Sequim council to back transfer
Published 1:30 am Monday, May 4, 2026
SEQUIM — The Sequim City Council unanimously agreed to send a letter of support to lawmakers for Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe to take over ownership of the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge, Protection Island and acreage by Sequim Bay.
Under the yet-to-be-proposed The Jamestown S’Klallam Land Transfer Act of 2026, about 900 acres of federal property could be transferred from U.S. Fish and Wildlife, under the Department of Interior, to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in a trust for the tribe.
The request to the city council came from W. Ron Allen, Jamestown’s Tribal Chairman/CEO, who emailed Mayor Rachel Anderson asking for support for the federal act.
Allen previously said he met with U.S. Rep. Emily Randall, D-Port Orchard, about introducing the act. Representatives for Randall could not be reached by press time.
None of the properties are in the city of Sequim, but the city does benefit from tourism at the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge, which features the Dungeness Spit and the New Dungeness Lighthouse.
Anderson requested the letter of support be on the council’s consent agenda on March 23, but other council members requested it be pulled for discussion after an outpouring of public concerns. The council delayed a decision after asking for more information.
On April 13, they voted to defer a decision until April 27 as tribal staff and leaders met with Clallam County commissioners earlier that day to discuss the proposal. Council members wanted more time to watch the presentation.
Council member Harmony Rutter said they received several comments for and against the land transfer and her takeaway was that people care deeply about the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge and have a “lot of strong emotions about how important that space is.”
She voiced her support for the letter, saying the tribe indicated they will continue procedures they’ve been following in a co-management agreement with U.S. Fish & Wildlife they both signed in 2024.
“If this land transfer act is completed, this will allow the tribe to more efficiently and quickly move through management of the space and making sure that they can respond in real time to any information that they see about how to better manage the land,” Rutter said.
That was a point that Loni Greninger, the tribe’s vice chairwoman, expressed April 13, saying Jamestown will have “fuller management” of the properties while avoiding bureaucracy.
Greninger said the land transfer also would connect them to ancestral lands.
Deputy Mayor Nicole Hartman said that, under the transfer, it could “be a better preservation of what we already appreciate without potentially having the risk of it becoming something that we don’t want, perhaps sold off.”
“This keeps it in the management that they’ve already shown for two years, that is being done well; the responsiveness, building up the volunteer base, the number of hours of volunteer work that’s been put into it,” she said.
Council member Kelly Burger said he had concerns about public access and conservation, but the tribe’s presentation addressed them.
Greninger said at a previous meeting the tribe intends to keep public access to Dungeness Spit, and they can’t develop on the refuges.
According to tribal officials, the legislation would “restore tribal stewardship over ancestral lands while expressly preserving conservation purposes, appropriate public access, and wildlife protections through a Tribal Management Plan.”
Under the proposed act, they would have to maintain a publicly available management plan, continue to allow appropriate public access and educational opportunities, prohibit any gaming on the transferred lands and commercial development.
Council member Pete Tjemsland said he thinks the potential land transfer is “gonna be a very positive change” based on the improvements they’ve made in recent years.
Dan Butler and Rachel Anderson said they echoed fellow council members’ support for the land transfer.
On April 13, Anderson said the tribe’s letter of support follows other agencies and organizations’ requests for letters of support, and they are typically written by the entity’s staff and not council members or staff.
At the last three council meetings, public mostly opposed to the land transfer spoke to share concerns about the tribe potentially denying public access, hurting the environment with a possible oyster farm, council members having a conflict of interest with past tribal campaign support or endorsements and more. Only opponents of the land transfer spoke last Monday.
A few speakers expressed a desire to continue the co-management agreement with U.S. Fish and Wildlife.
Rose Marschall of Agnew, who started a change.org campaign under the group Clallam Freedom Alliance opposed to the land transfer with 1,500-plus signatures, encouraged council members not to sign the letter of support, saying the agreement is “going well the way it is.”
Previously, a few environmental advocates asked the council not to pursue the letter because of pending litigation between the environmental group Protect the Peninsula’s Future against the Department of Interior and U.S. Fish and Wildlife related to a shellfish farm by the Dungeness Refuge.
Allen said in March environmental advocates want a compatibility study done, but he said there is no conflict as it has been researched already. He said they likely would bring an oyster farm near the spit, if the land transfer occurs.
Another mentioned concern has been about lost tax revenues, but Greninger told county commissioners on April 13 the legislation would not result in the loss of any tax dollars and it would be federally budget neutral.
Tribal officials said the Dungeness Recreation Area would remain under Clallam County and the Dungeness Light Station Association would keep operating the New Dungeness Lighthouse.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. He can be reached by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.
