The Hoh tribe may soon be able to expand its tiny West Jefferson County reservation and move to higher ground.
The Senate passed the Hoh Indian Tribe Safe Homelands Act late Wednesday by unanimous consent and the House is expected to vote on the measure when Congress returns from recess later this year.
The act would transfer 37 acres of Olympic National Park to the tribe and place another 425 acres it bought over the last three years into trust.
“It’s a blessing,” Hoh Tribal Chairwoman Maria Lopez said.
The reservation is currently 1 square mile in size and sits mostly on a floodplain at the mouth of the Hoh River.
The House passed the act earlier this year, but has to vote on it again because of some minor amendments made in the Senate.
Lopez said she expects the act to easily pass the House one more time.
“This is a really big step for the Hoh tribe,” she said.
“We’re making history here.”
The act, sponsored by Sens. Patty Murray, D-Freeland, and Maria Cantwell, D-Mountlake Terrace, was initially introduced by Rep. Norm Dicks in 2009.
It didn’t get to a vote before the session ended.
The tribe purchased the 425 acres of land to build new homes and move its 133 members out of the flood plain.
The act would prevent the tribe from building on the park land, which sits in between the reservation and property the tribe purchased.
The addition of park land is meant to keep the reservation contiguous.
If the act becomes law, the tribe will begin construction of between 30 and 50 homes in the spring, Lopez said.
A fire station and small grocery store also are planned.
“We’re going to start rocking and rolling in the spring,” Lopez said.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
