critical infrastructure needs, primarily around access,” Wagner said. “So finishing the restrooms out at the refuge to allow visitors to be able to utilize them. We have improved visitor experience. We’ve worked on upgrading signage, both safety signage, wayfinding and interpretive signage. We introduced a modernized fee system.”

Educational outreach has been expanded with weekly programming at the Dungeness Spit, Wagner said.

Under the co-management agreement, the tribe has kept the $3 recreation fee, which was established in the 1990s to raise money for visitor services and improvements to trails, access and signage.

If the land transfer legislation goes through, all recreational opportunities would remain, Wagner said.

“There’s no plan to change that,” she said.

In the future, the tribal council would stick with the legislation, which has public access baked into it.

The legislation would not change the fact that Dungeness Recreation Area is owned by Clallam County and also would not change the Dungeness Light Station Association operating the New Dungeness Lighthouse.

A big part of what is done at the refuges includes wildlife monitoring and research.

“So since Jamestown has assumed co-management, we have sustained all the long-term U.S. Fish and Wildlife biological monitoring programs and we’ve added some news ones,” Wagner said. “And so we are currently trying to fill in some critical data gaps.”

That effort includes using game cameras and acoustic monitoring devices.

The tribe also has been working on aquatic invasive species management, which includes catching 1,668 European green crabs in 2025. The tribe also works to control the growth of invasive vegetation.

One reason for the presentation from the tribe is that commissioners have heard from many citizens concerned about the possibility of the land transfer going through. A group called Clallam Freedom Alliance, led by Rose Marschall of Port Angeles, has a petition against the land transfer at change.org/SaveWildlifeRefuges which had 1,519 signatures as of Monday afternoon.

“What would you say to people who are struggling with, well, what does it mean to transfer something that’s been collectively owned by this community and Americans for 111 years?” Commissioner Mark Ozias asked.

The land will still belong to the people, Greninger said.

“The land is always gifted to the people,” she said. “I mean, from a tribal standpoint, it was the creator who gave us the land in the first place to steward. … We’re still going to be partnering with the community. They still get to have values ownership in it.”

Since the land is owned by the federal government and not Clallam County, the tribe is asking the commissioners to send a letter of support for the legislation. Because the legislation is in the beginning stages and there’s no hard deadline for the county to take any action, commissioners said they wanted to think about the presentation and discuss it more before they choose whether or not to send a letter of support.

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Reporter Emily Hanson can be reached by email at emily.hanson@peninsuladailynews.com.