SEATTLE – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a burn ban for most of January on 35 reservations in Idaho, Oregon and Washington due “to increasing stagnant air conditions” caused by a high-pressure system that moved into the region after winter storms.
Affected were Burns Paiute, Colville, Chehalis, Coos/Lower Umpqua/Siuslaw, Coquille, Cow Creek, Grand Ronde, Hoh, Jamestown S’Klallam, Kalispel, Klamath, Kootenai, Lower Elwha Klallam, Lummi, Makah, Muckleshoot, Nisqually, Nooksack, Port Gamble, Puyallup, Quileute, Sauk-Suiattle, Shoalwater Bay, Shoshone-Bannock, Siletz, Skokomish, Spokane, Squaxin Island, Stillaguamish, Port Madison, Swinomish, Tulalip, Upper Skagit, Warm Springs and Yakama.
The burn ban applied to all agricultural and outdoor burning, including camping and recreational fires within reservation boundaries. The EPA also requested that reservation residents reduce excess driving and idling of vehicles, and the use of fireplaces and woodstoves, unless it is the only source of heat.
However, ceremonial and traditional fires were exempt from the ban, so the ban didn’t affect Treaty Days observances, commemorating the signing of the Point Elliott Treaty on Jan. 22, 1855 and the Treaty of Point No Point on Jan. 26, 1855. The Point Elliott Treaty was signed by the ancestors of the Lummi, Muckleshoot, Nooksack, Port Gamble Suquamish, Sauk-Suiattle, Stillaguamish, Swinomish, Tulalip and Upper Skagit. The Treaty of Point No Point was signed by Jamestown S’Klallam, Lower Elwha Klallam, and Skokomish. The others are signatories to other treaties.
Richard Walker is a correspondent reporting from San Juan Island, Wash. Contact him at rmwalker@rockisland.com.
