“Salmon is our resource, that’s our lives, that’s who we are as a people. We’re the salmon people.”

Long ago, Chief Hale Amoss, the giver of life, taught the Quinault people that as long as they cared for the land and the fish, they would always be here. Today, on 208,000 acres along the Washington coast, the Quinault Indian Nation is carrying that responsibility forward as climate change reshapes the coast. Storm surges are working against the seawall at Taholah. Glaciers in the headwaters are receding. Sockeye runs that once delivered 300,000 to 400,000 fish a year are now closer to 50,000 to 60,000. And a tsunami would leave the village minutes to move. 

This story follows the Quinault Nation’s community-driven relocation project, moving Taholah and Queets to higher ground. The work, supported by a 25 million dollar investment from the Biden administration delivered through Self-Governance Funding Agreement authority, is building infrastructure for 59 homes in the new Northeast Neighborhood, with phase two underway and Queets in design. The full cost to relocate one village runs into the hundreds of millions, and Quinault is leading the way for every coastal Tribe facing the same future. 

Featuring Quinault Nation tribal leadership and the relocation project team.