Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation

(Runtime 0:55)Some people in northeastern Washington aren’t hooked up to the power grid. Now, a new $5 million federal grant will help more than 200…

The U.S. Department of the Interior has announced the launch of an oral history project that, for the first time, will document stories of generations of…

As the days get hotter and warmer, many Washingtonians are gearing up for the wildfires that will ignite across the region this year, causing smoky skies, evacuations and potentially devastating loss.

For decades, the federal government declared all forest fires in the West a destructive force. Now, it is viewed as a fundamental part of the western ecosystem. Lauren Gallup and Mary Ellen Pitney explain.

Salmon are now spawning in waters blocked by Grand Coulee Dam. It's the start of a larger effort to reintroduce salmon into the blocked area.

The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation says it lost more timber in 2015 than has ever burned on a U.S. reservation. The tribe is suing the federal government over the damage.

This year in north-central Washington has echoes of 2015, when the complex of fires across Okanogan County burned tens of thousands of acres on the reservation, closer to Omak, and shut down Highway 155 across the reservation for long stretches. What was true then is very possible now: The fires took out a lot of timber that the tribes harvest and use for revenue.

The Colville Tribes Fish and Wildlife Department have found several chinook salmon under 1-year-old. Biologists had transported 100 fish above Grand Coulee Dam to see if the habitat made for good spawning spots.

Fifty years ago this week the federal government’s experiment with termination was crushed at the ballot box on the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington. Termination was a policy that was designed to end the United State government’s role in Indian affairs. It would have abrogated treaties, eliminated federal funding, and “freed the Indians” from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. And as a bonus, the wealth generated by millions of acres of land and the reward from rich natural resources would be up for grabs.

The Upper Columbia United Tribes are working together to prove salmon can be reintroduced – and can survive – in the waters above Grand Coulee.