Nooksack Tribe
Nooksack Tribe
Nooksack Community Health Center
P.O. Box 157
Demming WA 98244
Phone: 360-592-5176 Fax: 360-592-2125
About the Clinic
Location
Primary
health care services are provided in the new 5,000 SF tribally owned clinic.
The program is operated under a P.L. 93-638, Title I contract with the Indian
Health Service. The Nooksack Tribe contracts under the 413 amendments of P.L.
93-638 for its area and headquarters shares. Programs include primary care,
alcohol counseling, mental health services, public health nursing, nutrition,
CHR and dental care. The clinic staff includes one full-time nurse
practitioner, one licensed practical nurse, three community health
representatives, one full-time alcohol counselor and one part time mental
health counselor/social worker. Dental services are provided by a joint venture
with SeaMar (a private provider). Nooksack provides a two dental chair, 750 SF
facility and SeaMar provides a dentist. WIC services are also provided by the
Tribe. Patients who have no other medical coverage continue to travel to the
Lummi Tribal Health Center for direct care services that are not provided at
the Nooksack Clinic. The Clinic does not bill Medicaid or Medicare as of yet.
The Nooksack Tribe is part of the Northwest Washington Service Unit Health
Board (NWSUHB) that also includes Lummi, Upper Skagit and Swinomish. The NWSUHB
is a non-profit organization established in the early 1980's. The Health Board
contracts for sanitation services under a P.L. 93-638, Title I consortium
agreement. One full-time position is funded and the sanitarian provides services
one day a week at Nooksack. Services include supervision of contaminated waste
handling, food handling permits, health inspections of tribal facilities, water
quality and sewage management, vector control and solid waste disposal, among
other duties as assigned by the Tribal Health Department. The Tribe's Contract
Health Service Delivery Area (CHSDA) is Whatcom County. The enrolled population
is 1,341 and the Indian population on or near the reservation is 740. The
active user population is 879. The leading causes of death are heart disease,
malignant neoplasm, cerebrovascular disease, motor vehicle accident, and
digestive diseases.
About the Tribe
History
Historically,
the Nooksack people relied on fishing, hunting, clam digging, root gathering
and trading with neighboring village peoples for their subsistence. Wealth and
prestige within the Coast Salish system were closely allied with the expansion
of a family's network of kinship, trading and ceremonial ties. The Nooksack
language was predominant in much of the upper Fraser River Valley in British
Columbia. In the spring and summer the village groups would split up to fish,
hunt, dig clams, gather roots and herbs and to trade with neighboring village
peoples. In 1873 an effort was made to remove the Nooksacks to the Lummi
Reservation. However, the Nooksacks returned to their upriver sites as they were
not closely related by linguistic or kinship ties to the Lummi. In the
mid-1930s the Nooksack tribe voted to accept the Wheeler-Howard Act and began
working on a tribal constitution. Since they lacked a tribal land base they
were not given Federal recognition by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In 1971 the
Nooksack Tribe received full federal recognition and reservation status was
established on one acre of land in Deming, WA. Since that time, the Tribe's
land holdings have increased to 2,500 acres including 65 acres of tribally
owned trust land.
About the Area
Geography
City: Deming (unincorporated)
includes a 1-acre reservation. County: Whatcom, population 117,200, Native
American 4,034, 50% of nonwhite or 3% of total population. 2,126 square miles.
County extends inland from Strait of Georgia along Canadian Border to Cascades.
County's assessed value averages $3,132 an acre. Rainfall (Bellingham) 35.1
inches. Average temperatures 41-58. Principal industries: Food processing, wood
products, petroleum refining, manufacturing, agriculture.
Other Information
Members
1,341
enrolled members.
Other Offices and Programs
Administration
and Programs, Grocery, liquor store and gas station, Tribal Smokeshop, all at
5048 Mt. Baker Hwy, Deming, WA 98244. No economic development plan at this
time.
Total Tribal Employees
Approximately
40 FTE's and 6-8 part-time.
Five thousand years before
pioneers came to the Nooksack River valley, the Nooksack Indians were plunging
shallow root nets into the river to catch Chinook, Coho and Chum salmon. They
paddled the currents in shovel-nosed canoes fashioned from Western Red Cedar.
About 450 Nooksack Indians
lived in the valley in 27 villages on the shores of the Nooksack. The largest
settlements were near present-day Lynden (Squ-ha-lisb), Everson (Pop-a-homy)
and (Kisk-a-well) where the river forks (Mile 14). Early Nooksack dug pit
dwellings 4-12 feet deep over which they erected a bark tepee. Later
generations built plank longhouses.
During spring and fall fish
runs, 10 to 12 families would share a smokehouse on the riverbank next to
fishtraps. They'd catch, clean and dry thousands of salmon a day. Phoebe
Judson, founder of Lynden, wrote that the Nooksack believed "the spirit of
the fish dwells in its backbone and returns to the salt water to lure other
salmon to their traps."
They hunted mountain goat
for meat and pelts, and gathered berries (buckle-, blue- and saial) in alpine
meadows. However, they mostly ate fish, roots, and ferns such as balbet and
fiddle- head. The tribe is believed to be named for noot-sa-ack, the bracken
ferns that were a dietary staple. The Nooksacks also grew sbugmack (wild
carrots) and were the first Indians in the region to cultivate white potatoes,
which they had obtained from Hudson Bay Company trappers in British Columbia.
Their primary trade
partners were the Sumas, Chilliwack and Matsqua tribes in B.C. To a lesser
extent, they traded with coastal Lummis and Semiahmoos, and the Skagit Valley
tribes.
Nooksack Tribe
Historically,
the Nooksack people relied on fishing, hunting, clam digging, root gathering
and trading with neighboring village peoples for their subsistence. Wealth and
prestige within the Coast Salish system were closely allied with the expansion
of a family's network of kinship, trading and ceremonial ties. The Nooksack
language was predominant in much of the upper Fraser River Valley in British
Columbia.
In the spring and summer the village groups would split up
to fish, hunt, dig clams, gather roots and herbs and to trade with neighboring
village peoples.
In 1873 an effort was made to remove the Nooksacks to the
Lummi Reservation. However, the Nooksacks returned to their upriver sites as
they were not closely related by linguistic or kinship ties to the Lummi. In
the mid-1930s the Nooksack tribe voted to accept the Wheeler-Howard Act and
began working on a tribal constitution. Since they lacked a tribal land base
they were not given Federal recognition by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In
1971 the Nooksack Tribe received full federal recognition and reservation
status was established on one acre of land in Deming, WA. Since that time, the
Tribe's land holdings have increased to 2,500 acres including 65 acres of
tribally owned trust land.
Tribal Health and Prevention Programs
- Alcohol counseling & mental health services
- Public health nursing, nutrition, WIC, CHR and dental
care
- Clinic staff includes one full-time nurse practitioner,
one licensed practical nurse, three community health representatives, one
full-time alcohol counselor and one part time mental health counselor/social
worker
- Dental services are provided by a joint venture with a
private provider
The
Nooksack Tribal Health Center is located in Everson, Washington, with a user
population of 949 in 1998. Primary health care services are provided in a 5,000
SF tribally owned clinic.
Contact Information:
Nooksack Community Clinic
6760 Mission Rd
Everson, WA 98247
Phone: 360-966-2106
Nooksack Tribe
History
The
Nooksack people were not able to attend the Point Elliott Treaty Council on
January 22, 1855 because of bad weather. The treaty authorized the Nooksacks to
move to the Lummi Reservation. The Nooksacks didn't wish to move there. On the
lower and middle of Nooksack River where the Nooksack lived the whites began to
settle there. This caused many conflicts between the Nooksacks and the whites.
Government
The tribe was federally recognized in 1973. The tribe conducts business by the
Tribal Council of the Nooksack Tribe. The Nooksack were a party in the suit
Duwamish vs. U.S. in 1934 in which they sought payment for lands taken by the
government. The Nooksack weren't officially part of the Point Elliott Treaty,
which meant they weren't recognized as having original title to the lands
involved.
Information provided by: A Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific Northwest Pgs. 152-155