Washington Tribe Buys Farmland and Restores Wetlands to Revive Chinook Salmon
Why It Matters
Along the Stillaguamish River north of Seattle, Washington, a Native American tribe is reshaping the landscape in a bid to pull Chinook salmon back from the edge of extinction. The effort involves purchasing farmland, removing levees, and deliberately flooding hundreds of acres — a strategy that tribal officials say benefits not only fish populations but also flood-prone communities downstream.
The project raises broader questions about competing land uses as tribes exercise treaty rights through land acquisition, and as federal habitat restoration funding faces uncertainty.
What Happened
In October 2025, the Stillaguamish Tribe breached two miles of earthen levee at the mouth of the Stillaguamish River near Stanwood, Washington, allowing tidal water to flow onto agricultural land for the first time in over a century. The result is a 230-acre tidal marsh, now known as zis a ba 2, named after a 19th-century chief of a Stillaguamish village once located near the river mouth.
Scott Boyd, a Stillaguamish tribal member and fisheries manager, described the transformation. “Before, it was a dairy operation, and now it’s a big tidal marsh,” Boyd said, according to reporting by GPB. Tidal marshes serve as critical nurseries for juvenile Chinook salmon, a federally threatened species in Puget Sound.
Before removing the old levee, the tribe constructed a new levee set farther back from the river, giving the waterway more room to spread during flood events. Tribal biologist Jason Griffith noted that the restored floodplain allows the river to “connect to its floodplain like it hasn’t in 140 years.”
By the Numbers
- 230 acres of former farmland converted into the new tidal marsh known as zis a ba 2
- 2,000 acres of land purchased by the Stillaguamish Tribe over the past 15 years for fish and wildlife habitat
- 26 fish — the total Chinook salmon harvest the entire tribe was permitted in 2025, reflecting how severely the run has declined
- 400 members — the approximate enrollment of the Stillaguamish Tribe, which did not receive federal recognition until 1976
- Less than 100 acres — the size of the tribe’s official reservation, which Boyd said was not formally granted until roughly a decade ago
Treaty Rights and Land Acquisition
The Stillaguamish Tribe signed the Treaty of Point Elliott with the U.S. government in 1855, relinquishing most of its traditional territory while retaining fishing and hunting rights. Despite those treaty protections, salmon populations have collapsed over the following century and a half due to habitat loss, agricultural development, and altered river systems.
Boyd acknowledged the complicated nature of purchasing land the tribe once held. “It is a bit of a bitter pill to swallow to buy back the land that we essentially traded for the resource, the fish, but it’s what we have to do to get things back on track,” he said, according to GPB.
Zis a ba 2 is the second of three large marshes the tribe plans to restore in the area. Restoration crews discovered ancient middens — fire-charred clam shell deposits dating back up to 1,500 years — during excavation work, evidence of long-standing human habitation at the site.
Flood Risk and Community Tradeoffs
The December 2025 storms that struck Washington and Oregon produced what Gov. Bob Ferguson called the costliest natural disaster in state history, forcing thousands to evacuate. FEMA approved a major-disaster declaration for both states in April 2026, though it denied Ferguson’s request for funding directed at future flood-mitigation projects.
Tribal officials argue their habitat restoration work provides flood relief as a secondary benefit. “By giving the river more space, we are reducing the damage and the expense to society to maintain infrastructure,” Griffith said. Local farmers, however, have raised concerns about the loss of agricultural land. Stanwood farmer Tyler Breum noted the tension directly: “There’s only so much farmland.” Georgia residents facing similar wildfire and land-use pressures may recognize the tradeoff — see related coverage of Georgia wildfires topping 31 square miles and a state of emergency declared as fires destroyed dozens of homes.
What’s Next
The Stillaguamish Tribe has indicated plans to restore a third large marsh in the area as part of its ongoing land acquisition and habitat recovery program. Tribal officials will continue monitoring fish populations and wetland development as the new landscape matures. Federal salmon recovery policy and future FEMA mitigation funding decisions will likely shape the pace and scope of similar projects across the Pacific Northwest.