For Immediate Release

September 20, 2004

Comment on Quinault Northern Boundary Settlement

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks issued the following statement today concerning the signing of the agreement between the Department of the Interior and the Quinault Nation, preserving forest lands on the Olympic Peninsula:

“I am very pleased that this landmark agreement has been reached, assuring that the habitat along the northern boundary of the Quinault Reservation will be protected in perpetuity.  It is a fair settlement, providing an economic benefit to the Quinault Nation and preserving important old growth habitat for marbled murrelets and other threatened species on the Olympic Peninsula.   I have worked in recent years to provide the federal appropriations to make this settlement possible, and I look forward to working with the Tribe in the coming years to fulfill the federal government’s commitment to this settlement agreement.  As Interior Secretary Gale Norton said at the signing ceremony in Washington today, this is clearly a situation in which everyone wins: legal issues are resolved, habitat for threatened species is protected and the Tribe receives fair compensation.”

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