The Kalispel Tribe invoked the Tribal Forest Protection Act and proposed a cross-boundary restoration project on the Colville National Forest, named with a Salish word meaning connection or trail. The episode gets the numbers right: a 90,700-acre planning area with 24,400 acres of commercial treatment authorized. It covers fire and first foods, cultural burning, and the 2025 court ruling vacating the approval.
Who's who
- Ray EntzKalispel natural resources director who led a 2022 prescribed burn
- Cody DesautelExecutive Director of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation
- Jarred-Michael EricksonChairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation
- Andrew Joseph Jr.Colville chairman in 2021 when the tribes sued over the 2015 fires
- Carin VadalaDistrict Ranger who signed the 2021 decision
- Mike Garrity+1 more episodeAlliance for the Wild Rockies director whose group sued
- Rebecca L. PennellFederal judge who vacated the Forest Service approval
Where it happens
- Colville National Forest, Washington+8 more episodesFederal land where the project was proposed
- Usk, Washington+1 more episodeHome of the Kalispel Reservation on the Pend Oreille River
- Colville Reservation, Washington+2 more episodesWhere roughly 800,000 of 1.4 million acres burned in a decade
- Pend Oreille River floodplain, WashingtonSite of a 2022 tribal prescribed burn
Timeline
- June 29, 2017Kalispel Tribe sends its letter invoking the Tribal Forest Protection Act
- May 2021Final decision notice authorizes a twenty-year project
- August 5, 2021Colville Tribes sue the United States over 2015 fires
- May 2024Alliance for the Wild Rockies files suit
- April 21, 2025Washington law covering cultural burning practitioners takes effect
- September 16, 2025Judge Pennell vacates the approval over vague condition-based maps
Still debated
Whether mechanical thinning is a prerequisite for returning fire or a pretext for logging is unresolved; both positions are peer-reviewed. Several figures, including the $400,000 analysis funding, are single-sourced, and the Kalispel Tribe has not publicly commented on the ruling.
