The Point No Point Treaty Council was established in 1974, shortly after the groundbreaking court decision in U.S. v. Washington (Boldt Decision), which upheld treaty-reserved fishing rights of western Washington treaty Indian tribes. The Treaty Council was originally organized by area tribes who were signatories to the Treaty of Point No Point (1855) to cooperatively manage resources, protect treaty rights, and efficiently and effectively meet resource management responsibilities. The Treaty Council currently serves as a tribal consortium for the Port Gamble S’Klallam and Jamestown S’Klallam Tribes by providing natural resources management services.
The Treaty Council staff works with its member tribes’ natural resources programs to ensure that treaty rights are preserved and treaty fisheries are conducted in a coordinated, sustainable, and biologically sound manner. The Treaty Council has promoted the concept of co-management in its work with its member tribes, other treaty tribes, and other state and federal agencies. The work incorporates coordinated harvest management, stock assessment and enhancement, and habitat preservation between jurisdictions to ensure the preservation of natural resources, thereby continuing successful implementation of tribal treaty rights.
Treaty Council staff includes professionals in the areas of harvest management for fish, shellfish, and wildlife, habitat protection and restoration, climate change, geographic information systems, data and information management, and administration. These programs work together to provide comprehensive natural resources management services with the goal of further protecting treaty rights to its member tribes.