SEQUIM — Relations between Sequim city officials and Jamestown S’Klallam tribal leaders have been less than harmonious.
Or one could say there have been no relations at all.
Mayor Walt Schubert wants that to change, despite past chilliness.
On Feb. 1, tribal chairman Ron Allen issued a statement blaming Sequim’s building development for driving the Dungeness herd of elk down onto farmland northeast of town — land where the animals have wreaked expensive crop damage.
The Jamestown tribe is co-manager, with the state Fish and Wildlife Department, of the herd.
“It’s disappointing that the city government and developers aren’t interested in being sensitive or responsible to wildlife needs,” Allen wrote.
Four months later on June 1, Allen sent another missive to the Sequim City Council. He noted that the council hadn’t bothered to talk with the tribe about its revised Comprehensive Plan, the document that will guide growth in and around Sequim.
The plan’s chapters on history and culture scarcely recognize the tribe’s existence, though “tribal people have inhabited the Sequim-Dungeness area for 12,000 years,” Allen’s letter noted.
Sequim is, after all, a Native American word for calm waters.
Mayor calls tribal chairman
In the interest of calming interactions between the two governments, Schubert called Allen last month.
The two men agreed to talk face to face June 27 — and they came away with hope for a joint meeting of the Tribal and City councils.
Possible topics, Schubert said, include “a government-to-government relationship, development and the environment, and preservation of tribal culture.”
