"Twilight fans, take heart. Jacob Black’s cousins finally got their day before Congress on Thursday.

The Quileute Tribal Council — to those out there who haven’t kept up with the epic vampire-werewolf saga by Stephenie Meyer, the fictional Quileute are the werewolves — has been trying for decades to get more land for their reservation, on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. Tribal elders cite concerns about a possible tsunami from earthquakes in the Pacific basin as the reason they need to relocate many of the tribe’s buildings to higher ground.

On Thursday, the Quileute finally got to make their pitch before a House subcommittee, thanks to an arrangement with the tribe, the National Park Service, and Representative Norm Dicks and Senator Maria Cantwell, both Democrats of Washington.

In her testimony, the Tribal Council’s chairwoman, Bonita Cleveland, told lawmakers that the “only hope” the tribe had to get more land was a bill, introduced earlier this year, that would transfer “historic Quileute lands held by the federal government” back to the tribe."

Get the Story:
The Caucus: Real World Quileutes Lobby for Their Land (The New York Times 9/15)

Also Today:
Quileute chairwoman testifies to congressional subcommittee (The Peninsula Daily News 9/16)
Coastal tribe seeking higher ground (The Spokesman Review 9/16)
Quileute Tribe Renews Plea To Move Village Out Of Tsunami Zone (KUOW 9/15)

Committee Notice:
Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Legislative Hearing on H.R. 1162, H.R. 2087, H.R. 2336, H.R. 2351, H.R. 2352. H.R. 2606 and H.R. 2687 (September 15, 2011)

Related Stories:
House subcommittee holds hearing on Quileute Tribe lands bill (9/15)
Opinion: Quileute Tribe seeks to move to higher ground (5/31)
NPR: Quileute Tribe seeks approval to move to safer land (4/26)
Editorial: Bill helps Quileute Tribe move to safe homeland (4/21)
Editorial: Help Quileute Tribe with move to safer homeland (4/20)
Quileute Tribe cites tsunami threat in bid for land transfer (4/15)
Chairwoman of Quileute Tribe will testify at Senate hearing (4/13)
Bill introduced to take Quileute Tribe away from tsunami zone (3/18)
Washington tribes evacuate coast in response to tsunami threats (3/11)
Quileute Tribe asks Sen. Cantwell to support federal land swap (2/24)
New chair of Quileute Tribe calls federal land swap a major priority (1/27)