FORKS — A Lower Elwha Klallam man has pleaded not guilty Monday to a poaching charge that has the tribe at odds with the state, and possibly the Quileute, over where it has the treaty right to hunt.
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife cited Levi Charles last October, saying he was poaching when he shot an elk in a field near Gaydeski Road, about five miles north of Forks. He was 31 years old at the time.
Levi Charles, who pleaded not guilty in Forks District Court on Monday, had a license to hunt in the area from the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe.
The tribe claims the land is in its traditional hunting grounds, and therefore it is legal for tribal members to hunt there.
Fish and Wildlife disagrees and claims the tribe’s hunting grounds, known as its ceded area, only includes land in the Strait of Juan de Fuca watershed.
Lower Elwha Klallam Chairwoman Frances Charles, who previously called Levi Charles a “distant relative,” said the tribe has documentation of tribal members hunting in the area before the 1855 Treaty of Point No Point.
Fish and Wildlife said its assertion that Levi Charles was poaching was strengthened by the fact the field was clearly private land since it had been recently mowed.
Frances Charles said the alleged poaching incident has raised concerns with the Quileute over the extent of the tribe’s ceded area.
She said she wants to schedule a meeting with the Quileute on the issue.
Quileute Chairwoman Anna Counsell-Geyer said Wednesday there are “ongoing discussions” with the Lower Elwha Klallam on the boundaries of the two tribes’ ceded areas but declined further comment.
Frances Charles said she couldn’t say Thursday if the tribe would challenge a decision from the district court if it upholds the state’s claim over its ceded area.
She said in November the tribe asserts it has the treaty right to hunt on the Olympic Peninsula as far south as the Hamma Hamma River and as far west as the Hoko River.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
