Quileute Tribe starts process to move village to safer ground in Washington

Wednesday, November 1, 2017  

The Quileute Tribe is moving its largest community to higher ground in Washington.

The tribe has begun clearing land for the relocation, KING 5 News reported. The goal is to keep the people in the village of La Push -- including children who attend a Bureau of Indian Education school -- out of a tsunami, earthquake and flood zone along the Pacific Coast.

The project was made possible by the enactment of H.R.1162 in 2012. The law transferred 785 acres within Olympic National Park to the tribe for the new village, a swap that was necessary because no other suitable areas were available.

The tribe will be moving the Quileute Tribal School, its headquarters and an elder center to the new site. Construction on the new school could begin in the spring of 2018, KING 5 News reported.

The Quileute project was among those selected by the Bureau of Indian Affairs after the Obama administration restarted the school construction program. The program had gone dormant during the George W. Bush era.

Read More on the Story:
Quileute tribe mitigates tsunami danger with move to higher ground (KING 5 News November 1, 2017)

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s part of a grant The Quileute language to be taught in school as part of a grant (KXRO November 1, 2017)

PBS: Climate change threatens a way of life for Quileute Tribe (November 27, 2012)
PBS: Quileute Tribe confronts threats from environmental change (July 16, 2012)
Obama signs bill to move Quileute Tribe to safer grounds (February 28, 2012)
OPB: Quileute Tribe waits on Obama to sign land transfer bill (February 15, 2012)
Senate approves bill to move Quileute Tribe to safer grounds (February 14, 2012)
House approves bill to move Quileute Tribe to safer grounds (February 7, 2012)