The state Department of Natural Resources has extended Kalakala owner Steve Rodrigues’ deadline to Sept. 15 to remove the aging former ferry from Neah Bay, the Makah tribal chairman, Ben Johnson Jr., said Wednesday.
The deadline to remove the vessel was originally set for Sept. 1.
The DNR has entered a lawsuit filed by the Makah tribe against Rodrigues over the 1930s-era ferry, once the queen of the Puget Sound ferry fleet that the owner wants to restore.
The complaint alleges that the ferry — which also transported passengers between Port Angeles and Victoria in the 1950s — has damaged the tribe’s dock and is trespassing on DNR aquatic lands.
