We Are Muckleshoot | Muckleshoot Today

Investing in the Muckleshoot Community and Reservation

Our commitment to protecting our people and communities brought us through the Tribe’s darkest times and continues to guide us today as we move into a new era of prosperity and empowerment. Our dedication to self-reliance, securing our rights, and upholding our sovereignty has never been stronger.
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The Muckleshoot Tribal Council engages with local, state, and federal governments on behalf of our people, and directs investments in our communities and environment to make sure our ways and our people continue.

Muckleshoot Tribal Government

The Tribal Council has full authority over the sale, lease, and dispensation of Tribal land, manages all the Tribe’s economic and business affairs, and regulates its domestic affairs. It has official government-to-government relationships with the United States and Washington State, as well as county, city, and local governments in our region.
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The Muckleshoot Tribe has experienced a period of great progress during this past decade. Guided by the Tribal Council’s long-term plan for the use of Tribal gaming revenue, we are witnessing a rebirth. The plan has served as our roadmap as we developed and implemented programs and plans to lay the groundwork for a bright and prosperous future.
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The Muckleshoot Tribe takes great pride in the role we play in this state and region. The Tribe has grown to become one of the largest employers in Southeast King County, and the economic impact of our various business ventures is significant.
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Tribal Education

The Muckleshoot Tribe provides its members with a seamless system of excellence in education. The Tribe invests heavily in education, including programs like Birth to Three, the Muckleshoot Child Development Center, and Head Start for the very youngest through elementary and high school, as well as college and continuing education for adults. The history and culture of the Muckleshoot People is integrated into every aspect of its education system.

Since its opening in 2009, the new 113,000 square foot Tribal School has experienced strong enrollment growth. A new Early Childhood Education Center located on the campus houses the Tribe’s Head Start and Birth to Three programs. The Muckleshoot College, located on the reservation, offers community members the opportunity to earn credit toward an AA or BS degree, and provides GED preparation and testing, as well as continuing education courses.
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The Muckleshoot Health and Wellness Center

A state-of-the-art Health and Wellness Center provides Tribal members with culturally sensitive, high-quality health care. Health services provided include dental care; diabetes education and prevention; dietary counseling; chiropractic; as well as optical, pharmaceutical, and general medical services. Fitness and aquatics-wellness programs are also offered.
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A 10,000-square foot Behavioral Health facility provides comprehensive mental health, chemical dependency treatment, prevention services, and a separate adult recovery housing facility.

Community Development

The Muckleshoot Community Development program offers an array of programs aimed at improving the quality of life for Tribal members, including housing, realty services, trust services, community planning, and public works. Homeownership training, low interest mortgage, and construction loans, along with Tribal Elder, veteran, and handicap home construction programs, help make homeownership a reality for many Tribe members.

Assistance with leases, utility service line agreements, rights of way, land consolidation, building permits, engineering, and other housing issues enable Tribal members to make the best use of their land for housing. A Tribal priority is responsible, reservation-wide planning to protect the environment, provide for orderly growth, and ensure the health, safety, and welfare of the community through enforcement of land use and construction standards. This work is carried out in a manner respectful of the Tribe’s identity, history, and culture.

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Philanthropy

Through our Charity Fund and Community Impact contributions, the Tribe provides almost $3 million annually to local governments, schools, churches, and non-profit organizations. We invest in helping Native people who are experiencing homelessness. We also support the national effort to address the issue of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women. The Tribe's role as co-manager of the natural resources in this area benefits the entire region.

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The Muckleshoot Tribe & Sustainability

Our people have always depended on rivers, forests, and seas. We hunted the land and fished the waterways for the salmon which is our life’s blood. The Muckleshoot Tribe has full-time biologists to help manage wildlife and all our natural resources, and provides funding for salmon hatcheries and rearing facilities. We give back to the land before we take from it, so it will always be there for our future.
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Renewed Rights to Natural Resources

Fishing Rights
Through their treaties, Tribes have reserved the right to fish at all traditional fishing places. This includes the right to meet subsistence, ceremonial, and commercial needs. Moreover, management responsibilities for various fishing resources are also reserved.

Today, the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe takes its place alongside other treaty Tribes as a co-manager of the state’s fishery resources.

Hunting Rights
The Medicine Creek and Point Elliott Treaties reserved the right to hunt on open and unclaimed lands. These hunting rights include the right to manage hunting and wildlife resources with the state.

Gathering Rights
The right to gather plants and foods on open and unclaimed lands comprises a third element of the Muckleshoot Tribe’s reserved off-reservation treaty rights. For Native peoples, the continued ability to practice their religion and maintain their cultural identity includes the ability to access medicinal plants. Gathering traditional foods, such as roots and berries, remains equally important.

Muckleshoot Fisheries

The Muckleshoot Fisheries Division works to protect and enhance the Tribe’s fishery resources, habitat, and access to those resources for current Tribal members and future generations.
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The Tribe’s Harvest Management program focuses on the ongoing implementation of treaty fishing rights under the decision in United States v. Washington through the development of science-based fishing regulations, biological monitoring, in-season management, and the enforcement of fishing regulations.
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Tribal hatchery operations and stock enhancement programs work to restore Native populations of salmon and steelhead to commercially viable and sustainable levels.
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The Habitat Protection program works with other Tribes, state, and federal entities to preserve and enhance habitats necessary to sustain the fish stocks upon which the Tribe relies.
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Tribal Fisheries also sponsors community-based programs that bring the Tribal community together to celebrate the Tribe’s fishing culture. Fishing Derbies help expose Tribal children to the fishing culture at an early age. First and last salmon dinners are important community cultural events that welcome the salmon home and thank them for returning each year.

Hunting and Wildlife Management

The Muckleshoot Wildlife program is responsible for the establishment of science-based harvest regulations consistent with treaty rights and resource conservation. The program is also engaged in projects to perpetuate game resources for current and future Tribal members through research, and the creation, enhancement, and preservation of big game habitat.

Muckleshoot Heritage Resources Protection

The Muckleshoot Preservation program provides archival and archeological expertise. It consults on behalf of the Tribe with federal and state agencies under the National Historic Preservation Act and related laws to protect and preserve places of cultural and historical significance to the Tribe.

The Muckleshoot Tribe Today

We are Muckleshoot, descendants of the Duwamish People.